Christmas preparations in Antigua

It's been another busy week here and things are really getting Christmassy. Last Saturday evening there was a fantastic free concert in the central park. The National Symphony orchestra from Guatemala City were performing as well as a choir singing Christmas carols in Spanish. There were loads of people in the park enjoying the atmosphere and singing along. Afterwards a few of us went to listen to a harpist playing in one of the winebars near the park. A very musical evening which made up for the fact that I missed the trip to the beach through a slight illness. I'm feeling better now though and am off to Lago Atitlan tomorrow which is supposed to be a beautiful place to chill out. There's a small group of us going early in the morning for the weekend to escape Antigua for a night.
I've just finished my fourth week of Spanish lessons (that's 80 hours in total) and it's going well, although I still get frustrated at times as I want to be able to converse more quickly with people. I just have to be patient and practice speaking as much as possible (something that I don't normally have a problem with!!). After 3 weeks more I hope to have got to a good level and then I plan to travel around Guatemala and really use what I've learned.
On Monday I started the day with a huge smile on my face as my first Christmas card finally arrived along with a parcel from my mum (she posted it 4 weeks before!!). Then my teacher and I spent the week decorating our desk at school with Christmas decorations. It looks great now but I'm sure we'll continue to add bits during the next few weeks.
Wednesday was Dia del Diablo or Day of the Devil and a group of us visited Ciudad Vieja, which is just outside Antigua where they celebrate the day with a big festival. There was a big street parade of about 20 carnival floats which were the best I have ever seen anywhere else before (that's whatthese photo's are of). My favorites were a Jurassic Park themed one and another with a load of men dressed up as various TV, film and fairytale characters (quite a lot of men in dresses actually!!) salsa dancing on the back of the float. Quite a sight!!
Thursday was a musical day as I visited an open day at El Buen Samaritano project. This project helps children from very poor or socially difficult backgrounds and provides education and health care for them. The children were performing various activities, including a small musical concert. Then in the evening a group of us went to see Handel's Messiah at the Casa Santa Domingo which is the 5* hotel here in Antigua. It was a beautiful evening with thousands of lights throughout the hotel grounds.
All in all a busy but very interesting week.