Snapshots from a World Heritage site in Guatemala

[Guest post by Susan Schaffhausen in Antigua, Guatemala] Of course I wanted to sketch the landmark of Antigua, Guatemala, the sunshine yellow Santa Catalina Arch. Back when it was built in the 1600s, it served as an elevated walkway that allowed cloistered nuns from the Santa Catalina convent to go from one building to another without having to go out on the streets.

This is one of the busiest times of the year in Antigua, a UNESCO World Heritage site that welcomes hundreds of thousands of visitors around Easter.

Antigua’s streets are narrow cobblestone and the sidewalks narrower still, about a person and a half wide. This did not leave me much space to set up my sketching stool near the arch. But I backed myself against a building about three feet from the corner and sketched the arch through the crowd.

There is not much elbow room to sketch the live processions either, but I was determined to make an effort in my smallest sketchbook.

Members of various religious collectives carry on their shoulders the baroque wood-carved parade floats depicting the stages of the passion of Jesus. They pass over colorful alfombras — carpets of arranged flowers and intricate patterns of dyed wood shavings, each made by a different family mere hours beforehand.

In contrast with the lively processions, my sketchbook of Antigua also includes this quiet view of colorful houses in Calle de Chajón.

Susan Schaffhausen is a member of Urban Sketchers Twin Cities.