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Several comedores (cheap eateries) line the plaza, dishing out decent grub. If you want
to stay the night, your best bet is Hotel Pixcayá (
7849-8260; 0 Av 1-82; s/d Q70/140, without bathroom
Q40/80; ) .
Buses (Q13, 45 minutes, every half hour) run from Chimaltenango; minibuses and
pickups leave when full.
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Santiago Sacatepéquez & Sumpango
All Saints' Day (November 1) is best known in Guatemala as the time when families visit
cemeteries to spruce up the tombstones of loved ones with poignant floral designs, but
locals add another quirk to this seasonal ritual. It's also the time of the Feria del Barrilete
Gigante (Festival of the Giant Kite). The biggest parties happen in Santiago Sacatepéquez
and Sumpango, about 20km and 25km north of Antigua respectively. Fabricated weeks
ahead of the event, these kites are giants. Made from tissue paper with wood or bamboo
braces, and with guide ropes as thick as a human arm, most are more than 13m wide, with
intricate, colorful designs that combine Maya cosmology and popular iconography. In
Santiago they're flown over the cemetery, some say to communicate with the souls of the
dead. Kids fly their own small kites right in the cemetery, running around the gravestones.
Food and knickknack vendors sell their wares next to the graveyard. In Sumpango it's a
somewhat more formal affair (and the crowds are more manageable), with the kites lined
up at one end of a football field and bleachers set up at the other. Judges rank the big fly-
ers according to size, design, color, originality and elevation. Part of the fun is watching
the crowd flee when a giant kite takes a nose dive!
Various travel agencies run day trips from Antigua to Santiago Sacatepéquez on
November 1 (charging around Q200 per person including lunch and an English-speaking
guide), though you can easily get there on your own by taking any Guatemala City-bound
bus and getting off with the throngs at the junction for Santiago. From here, take one of
the scores of buses covering the last few kilometers. The fastest way to Sumpango is to
take a bus to Chimaltenango and backtrack to Sumpango; this will bypass all of the
Santiago-bound traffic, which is bumper to bumper on fair day.
 
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