San Lucas Sacatepequez

On the Pan American Highway, right on the crossroad to Antigua Guatemala we will find one of the most popular family outings: San Lucas Sacatepequez, or as locals call their town: The Door to the Guatemalan West.

The weekends' fair in San Lucas is the place where we Guatemalans from the city and surroundings go to satisfy some of our cravings for typical food, specifically for what we call "antojitos" (snacks); among my favorites: sweet corn atol (atol is a hot and thick beverage that can be sweet or salty, depending on the main ingredient or toppings), tostadas (fried corn tortillas covered with guacamol, or ground black beans, or fresh tomato sauce, all of them garnished with dried cheese and chopped parsley), charcoal roasted corn with salt, lime juice and red pepper powder, hand made black corn tortillas (my daughter's favorite) with  fresh string-like cheese (and lorocos when in season), and typical candies (different from those we found in Amatitlan), such as preserved yams, figs, chilacayotes, oranges, jocotes (hog plums), manzanilla, and many more!

 

My very own (and proud to show) chilacayote version!

To give you a better idea of what this fair is all about, I invite you to click on this video, which I am posting with the authorization of its creator, Luis Valenzuela, a young talented Guatemalan TV producer.

As part of the Guatemalan history, San Lucas Sacatepequez is much more than just a colorful fair. It is actually a town proud of its traditions, as they show every October 18th., when they celebrate a festival honoring Saint Luke, the saint patron. As I mentioned last Friday, the Christianity introduced during the colonial times combined with the local ancient Maya beliefs have turned out into unique expressions of faith and one of the highlights of this festival is the Dance of the Moorish and Christians, a dramatic representation of  old battles between these two groups.

I am not able to find the precise words to explain the dance and ceremony but, thanks to our good fortune and a little bit of perseverance,  I found another video also produced by Luis Valenzuela, which I hope you will enjoy it as much as I did!