Las Alfombras de Comayagua

During Semana Santa (Easter week), several cities in Honduras construct alfombras, rugs made of colored sawdust running along the streets towards the main church. Comayagua, the former capital of Honduras is supposed to have the best, so we headed there to see for ourselves. The first day we spent walking around the city, seeing the cathedral, bell tower, and archeological museum. On Good Friday, we woke up early to see the alfombras being made (they supposedly start at 2am, but we started watching at 7), before seeing the procession shuffle across them on their way to the cathedral. Below are some pictures from the trip:

Cathedral

Up in the bell tower

Original clock from the bell tower and oldest in the Americas, made by the moors in Spain and gifted to Comayagua by the king of Spain

Nolan with an old president of Honduras

Laying of the sawdust

Stencils help with intricate designs

Unusual raised relief design of Jesus

Using pesticide sprayers to keep the alfombras wet so they don't crumble and blow away

By a completed alfombra

Several had ladders set up so you could have a better view from above

Non-traditional shape

Each alfombra was made by a different group, ranging from high school classes to the police

Several depicted the pope

The start of the procession

It's kind of scary to see a large group of men walking down the street with pointy hooded robes

The procession shuffles side to side to make sure they destroy the entire design

The kids seem to like collecting the sawdust afterward, filling several coke bottles apiece