New Year’s in San Pedro, Guatemala

What a wild night! Tourists from Guatemala, Spain, the United States, Canada, South Africa and all over the world were in San Pedro la Laguna last night to ring in 2013.

Central America loves its fireworks. As I write this, I hear people setting off some of the louder ones. Last night, was no different. The crowd at The Buddha brought their own fireworks and were firing them into the sky all night. As midnight approached, a bar employee let go two sky lanterns and set off a much louder and spectacular display of fireworks. People hugged, kissed and high-fived each other as the fireworks screeched into the darkness.

Unlike the United States, there wasn’t a television tuned to Times Square for the ball drop. Instead, there were two counts. A group of people started the countdown closer to midnight by my watch. About five minutes later, the band shouted their own count, then played Spanish pop songs that led the crowd to sing along.

This was one of the best New Year’s I’ve experienced. I hope yours was amazing as well. I wish you the best in 2013. Happy New Year, or as they say in Guatemala, “¡Feliz Año!”