The Antigua Market Blew Up Yesterday
Posted on December 20, 2007 - Filed Under Guatemala |
In Guatemala, it is completely normal to have fireworks going off all the time, particularly for holidays. The month of December is a very noisy one, with firecrackers going off all the time and we get pretty used to the explosions, even the kids sleep through it. You can buy as many fireworks as you want from the market this month, where they sell volcancitos, bumblebees, butterflies (things that whir into the air in a burst of sparks) all the way up to huge boxes of professional style fireworks.
Yesterday, we heard the bangs of a bunch of firecrackers and figured there was a procession somewhere. But they just didn´t stop and then Irving´s mom called to find out if anyone was at the market, she was sure it was blowing up. We ran to climb up on the wall where we can see Antigua and sure enough, there was a pillar of smoke rising from behind the market, where the fireworks stalls were.
The fire lasted about half an hour and before it was out, the radio was announcing it and interviewing vendors. Apparently, the whole thing started when two kids started setting off firecrackers too close to one of the stalls. Thank goodness, everyone managed to get out safely. Entire families are inside these stalls, with babies and small children. One woman told a newspaper reporter that she had just grabbed her two little kids, 2 and 4, tucked one under each arm and ran. Obviously, this isn´t like a normal fire, since the fireworks and rockets fly in every direction.
We had to go to the market in the afternoon, so I took photos. Here is one of the market before the fire:
And here are the after shots.
As you can see, everything was burned up, except one stall. A firework flew into a nearby truck and burned inside, here you can see the truck, the poor driver was trying to salvage the products he was carrying, juice packs and milk.
The Christmas market was beside the fireworks and while some of the market survived (and kept on doing business!), a chunk of it was also destroyed.
The sad thing is that families took out loans (up to Q150,000) to buy their products to sell. They can live for months off the money they make selling fireworks! Over one million quetzales in product was lost in this fire. The mayor is planning to help them set up again, but most of them won´t earn enough to pay off their original loans. However, the fact that no one was killed is really a miracle and I´m very glad of it.
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3 Responses to “The Antigua Market Blew Up Yesterday”
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OMG… This is just terrible!
If nothing else, they all got out alive!
Its a pity however, that it did not go off at night when you could enjoy it though… lol
Oh man, what an awful thing to happen! Like you, I’m glad everyone got out okay, but they lost so much.
Some idiots I knew in high school decided one weekend it would be cool to break into a fireworks shop and set a fire. Obviously not the best choice in friends I ever made.
Here in the US someone would be sueing someone! lol….