Entering the cemetery on Día de los muertos (day of the dead) in Guatemala is like exiting a busy concert. There are people everywhere, nearly (and sometimes) getting trampled, and so much noise and music that you can't even hear yourself think. Today is the day when everyone goes to the cemetery to visit their dead, and honor their memory. It's festive, fun, loud, and filled with children playing, and people eating. Yes, they even sell snack food inside the cemetery. 
People go to great lengths to decorate the graves, leaving flowers, re-painting the stones, and planting grass and flowers for their loved ones. I even saw a marachi-type band playing and singing at some graves.
I think every single grave was decorated, even the ones with only a few flowers.
I was worried about being disrespectful taking pictures in the cemetery, but people seemed to have a different interpretation here about being respectful. Kite-flying is common at this time, supposedly as a way to communicate with ancestors, but it seems like a great way to get kids involved in the holiday. It wasn't just kites, though. There were makeshift soccer games, picnics, and there was loud dance music playing from a building in the middle of the cemetery. We actually stopped to talk with several families, and all were very welcoming and glad we were interested in the traditions here.
Much like other things here, the cemetary seemed to be sorted into areas with fancy expensive graves, and the ones with simple mounds of dirt with a headstone. All of the angels were head-less and hand-less, which I found to be a bit creepy. Apparently it's a common thing for the local gangs to go around stealing them.
We left as it was just getting dark, and I have to admit that even with all those flowers, it was starting to feel a little bit like time to go home!
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