Off Again! This Time to Chichicastenango

This was the one place that I was insistent on going, because Chichicastenango (pronounced Chee-chee-casta-nan-go) is about two and a half hours from Antigua, and is the shopping capitol of Guatemala. It's basically the supermall of artisans markets. Market days are the days to do it, and so we hit the less busy Thursday market.

Imagine stalls and stalls for blocks and blocks (probably the size of a small shopping mall) with anything you could ever want to buy in any color including flowers, fresh fruits, vegetables, meat, and fish, clothing, artisans crafts, textiles, shoes, artwork, music and decorative items for the home. Everything but furniture seemed to be sold there.

Imagine the vivid smells of it all- the sweet smell of roses mixed with the sweet bloody smell of the meat mixing with the charcoal smoke from the cooking food and the incense from the church, a couple of steps later all you can smell is citrus from the orange vendor, then musky smell of wet wool and cloth.

Mix the smells with the sounds of this massive place- the vendors calling you in English and Spanish "Very cheap, what do you like? Muy barato, que le gustas amigas?" and the clanging of pots, the chatter of tourists of every language not to mention the chatter of the locals in Spanish and the various dialects from the area, the squeals of children and pigs as mothers drag them along, the ringing of bells from both churches in the area, the applause like clapping of the ladies making masa into fresh tortillas, and the thump thump thump of the music stalls.

As we squeezed through the narrow passageways past the stalls, it was hard to decide which things I would buy. I mean did I want the pretty tablecloth back there, or the equally beautiful one down there? Do I want this red placemat with green in it, or this other red one with blue? Do I want that gorgeous wall hanging, or that bedspread? It was a beautiful thing to be able to afford some of the things I wanted!

Mom really liked these candles

and I loved all the colors!

As you walk through the market on the East and West sides are two churches. The bigger one, the Iglesia de Santo Tomas, is as much a part of the market as any stall. Vendors set up their things on it's steep steps and wait. This woman was sitting on the steps, selling her flowers and was initially very hesitant to let me photograph her. I gave her money and also promised not to photograph her face. This is one of my favorite pictures from the trip and she approved of the result.

The other church is the Capilla del Calvario. It's smaller but almost as impressive because of the Lent decorations.

We only spent a couple of hours in Chichi, but I managed to buy 4 sets of placemats, one tablecloth, one tablerunner, a day of the dead skull, gifts for my coworkers, and two curtain tiebacks. Mom bought her share too, including three shirts, a tablerunner, and more placemats!

After that is was on to Lake Atitlan.