On the way back to Guatemala City, we stopped in Chichicastenango, which is famous for its church and its artisan market. The market was a cross between Calcutta, Carnival in Rio, a Rainbow, and the third circle of hell.
We had to wait for a Catholic procession (pre-Easter parade) to pass before entering the market. This meant squishing up against the wall of Mayan observers, trying to take pictures and hoping we didn´t get struck by shrapnel from the firecrackers, set off willy-nilly by the shrine carriers in the procession. We then entered a labrynith of hundreds of booths selling traditional Mayan crafts. Everyone was 4 feet tall or less and shouting, except for the occasional tourist swimming upstream. We noted more than a few Mayan woman pushing past with baskets holding live turkeys strapped to their back. Lower to the ground, one could see metal barrels filled with baby turkeys, drunk persons who have chosen to sit or nap in the way of oncoming traffic, and even shorter Mayan women, who are by nature lower to the ground.
The three of us worked as a team to purchase the crafted goods on our shortlist. My father gaged the appropriate price, then I tried to barter in Spanish. They drive a hard bargain, and I´m a bleeding heart, so I would say it only went moderately well. There were points when we knew we could have gotten the price lower, but I balked, because I honestly couldn´t handle the idea of paying hard-working, dirt-poor artisans any less than the cheap prices they were offering. Weaving in hand, it was amazing that we got out of there alive.
The true gem of Chichicastenango is not the bi-weekly market, but the Catholic church at the city´s center. It is here that the first written document of the Popol Vuh was found. Popol Vuh, which means ¨Book of the Council¨ Quiché, is the main text of the Mayans, containing their creation story, an epic about hero twins, and other stories about the gods. Inside the cathedral, designed with classic Spanish architecture, groups of Mayans were holding their own religious ceremonies around small alters with incense and candles, demonstrating the aforementioned unique fusion of religion and culture.
Chichi was perhaps the most bizarre educational experience I´ve had as of yet.
1 comment:
you lucky girl! sounds like you had a great time with the parents. if my latin american travel dreams come true, maybe i will someday make it to lago de atitlan as well.
on an unrelated note, i tried to use my broken english on one of my students parents, who definitely thought i was crazy and eventually just hung up on me when she couldn't understand. i guess i need to be able to gesture (and have a good phrase book) to be understood!
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