Chichi!

The Saturday before last (the 16th), Michelle and I had the day off together to go explore. With only a handful of such days sprinkled between work and school we have been planning activities for each. Our host Dave has been an invaluable resource for this and was the motivating factor in us visiting what he has heard is one of the largest remaining indigenous markets in the world. He was even kind enough to call his favorite shuttle company to arrange the transport.

The shuttle picked us up at the top of our nearby dock road and ran through some more towns before heading to our destination; filling up the empty spaces as is the routine. The trip was only around 1.5 hours and retraced much of our original path from Antigua. Eventually it cut off and meandered downwards to the market town. We knew we were getting closer as we could see the numbers of fruit huts on the sides of the highway increasing.

Our rig finally reached the town and after meandering through single lane 90 degree turns with traffic directors pulled into an equally tight parking garage. We piled out and in true Will fashion decided to skirt the edges of the town to get a feel for size and orientation. Needless to say the scale I chose was a bit bigger than the size of "one of the worlds largest indigenous markets", so we worked our way 6 or so blocks back inward toward all the comotion. We had been warned that it was easy to get lost so I was taking precautions :)

*An interesting note- no public restrooms, only private pay and not always where you need them...

Immediately after explaining our toe shoes for the umteenth time to a bathroom attendant, we headed directly into the main drag of the market.




It was really quite an experience which this wide open spaces country boy was thankfully not overwhelmed by. Booth after booth, space after space, filled with colorful clothing, baskets, and trinkets. We have learned pretty much the remaining thing the Mayan cultures here are currently known for is their fabric weaving. When walking down the streets you almost have to get angry (or at least uncomfortably firm for a Northwesterner) when saying no to the relentless sales of blankets by local women. After learning 5 no's did not really mean "NO!" I switched to my own creation which works well, probably because it's not what they would say... Veo tu... I see you. I realized that I just kept on walking with out turning my head and once I made the effort to acknowledge them directly they were sort of stunned into stopping. We had purchased a blanket for Michelle at the beginning of the trip and were using it as the locals do which is wrapped around a plastic basket to make a handled basket. Upon seeing this the salespeople switched tactics to... Do you want another blanket?

We walked the entire length of one of the main drags and worked our way to others trying to explore them all. We found a lot of the same and similar goods throughout and noticed most of the goods did not seem to be made by locals of the town, but rather locals of Guatemala city or even imported. The most concentrated portion of local Mayans were on the outskirts of the main market or just the not so flashy touristy lanes. They would mostly be selling foodstuffs and would either be set up on the cobble stone street, or under a tarped section, but never with their own fancy booth. These were the parts that were the most interesting. We were on the lookout for new kinds of fruits to try and were keen on finding a Pitalla, and beautiful cactus fruit. While we did not end up finding it there we did find fresh Lychee's and a new kind of Asian Pear I had never had.

At the end of one of the rows we stumbled across a large church where Mayans were giving their offerings of flowers and incense. There was a smoldering open fire on the stone steps which people would use to light bunches of dried herbs and would wave them while bowing on the steps.



It was a sureal scene that was constantly cut by the river of market goers flowing in front.

We only had about 4 hours before the shuttle left so we started to get somethings done we had hoped to. After exploring the whole market we found a shop that sold some evening/yoga pants I liked and got more practice at haggling. We've learned that an outrageous offering price should be countered with a low offer, equally outrageous, with the intended price somewhere in the middle. Our best tool so far- starting to walk out. Which we did 3 times until we were almost around the corner and the owner gave the nod to the sales person to let it go... I have to give most of the credit to Michelle and the East Coast because I had been talking about settling about 2 offers prior :)

We headed to lunch at a hit or miss place which was all we could find.... We've found that our dining in has been 100% incredible but our dining out has been below 50% :) Unfortunately, as we´ve mentioned, Guatemala isn't known for its food. The best imitation place we found has been texmex. Imitation american is to avoided at all costs :P The "sausages" are sometimes hot dogs, and the "fried potatoes" are sometimes frozen french fries. Meals have a unique ability to satisfy or dissatisfy. Must be the hunger component...

Afterwards we picked up some more fruit, hopped in an internet cafe to check emails, and hustled to get back on the shuttle. We felt like we got all we could from the big but not giant market, most of it being all to similar to the streets of San Pedro.

Thankfully the shuttle was much less full on the return trip and we could both lay out on a bench seat to relax. Michelle over heard a conversation between a couple Ausie gents in the back about the political signs seen everywhere. Mostly paintings on every rock surface visible from any road. They were talking about the two parties predomoniently advertised in our neck of the woods (though there are around 20+ parties and they regularly have to have a runoff after the first vote as none get above 50% of the vote the first round). These are Une and Partido. The former is signified by two hands crossed making a white dove to a green background and the later a fist against a back splash of orange. Can you guess which one is military rule? It is common to see bridges and rocks one after the other painted with eachothers image. It almost seems like they must have collaborated when painting because the cement bridge railings are perfectly shared with colors meeting as if by a rulers edge and never overlaping. On valuable advertising space there is no wasted surface.

Anyway, these guys were talking about the not so subtle imagery of the dove and the fist and it lead into them talking about in Australia how voting is compulsory and how no one cares, and then into how in America it's just about who has the most money... Or friends with money... We agreed. One thing that was funny was they mentioned that in Peru they do not allow anyone to drink for 3 days prior to elections... Apparently you have to get a stamp after voting that lets you be served. Does anyone know if this is true? I could see that going either way... Staying on current politics the main candidate for the Uno party is the incumbent's wife. Apparently it is illegal for incumbent spouses to be elected into office so they are getting a divorce. This is expected to be contested in the courts.

Well, that is all for now... except....

I've noticed that the people greet eachother here from the farthest of distances. You can be walking along the lake and look up at a fisherman 1/4 mile out and his head is up looking right at you expecting your arm to go up, or several hundred feet in both directions from our home; either way much further than you'd expect to be acknowledged. Their heads are up, they are looking around, and they want to say hello; even if thats all you can say to eachother.
It's really heartwarming. So to all of you from so far way. *wave*



Will