Day 4 - Chichicastenango

 There were clear skies when we woke up and there was a superb view of the lake and volcanos.

There were a few birds in the gardens of the hotel.  One of the group has seen a hummingbird.

 
Great-tailed Grackle

 
Golden Fronted Woodpecker

 
Woodpecker

Our excursion today was to a town north of where we are staying called Chichicastenango.  This has a twice weekly markets so our tour was to coincide with the Sunday one.  It is made up of around 95% indiginous Maya people.

We first went to a view point high up in the hills to look down on the Atitlan Nature Reserve and the lake.  We could see eruptions on the active volcano which is apparently happens every few minutes.


 
 
 
Shaky video showing eruptions from the volcano
These are the black areas rising from the crater 
and disappearing.  There is also some lava coming 
down the right side of the mountain

 


We then stopped at another viewpoint near to Chichicastenango where we could see the very steep descent down through the pine forest and up again to the town.

 
View over to Chichicastenango


 

When we arrived at Chichicastenango we were led to the toilets which cost the equiviant of 60p each.  A very expensive but needed wee.   These were next to some gardens with a lot of parrots.

 

 
Parrot

 
Love birds


We had a guided tour around the market where fruit, vegetables and meat are indoors and most of the outdoor market are for textiles which is the main industry amongst the Mayas.

 
Indoor Fruit, Vegetable and Flower market

 
Pink Bananas

 
Outdoor market street

 

We then visited the church of San Pedro which is shared by the Catholic and Maya religions.  We saw many Mayas praying to statues of San Pedro, San Francisco and San Diego.  They approach the statues on their knees carrying and waving tins of burning incense, say their prayers and then stand and walk backwards to the main aisle.  This is because they must never show their back to the Saints.  Others were lighting small candles and then splashing rum over the flames as an offering to the saints.  The church was full of smoke and the walls and frescos were all black.  UNESCO has tried to stop the use of incense but it is such a part of Maya tradition that the worshippers will not agree to it.  We were not allowed to take photos inside.

 
San Pedro Church entrance

We then visited the largest Maya cemetery in Guatemala. The tombs and mausoleums were very colourful.  The deceased who do not have money are just buried in a mound.  Relatives of deceased have to pay a rent per square meter for the area of the tomb.  If 3 years passes without a payment, the body is removed from the tomb and put out for the rubbish collectors.  The tomb is demolished and then the ground rented to someone else.  We witnessed a commemoration of the life of a Guatemalan man who had died in the USA where he was an illegal immigrant and had worked in the agriculture industry.   The relatives stood around a display of offerings make mostly of different coloured candles, eggs and flower petals and a male relative smoked a cigar while holding a photo of the deceased.  This is part of the memorial ceremony.  He then unfolded the remains of the tobacco in the cigar and put it on the fire.  

 
Steep hill down to the cemetery

 

 
Tombs at the Cemetery

 
Tombs at the Cemetery

 
Tombs at the Cemetery

 
Tombs at the Cemetery

 
Burial mounds for the poor people

 
Part of rememberance ceremony for deceased man 
who died in USA where he was an illegal immigrant


 It was very hot by now and we were glad to get to the restaurant which was a long walk up a steep hill.  After a lovely lunch we had some free time to look around the market.  On some stalls children as young as 5 were selling and taking money.  It wasn't possible to look at anything without hassle and we were continually approached by children trying to sell souvenirs.  

In Guatemala one of the most popular forms of public transport is the "Chicken" bus.  These are former USA school buses which have been renovated by the owner and are very colourful and often have a lot of lights on.  We saw quite a few of these while waiting for our bus.




 
 
 
Tuk tuks are also very popular forms of transport 

 

We got back to the hotel where it had clouded over.  We have to pack to leave tomorrow lunch time  to take an internal flight to the north.  We are only allowed a maximum of 20kgs luggage (including hand luggage) so our tour guide has told us to just pack hand luggage for our 2 days there and leave our cases with him and the driver and they will take them to the hotel that we will stay in on Wednesday night. 



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