We had to leave the lake at 8am, so we got up early enough to enjoy one last sunrise there next to the fire before gathering all our things and catching the lancha.
We said goodbye to our hosts and hopped on the first lancha going toward Panajachel. It was surprisingly not that full, but of course, that didn’t last long. Large numbers of people climbed on on our next two stops, so that the entire front of the lancha which does not have benches was full of people standing and sitting as well. The guy behind me was wearing a KU National Champs tshirt which is awesome since, as a Kansas girl, I am a huge KU fan. He probably doesn’t even know who KU is though.
Once in Pana, we met up with Alfredo, our driver. He took us on to Chichicastenango, which holds a massive market on Thursdays and Sundays. There was so much color everywhere we looked, and so many people that it was hard to walk. And Alfredo told us that it was a quiet day there!
There is the tourist portion of the market, and then the local portion. They had a bit of everything. The produce part was packed full of fresh fruits and vegetables, and smelled like cilantro. I love cilantro.
Alfredo gave us bits of information about everything, what things were, what the locals do, etc. One thing I found interesting was when he was describing the tops that the Mayan women wear. There are the smaller ones with one hole for the head for the younger girls. There are the larger ones with one hole for the head for the older women. And then there are the larger ones, with one hole for the head and another hole for breastfeeding for the other women. If you’ve been around the indigenous populations in Guatemala much, you realize that they have a ton of kids and start pretty young.
On the steps of the Church, they sold beautiful flowers.
We got to the livestock portion which was incredibly difficult for me. In the US, pretty much all meat is factory farmed which is a cruel process, but one that people don’t see. In Guatemala, the meat is more from farms, and they sell live chickens, cows, and turkeys at these markets. They are not treated like living creatures, but more like props. The chickens are all stuffed in baskets together with a net keeping them in, and their feet tied together. The cows are very skinny. There was a very distraught pig that multiple people were fighting to keep in a truck. And I don’t mean this to be negative to the Guatemalan people. They are not wealthy, and clearly, taking care of themselves and their families is more important to them than the farm animals, and these animals provide necessary money and/or food for them. But it was not a fun part for me to see.
We walked on to the cemetery which was really interesting. I am used to the cemeteries in the US, where the people are buried with just some sort of stone or granite marker. Here, the bodies are held in above-ground mausoleums. As with everything in Guatemala, they are very colorful as the colors stand for different things. You can tell the wealthier families from the poorer families by looking at the mausoleums.
We made our way back through the market to go on to Antigua.
We had some interesting conversations with Alfredo on the way, and before we knew it, we were at our hostel. We got checked in and carried our stuff up to our room. We had a private room (though shared bathrooms), and the lovely terrace was right outside our door. The arch was a few blocks away, and the park just a little bit further than that. A huge, yummy breakfast was included as well. Only $25 total for the night we were there… and Antigua is more expensive than the rest of Guatemala.
We started walking around. There was a park we hadn’t seen before, full of locals. Many of them were making out, so we felt like we were intruding a bit, and walked on to the square. It was so lively! I don’t know if it’s always that fun and exciting on Sundays, or if something else was going on, but it was perfect. There were buskers performing, live music and people dancing, tons of locals and tourists and dogs walking around, having a great time.
We noticed there were a lot of men walking around with big, muscular pitbulls, most of them wearing shirts that said Team 502 on the back and something about “Destruyendo” on the front, but we couldn’t see what else. We weren’t sure what it was all about but didn’t want to jump to conclusions… So Anthony asked. Apparently they are a group that works to destroy the myth that pitbulls are a dangerous and violent breed. It was Pitbull Ambassador Day. I was super excited. I love any type of animal rights movement really. I happily climbed down to take pictures with the big, mean dogs ;).
A little while after, we saw some pitt babies too, so I got a big, wet kiss on the lips from one.
We went to the little market, and Anthony bought a mask to hang up in his office.
It was a perfectly magical evening for our last night in Guatemala. So bittersweet because I really did not want to leave. We ate some dinner, and when we started walking back to our hostel, it was very chilly and dark, but people were still out, enjoying themselves. We walked by another park with lots of food stands and people hanging out, laughing and eating and toasting to another wonderful Guatemalan weekend. The main part of the city is quite beautiful in the evenings.
We continued on to our hostel where we spent the rest of the evening hanging out on the terrace. Monday, the 11th day of our trip, we had to say “Adios” to Guatemala. I hope to come back some day and will miss it terribly in the meantime.
