Our weekend in Chichi

This past weekend Tom and I ventured out of the city of Xela to the nearby town of Chichicastenango. Chichi is approximately 3 hours away from Xela and is well-known for their market on Sundays. Also, Tom´s aunt MaryAnn was going to be in Chichi for the week, so we thought we would venture out and go visit. On Friday we left for the ¨bus terminal¨ around 1:30pm, this was our first adventure to the ¨bus terminal¨ and it was definately not what we expected. We took a smaller bus to the terminal (I forget what this is called, but it´s basically a minivan). We arrived at the terminal which was basically the side of the street where many people gathered to catch a bus to their own destination. We stood for around 15 minutes waiting for buses...to our dismay there were none heading towards Chichi. We started aimlessly wandering towards other areas of the street in search for our bus....there continued to be none. Tom was able to ask a couple people where the buses were for Chichi and we were told they were in another area. We then walked towards where we thought the busses were, but once again none to Chichi. Tom once again asked one of the bus drivers and was told there is another area for buses....on the other side of the market. So, once again Tom and I took off in search of our bus....wandering through the market (which we never new was as big as it was) after walking through the market for a good 15 minutes we stumbled upon an open, noisy area with many, many busses and lots of people. We didn´t really need to look for a bus as there were people coming up to us and asking where we needed to go. So, after spending an hour searching we finally found our bus to Chichi and were ready for the 3 hour ride. Although I slept most of the way I also gained a friend (a teenage boy who was so tired he fell asleep on my shoudler), and Tom got a good chuckle out of that.

Once in Chichi we got a place to stay at a hotel for around 70 quetzales a night, which is around $10 in american. The room was not fancy by any means and the bathroom smelled pretty bad, but it had a gorgeous view of the city. Friday night was fairly uneventful, we explored the city a little, but it was dark so we were not terribly comfortable wandering around, so we more or less ate and went back to the hotel. Saturday we were wandering around the city by 9am, strolling down the main street where the market takes place. Tom and I had our sites on a restaurant that was recommend through a book...however, on our way to the restaurant we heard a familiar american voice ¨Tom, Melissa¨ Tom stopped immediately, however I was dead set on that breakfast and payed no attention. I eventually turned around to see that MaryAnn had found us. We spent some time hanging out with MaryAnn and made plans to go to Pascal Abaj, which is a ritualistic Mayan place of worship. MaryAnn went her seperate way as Tom and I went to Pascal Abaj. Once at Pascal Abaj Tom and I felt as though we were intruding, as there were ceremonies taking place, therefore we didn´t stay very long. (Although during the ceremony the leader (or bujo I believe) stepped away from the ceremony to take a call on his cell phone.)

Upon the walk back we stumbled upon a small artisian shop called Project Guggenheim, they actually have a website if you want to check it out. www.projectguggenheim.org This is a place where young children and teenagers are able to learn how to paint, sculpt and various other forms of art. There are several of them throughout the world. They had a lot of beautiful artwork!! Tom and I bought two smaller piece of art, we also brought MaryAnn back later in the day and she bought something as well. The rest of the weekend we spent doing some shopping and hanging out. Oh yeah and it´s hard to forget all of the people who would follow MaryAnn around and want her to buy whatever they were selling. One lady even followed us to MaryAnn´s hotel and then found us again later in the evening....no, MaryAnn did not buy anything from her, but she could´ve gotten the items at a really good price!! Sunday we took a little side trip to a nearby city, but to our dismay it was not what we expected...we left after spending a short amount of time there. Once we got back to Chichi it was time for Tom and I to head back to the city. Back on the bus and back to Xela.