Chichicastenango

Dear Family and Friends:
    There are two places that the tourist industry here say that you just have to visit while in Guatemala.  One is Tikal, the huge Mayan ruins, and the other is Chichicastenango, a huge open market or a huge flee market.  Having visited Tikal while we were on the Book of Mormon tour we decided that it was time to experience Chichi.
     We left on Wednesday morning with President and Hermana Burk and Elder y Hermana Brubaker for our adventure.  We drove for about 2 1/2 hours and stopped in Tecpan for lunch.

 Tecpan is a tourist town surrounded by small farms where they grow huge strawberries. 

    Los Thompsons, President Burk, Los Brubakers

   Of course there were little shops all over to purchase typical souvenirs.  But we are heading to the biggest open air market in Guatemala so we didn't shop here.

     About a half hour down the road, we stopped at an overlook to view Lake Atitlan and the area around it. 

  Lake Atitlan with the Volcano in the background.

 I just wish that pictures could show all the different colors and patchwork fields that the human eye can see.  It was breathtaking.

 Hermana Brubaker, Hermana Burk, Hermana Thompson, President Thompson, Elder Brubaker

     About two more hours of winding up, down, and around the mountains we arrive in Chichi.  We have reservations at the Chalet-House Hotel. 

It is owned and ran by the Branch President in Chichi, in fact he and his family live on the second floor of the hotel and his wife even has her doctor's office in the hotel.  But first, we need to get the car parked in front.

 As you can see, the cobble stone streets are very narrow and President Burk had to get the car over so that other cars could pass.  He is between the concrete step of the sidewalk and a power pole.

 The Branch President and Hotel owner and Elder Brubaker watching all sides

 Just about there.  Just had to back up and we were set.  The market is only about 4 blocks from here so we will walk everywhere we need to.

 Unloading the luggage was easy as we were right in front of the front door.  President Burk, President Toll, Los Brubakers, President Thompson.

The hotel had 4 rooms on the first floor, where the Brubakers were and 4 rooms on the top floor, where we and the Burks stayed.  It was clean.

  Twin beds, very firm mattresses, but plenty of blankets for the chilly night.

 If you were the first in the building to shower, you had a hot shower.  The Burks beat everyone up and had hot water, we had luke warm and the Brubakers had cold showers Thursday morning.

The closet.

  The hall way leading to the stairs.  Lon standing next to our room and President Burk leaning out of his room.

 The stairs leading to the roof and on the other side leading down stairs.

 The breakfast nook.  They provided a continental breakfast.  The chairs are covered by Huipils.  They are colorful blouses that the native women wear. 

   We went to the roof and took a few pictures so that you can see the area where we were staying.  We are right in the middle of the town.

 It is always laundry day

 The corn has been harvested but the stocks have not been cleared yet and the fields replanted.

 Interesting house construction.

 The back of the hotel looks into the houses below.  It was a quiet neighborhood until 5:30am when the fireworks began.  I guess they were telling us to get up and head for the market.

   After settling in to our rooms, we took off to explore Chichi. 

       Los Brubakers, Los Burks, Los Thompsons
The market is only on Thursday and Sunday so tonight the people were starting to set up their booths and prepare for tomorrow.

They haul in their wood and their tarps to set up their booth.  They have to pay for the space that they use and do this on Thursdays and on Sundays.

 There are two churches in town, one on each side of the main plaza and the market spreads out from there.  The Mayan's still do their religious ceremonies in front of the churches and then attend the catholic services.

 There are fires burning in front of the church at all times.

The work of setting up the market had to go on all night.  A lot of work for only one day and then tear it all down and rebuild it for the Sunday market day.  Anything and everything is sold here.  We are standing on the stairs of one of the churches for this shot.

I guess when you are real tired you can sleep just about anywhere.

The little "shops" not only surrounded the town square, they went on for about 4 or 5 blocks in every direction from the center of town.

 

  We left the city center and walked around town, coming upon this overpass.  We climbed to the top to get a good view of the city up and down the street.

 Elder Brubaker taking our picture from the bottom of the overpass.

                           The view from the left

And the view back towards city center.

It was dark by the time we walked back to the hotel so we called it an evening, getting to bed real early as there was no TV in the rooms to keep us up late.  And as I said earlier, we had a 5:30 wake up call from fireworks.

     We met in the breakfast nook for our breakfast of hot bread, hot cocoa, or herbal tea.

 Hermana Burk cutting a slice of hot bread.

 President Burk trying to fish out the flooties out of his cup.  Don't think the "dishwasher" get them real clean.  The fresh squeezed orange juice and the hot bread were wonderful though.  And we were off to visit the market.

 We were early but already there were people everywhere.  It only got more crowded as the morning wore on.  You could hardly walk between the shops by the time we left.

 They sold used shoes, new shoes, new clothes, used clothes, chickens, pigs, veggies, fruits, anything that you can name was for sale here.

 It was hard to walk between the booths on each street as they lined both sides of the street.  The colors of the fabrics were bright and vibrant.  And these are adults around us, not kids.  We are among the true Mayan people who are not very tall.

 The beans grow in every color of the rainbow here.

 Fruits and veggies.  The big green things are not watermelon, they are a squash

Juana followed us all around the market trying to get anything that we wanted.  When we told her aprons, she ran to her booth, quite a distance, and brought aprons for everyone.  When we needed a certain color, she ran back to her booth and appeared with correct color for everyone.  Needless to say, we all bought an apron from her.

                                           The town cemetery.  They are always so colorful.

 We left Chichi around 11 and headed home.  The town was so crowded by then that you could not walk together, only single file.  We stopped at the overlook to Lake Atitlan again and were the only ones to shop in the small shopping area.  It was nice to not have so many people around.  I found a new skirt and blouse and Lon got a new shirt. 

 We stopped for lunch and arrived home about 4pm.  It was a fun trip with special people.

                 Stacks of wood for sale.  Wood is used here for cooking and heating homes.

      Well, that ends our long trips during the temple closure.  We still have Friday and Saturday to tell you about, but that will come in the next blog.  Our lives will settle into the routine next week.  We are so ready for the Temple to reopen.  We love to be able to visit the country, but we miss the Temple so much.  It will be good to be of service again.

     We send our love to all.  Life is wonderful.  We pray that you can enjoy every minute, the good as well as the bad because without the bad, we would never know what the good is.  Keep smiling, it keeps the doctors away.  Love Lon and Nancy, Dad and Mom, Grandpa and Grandma.