Day 19 - Chichi

Today started out with another sweet chicken bus ride. Our destination? The markets at Chichicastenango, or Chichi as all the locals call it. It is a huge local market for both tourists and locals alike. It is the ultimate market for finding the best bargains. Haley and I went with one goal: Start and finish all our shopping for the trip. We didn't achieve that goal, but we sure gave it a good try.

One of the things we were going to do down here was buy some things to decorate our new house. Today we bought a large wooden Mayan sun, a Tapestry with the Mayan calendar, a nice table runner and some matching placemats, a couple t-shirts (I have kind of been collecting them down here), and a bunch of other stuff I can't think of right now. I spent the entire day dealing prices with different vendors. Every time, it was the same story: "Pasen adelante!" and "Cual es su mejor precio?" Which means, "come in," and "what is your best price?" Every vendor says the same thing, and every vendor chases you down the street offering a lower price after you tell him "too high" and start to walk off. It is kind of fun, though the whole game drives Haley insane. I did find some nice aviator sunglasses for about 3 bucks (you can see them in the photo gallery (follow link at right))

At the end of the day, we opted to take the chicken bus back from the market instead of a private van. We lucked out in that this bus ride actually came with actual chickens. A family of four sat down next to me and we talked the entire ride home. They lived a couple hours away from the market and a couple times a month they go to market to purchase some baby chickens. They then take them home, raise them, and then return to the market to sell them. They were so interested in where we come from. The father couldn't believe that we have come from so many different corners of the world to a place where the locals have never even seen the coast that is probably not more than 60 miles away. I was really glad that I spoke Spanish, because you could tell that even though they always go to the market, they are never able to speak to the tourists that are all around them.

While riding the chicken bus, an egg actually fell from the baggage rack onto Andrew and Amy who were sitting at the very back of the bus. The funny thing was that it was Amy's birthday. They got soaked in nasty raw egg.

On our way home from the bus, we found a little stand that was selling these amazing stone/seashell Mayan masks. They are the size of a person's head and are quite heavy. They dude was asking around 300 quetzales (like $40US). Though I was interested, I decided that was too much and started to walk off. The vendor then shouted after me, offering to trade the mask for my watch. Now, even though I bought my watch over 3 years ago on clearance from K-Mart, I am quite fond of it. Just before the trip I bought a brand new watchband especially for Central America. Though the trade was obviously a good one, I decided to walk away.

Later on in the day, I began to regret my decision and on our way to dinner, I paid the guy a visit. Recognizing me and that I had come back, he realized that he now had the upper hand. I ended up trading my clearance K-mart watch for an incredible Mayan mask that I will probably keep forever. I'd say it was an excellent trade, though not being able to tell the time is driving me nuts!

Haley and I ended the evening drinking the most incredible hot chocolate on the dock of a restaurant overlooking the incredible Lake Atitlan. Good, full day.