Chillin´in Chichi

And here´s my dear Roni...

If you could see me now you´d be blinded by the sparkle of dangly beaded earrings I just bought on the street (while my travel partner diligently blogged) but Adam did his share of shopping too - because today we traveled to the huge outdoor door market in Chichicastengango (chichi). The small town is about an hour´s drive away (windy, cut into the mountains) - we nearly missed our shuttle there after running from one place to the next this morning. Adam and I were expecting to be overwhelmed by the market - instead we were invited into the wide aisles of color and smells. Woven purses and scarves, intricately carved masks, blue corn tortillas patted and fried on giant griddles...it was lovely. Adam bought a crisp white linen shirt and I bought a woven apron. We shared a sack of cashews that we bought from a little boy. While resting on the steps of a church we were surrounded by little girls (the youngest, two years old) trying to sell us crafts. Adam and I distracted them by demonstrating the beloved hand-clap ¨big mac, filet o fish,¨etc. It was a hit! The two year old with only one row of teeth was grinning and climbing on my lap. Later we explored quieter streets and found a tiny video arcade (bar with three old games) - for one quetzal we bought a game of foosball and invited two local guys to join us. They didn´t seem to know what to make of my high-fives or Adam´s smack-talking but we had a good time.

Adam and I are off to get dinner - after just cashews and a bag full of sliced mango my stomach is rumbling...tomorrow we go back to the lovely Casa del Mundo!

Here a few pictures that don´t do the market any justice.

The first is a shot of the market.

The second is a shot of the cemetary where traveleres dare not go. Check out how colorful it is...