Chichi: an impressively colourful market!

Chichicastenango (a town in the El Quiche' department of Guatemala) means "Tenango"= the place of "Chichi" = nettles, a very flowery tree. In fact the town is known just as Chichi. El Quiché is mainly populated by a large community of indigenous Maya who leave all over on the mountains surrounding Chichi. The visit of this town is definitely worth it only on its market days: Thursday and Sunday. It starts very early in the morning between 7 and 8 am and lasts until 4 pm when the stalls slowly start to get dismantled. The market stalls, mainly hand-made with wooden sticks and ropes only, are found along both sides of the back-streets and the biggest section is found in the main plaza between the two white churches facing one another (see picture of one church below).

  

The best time to shop is in the afternoon after 1pm when the majority of the tourists, who arrive with an organized tour, have just left and therefore it is easier to get better deals :o) . Bargaining is part of the game and the latest you'll do it better prices you'll get! 

Quetzaltenango, so called Xela

Xela was my first stop in Guatemala. The idea was to go directly to Chichicastenango, very famous for its Sunday-market, just after crossing the Mexican border but it was already quite late in the afternoon. After 5pm is difficult to find direct buses and travelling in the dark can be dangerous. Anyway I definitely recommend Xela as a first stop after crossing the border and it can also become a stationery point for exploring the surrounding area where various outdoor activities can be practiced: rock-climbing, volcano hiking, mountain-bike and more. Xela is surrounded by few volcanoes and if you are interested to explore them I suggest you contacting the following organization: Quetzaltrekkers. They offer very interesting and adventurous activities for a very reasonable price while at the same time they financially support the instruction of local kids.

Border crossing Mexico-Guatemala

An easy way to access into Guatemala from Mexico is to take a public bus from San Cristobal de las Casas (Chiapas) to Cuahtemoc for about 90 pesos. Once the bus leaves you at the border, get your passport stamped and then the only way to cross the border is to catch a taxi (ask to wait until it gets full so you will share the cost of 50 pesos between others). The taxi will take you to the city of La Mesilla in Guatemala about 10-15 minutes drive. Here you will get a bit shocked! La Mesilla is an extremely chaotic town (as many other Guatemalan towns): there is loads of traffic on the main street with taxies, buses, tuc-tuc, carretas (mobile bistros) and bicycle. All along both sides of the road is packed with market stalls selling all sort of things. Walking up the street to get to the bank first and then to the bus station, you will notice that they ALL sell the SAME thing in gigantic amount! Remember that once you have left Mexico you won't be able to use pesos because no one (not even the buses) will accept them . So make sure to withdraw some money at a bank and if you can DO NOT accept change from the people on the street: 1US$ is about 12.9 MX$ and in Quetzal (the Guatemalan value) is about 8. They were offering 5.5 Quetzal!!