Marina Cant: Chichicastenango

Wow. Today was full and exciting, for the first time I truly felt like I was in somewhere foreign, the adventure is on! Guatemala City is typical of Central American cities. Bright, pastel coloured two-storey buildings covered in tattered signs and hosting smiling, curious faces. Today we spent a lot of our time traveling, for someone who gets car sick instantaneously I was quite impressed I kept myself together- we all handled the windy twisty road like champs.

We arrived in Chichicastenango. The city was quaint and lively with the market. We took a beautiful stroll through the city, up to its highest point. There we bought. Each colour signified a specific wish; mine were red and black, representing love and the banning of evil spirit, respectively. After hiking a hill we came to a blessing ground with crosses and the remains from previous offerings. Although the wind kept blowing our candle out, I didn’t take it as a sign of uselessness, rather our wishes for health, love, purity, mountains, or wealth were unnecessary- our intentions were evident, we were there out of pure respect. It was really nice to participate in a local ritual. According to the Mayan calendar today is one of a five day stint that is in between cycles, in this time the local people feel more inclined to please their gods through more offerings and sacrifices. The next of these ‘between times’ will be in 250 days, December 21, and I’m sure all of your reading have heard of this “end of the Mayan calendar”.  

 I think coming down the hill was my favorite part of the day- a local boy named Sebastian, who had previously followed us all the way along the hike trying to sell us his fares, lead myself and Mustaali down the “quick route”; let’s just say I was grateful for the scattered trees to brake my fall. There were many children persistently selling their goods. Ok, persistent may be an understatement- but to those who plan to travel here or somewhere like here: don’t worry, they’re cuts as buttons. Remember “No Gracias” can go a long way- especially if you say it warmly with a smile, they tended to smile back. Going through the town and market was lively. There were masks, oh so many masks, and I wanted them all. But I made sure I didn’t get just any one, I truly love the one I have- it will go well with the other 35 I have at home. According to the competitor of the senor who sold me the mask I was “ripped off and completely lied to” about the age of the mask and its value. But who should I believe? I think the lesson to learn here is unless you’re Indiana Jones or an antique collector, just trust your own preferences and bargain like there’s no tomorrow. I think a mistake that I made was I initially asked how much the pieces were, where I should have started with an offer. Whether I was “ripped off” or not, I don’t care. The price was ridiculously inexpensive in comparison to what I would have paid in Canada, and these people deserve it.

The ride home was less nauseating for me. This is possibly because of the way we passed the time: word games. I will end with our bus’s final story- now keep in mind this is created by one person participating a single word at a time, so no judging!

                Happily the goat swam over his fear; he seldom asked fate to corrupt little penguins. Unfortunately the evil penguins weren’t capable or energetic enough to dance with the fish. When goats metaphorically believe, fate intervenes, the goats dance over the luscious edible fish. Donkeys often dream of dancing horses because goats don’t like swimming under the surface of the donkey’s hooves. “Shit, said the unpredictable penguins after watching the water permeate through the souls of the fish.