Shopping urges satisfied, we decided to learn a bit about the "real" Chichicastenango through visiting the town´s ancient Mayan shrine. The Pascual Abaj is still very much in use today, just as it was before the Spanish conquest. As luck would have it, a shaman ceremony was taking place and we hired a guide to tell us all about the site and rituals performed.

If you wish to have a ceremony performed, you must enlist the help of a shaman, of which there are 300 left in the area, half male and half female. The job is not by choice, it is inherited from mother to daughter and father to son.

Today, a female shaman was busy performing her monthly white magic to keep the town safe and prosperous... A fire away from the main altar area was fed with candles of different colors, eggs, alcohol and more to appease the gods in the month to come. The main altar, the smaller altars around it and the ground in front was covered in insence, flower petals and other offerings while mangy dogs scoured the site for an edible offer of chicken heads.

The main altar, more than 560 years old, is the site for marriage ceremonies. Before marrying, the couple must bring a male and female hen. The gallo represents the female and the gallina the male. Both birds´ heads are cut off by the shaman, and if the birds then dance together the marriage will be a good one. If only one dances (or none), it means that the couple is incompatible, and the marriage is called off. Time to look for another partner! If the chickens bless the couple, the woman drinks a cup of the gallo´s blood and the man a cup of the gallina´s.

The several auxillary altars each serve a specific purpose or ceremony. There is one for females looking for a hot Mayan hunk to marry, and likewise one for men looking for that special lady who boils the best potatoes in town. There is an altar to help out women drinking or smoking too much, and one to aid the men with the same problem. There is an altar to pray for pregnancy and kids, another for money, healthy crops, good health and so on. Even tourists can have a ceremony performed. The day before we visited, a group of Americans had had a shaman blessing to ensure safe bus journeys and no robberies.

The Mayan and catholic religions live side by side here, and the Mayans go to church partly to worship God but just as much to practise their ancient religion. The cross has a dual meaning, signifying not only the suffering of Christ but also the four sacred cardinal directions and the four Mayan gods (sun, moon, maize and rain). The town church has many Mayan altars where pagan ceremonies are performed every day, totally accepted by the clergy. The church, as many others in Latin America, is built upon a sacred Mayan site. Thus, the church kept drawing the interest of the people despite the drastic change in rituals and worship.

Our favourite part of the church is the front steps, where every night local women gather to sell delicious snacks of rolled tacos, tostadas, tamales, and sweet drinks made from rice or maize. Whoever has a policy of not eating street food sure is missing out!