Joan, Mary Jane, and I decide that it is time to get out of town for a bit. We decide to take a bus ride to Chichi.

Our luck this day was definitely bueno.

We met with friends for lunch at Alquimista. A MUST if in Xela. The walk up is a steep one but this restaurant definitely has the best view in town. It is set on a hillside overlooking the city of Xela. You eat on an open air veranda and the food is all organic and vegetarian. We all sit at a table near the wall of the veranda and the view is fantastic!

The restaurant has one waitress and one cook I believe. We arrived at noon and left at 2:30 with high hopes of making the 3:30 bus. We were pushing it since none of us had packed....

We ran down the hill to our houses and got packed. Now is was 3pm. Joan and I flagged down a taxi and was waiting until 3:25pm for Mary Jane. aaaaahhhhh One of the people that I´m living with, Iban, is a cab driver. Just as we were really getting anxious he pulled up and so did Mary Jane. We chose to give our money to Iban and he put pedal to metal to get us to the Minerva bus station to catch our bus.

We jumped out and started dodging buses. Apparently crazy looking gringa´s dodging buses isn´t a great idea so a very nice gentleman grabbed us and put us on the right bus to Chichi.

Upon our arrival we quickly found a hotel room. This is a feat unto itself because rooms are hard to find without reservations due to the high traffic at the market. We got a fantastic room. At Hotel Giron we had a room with 3 single beds, a private bathroom, and it sits on one of the streets of the market.

The next morning, Sunday, we had breakfast on a veranda overlooking the market. It was amazing to sit there and watch as the vendors brought the market to life. We even spied a transaction where two chickens were sold! After breakfast it was time to shop.

This market is HUGE!!! Not only are the people at the booths trying to make a sale but there are small children with dolls, necklaces, and other small things trying to sell you something as well. The children are persistent. They ask if you want to buy something, hold your hand, grab your arm, follow you tugging on your shirt, and when that doesn´t work they ask "do you want to buy something for me?" and then they even tell you the price of a new pair of shoes! It is sad to see them like this and hard to say no. However, once you say yes to anything then you meet five of their closest friends who are also wanting to make a sale, get a gift, or tell you the price of what they want. It is hectic and soon you turn cold to it. I don´t know how many children I talked to before I felt completely overwhelmed.

This market, outside of great deals and options, also has a church at one side of it. We found a woman who was a licensed guide to take people to view Mayan religious ceremonies. I´m telling you... anything you want you can find at Chichicastenango.

I also found a neat story about Mayan money. It starts as a large silver coin and as the person purchases things they slice a chunk of silver off their coin. When the person is down to a tiny square of silver imprinted with an "X" then they are broke. The equivalent of a penny in our pocket I guess. Well.... I thought.... by the time I return home from this trip I will be lucky to have any silver in my pocket. So I bought one of the coins that was down to the tiny small square with the "X" stamped on it. I feel that is how I will return....broke. ha ha ha

After a hard day of shopping, bartering, and "no gracias´s" we grabbed a bite to eat. My hamburger was still pink and mooing which helped me to make a decision for dining in Central America. When I go to a restaurant then I´m eating vegetarian. I ate my fries and sulked because the waiter assured me that it was cooked all the way thru and my spanish is not so good that I can argue.

We walked to where the bus dropped us off the night before and asked a police officer when the next bus to Xela would be arriving. He told us 10 minutes and an hour later plus lots of flirting our bus finally arrived.

We got on the bus to Xela and enjoyed the view from the window all the way home.

Now let me tell you about my visit to Chicoviq!