Market in San Francisco El Alto
Friday was our last day of classes at our school and we decided to go to a market in San Francisco El Alto with our teachers and William and Julian. The market at San Francisco El Alto is supposed to be one of the largest in Central America. We hopped a chicked bus to the town (which is about an hour away from xela) and started off. The market is not set up on a typical grid system, but it spirals its way up the town on the windy streets. This was not a fruit and vegetable marekt. Most of the goods that were being sold were clothing, household wares and Mayan textiles. The pinnacle of the market is the livestock section at the top of the city with a grand overlook of the surrounding valleys. They sold all sorts of animals: chickens, rabbits, turkeys, goats, lambs, cows, pigs, and more. William and Julian loved looking at all the animals. They were more of a spectacle at this market than any of the animals were however. They turned heads yet again.
We only spent about an hour and a half there. As we were leaving the market we walked behind a couple pulling their 2 newly purchased pigs by a piece of rope tied to their necks. One pig refused to follow and she lifted up this squealing pig and carried it under her arm. We flagged down a chicken bus that wad headed back towards Xela. All of the chicken buses have a cargo area on top, usually used for transporting big bags of oranges, textiles, corn husks or other goods. The chicken buses leaving the market at San Francisco also had sheep on top. There was a bus in front of us that had 2 sheep standing on top. Each of the sheep had a rope around its neck and was tied to the bars on top of the bus. If you don´t have a car, this is the way you get your animals home in Guatemala.
This was really quite an experience, and definitely worth a visit if you are in the area. We took a lot of great pictures and we´ve posted them here.
Tags: Central America, Guatemala, Market
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