On the morning of 10th May we left Mexico for Guatemala crossing the border at the La Mesilla crossing. It took all of 15 minutes being charged $25 to leave Mexico and $10 to enter Guatemala with no forms filled in at either offices. From the border we went to Totonicapan where we were to stay overnight with local families. Totonicapan is the centre of a district (state/county) and where an uprising happened when the local people rose up against the Spanish conquerors, which only lasted a few weeks. Apart from that it is the centre for a lot of crafts, weaving being the dominant one.
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| Looking from Guatemala into Mexico |
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| Looking into Guatemala from Mexico |
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| Totonicapan Main Square |
The local family I stayed with were a family of weavers from great grandfather to the present great grand son (and daughter), who had five weaving looms in the house. He wove my name into a piece of cloth which was on the loom without any written pattern (but then removed it so as not to waste the cloth). He mentioned that the family had their own distinctive pattern as had all the weavers in the area. The family owned five houses next to each other and there were looms in each house. His wife was a community nurse who walked the mountains three days a week taking medicines and advice to village women, mainly those who were pregnant. The meal in the evening was a lovely potato soup, steamed beef mince in a leaf with rice and vegetables.
I was told that most of the teenage boys traveled illegally to the USA for work where they could earn far more than ever possible should they stay in Guatemala. The family would pay $50,000 (by mortgaging house for example) for the teenager to get to the USA and would expect the money to be recouped within a couple of years and then the families would be well off with money being sent home when they would be able to have an expensive (relative) house in Guatemala. There are about three million Guatemalans in the USA.
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| Weaving loom |
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| My name woven into the wool |
The following morning we left for Chichicastenango Market. (Photos from https//bucketlistjourney.net) Chichicastenango is known for its market, being one of the largest in Central America, where vendors sell handicrafts, food, flowers, pottery, wooden boxes, condiments, medicinal plants, candles, traditional incense, animals and farming tools. There were hundreds of stalls there and an easy place to get lost in. I did have a problem in buying things as the local women did not speak any language other than a Mayan dialect and even holding out money for them to take the cost of the goods did not work. I ended up asking a passing tourist to help me with her Spanish and perhaps being female helped as well.
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| Various market views |
From the market we headed for Panajachel, the main town on the shore of Lake Atitlan for a two night stay at the Hotel Utz Jay. It is a small town and mainly a tourist destination full of souvenir shops, restaurants and hotels. This is where I came for a day trip when I was staying in Antigua and again I went out to two of the lakeside villages again mainly to see and buy some of the craft items such as the oil painting below at San Juan village.
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| Ferry boat |
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| The oil painting from San Juan |
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| Lake Atitlan |
After a restful stay in Panajachel we returned to Antigua for a one night stay in the same hotel as we were in nearly four weeks ago. The following day the others left for the airport and I moved back to the Hotel Casa del Cerro where I had left my bags before the trip round Central America (only taking a small bag) and going back because it was much cheaper than the other place.
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