The bus that I was advised to take was a regular bus but a Pullman. I was told to go at 6:30am in front of the McDonald , close to the market to a Panaderia. I went there and I asked and yes, the bus was coming there or nearby. I had my breakfast with Antigua Coffee and pane dulce and some meat pie and at 7:00 I went to the bus, paid Q36 and I was on my way to Los Encunetros. The bus ride took somewhere around 2 hours and they dropped me at the junction. This is actually what this place is. A connection of two main roads and everything is routed through this place. In the airplane industry it may be called a hub. Dropped was the word because all these buses are dropping their passengers and the luggage almost moving and they pointed me a local bus, nicknamed also the chicken bus because sometimes you may have other passengers except people, going to the market. The bus was full. This is an incomplete statement for anybody who traveled with this mode of transportation and this was just my perception. As a matter of fact, after I got on the bus other tens of people got in from different stations and somehow they sat down, sardines in a can. The ride took about half an hour and it was very intimate. We were 6 people on two seats that have a space between them but somehow we occupied the space also sitting on the benches. If you think that is not more space to throw a needle another person gets on the bus, and after the while the bus attendant starts to walk inside the bus to collect the money. He is very delft in this and in the same time he is constantly outside of the bus, in plain speed getting on top, and preparing the baggage that should be returned to the descending passengers. When they get down the bus almost stops and they get off catch the luggage and off we go again, the attendant being on top, or on one of the stairs, leaving one way and coming back the other way. It is a whole show to watch him. Meanwhile the driver is very relaxed on roads in hairpins, answering his cellphone and sustaining conversations.
After the half an hour intimate ride I got in Chichicastenango, for the major event the Sunday market. There are two markets a week, Sunday and Thursday, both very active but this one has also the possibility to watch some religious events, and it happened. Chichi, as is called by everybody, is a magical town. It is a Maya town and this you can tell from everything. There are two churches, one in front of each other, that are only in name Catholic. The steps going to St Tomas, the main church look like the steps of the pyramids, and the atmosphere inside and on its entrance, reminded me of scenes from Jokhang Temple in Lhasa. In no other place, except Lhasa, I saw so much incense burning and the entire air being saturated with smoke from this incense. The atmosphere is magic. I spend a lot of time in front of the church, on its steps and inside, where unfortunately you are not allowed to take pictures, and this is not from commercial point of view. The church has plates in the middle of the nave where people come to put candles right on these plates on the ground. Besides them they put rose petals and pine tree pins. There are about 4 plates like these and is a continuous flow of Maya believers who come and pray or thank the Gods for what they achieved. It is mesmerizing and you cannot stop watching. This is true belief and the devotion you see around stays with you. After visiting the church I got out in the market that is right in front of its steps. Maya are coming from everywhere for this market and they come with chicken, pigs, wares, and vegetables among many others. They sell and buy and all are dressed in traditional clothing. After pounding the market, left and right, buying some textiles and having my lunch of fruits, as expected, melon, red and yellow, papaya, mango, and pine apple, I bumped into a building that was the inside market, where the show was magnificent. A flurry of activity with lots of buyers and sellers, a story only the video can tell. Getting out of the market I went to the church again where some petards were exploded. A mystical and interesting ceremony was taking place, with two important floats being taken out on its , now, cleared steps, and ported through the market to Iglesia De Calvario , that is in front. This was done by the Confradias, that are Maya associations that preserve the traditions among many other, but they are invited by the community to be part of it and in spite of the fact that it may cost them money to do it is accepted right away being very prestigious. As a matter of fact, the government has a mayor and a priest for the church, the first elected and the second appointed, but the locals elect a complete body of people that deal only with the indigenes. The locals, Maya, respect the authority imposed but they want to deal with its own elected authority. Petards, lots of incense burning, smoke and magic. They moved the floats to the other church and they performed a ritual, praying and dancing. I got to close with my shooting and I got a scold from one of the top guys so I had to go down and shot from a distance. They prayed to the four cardinal points and move the floats with their prayers and after that they started again to put petards to dispel the evil, and the evil formed from foreign tourist fled forced away by the noise. They danced with a large ball symbolizing probably the earth and when they were done they move back on the same way to the St Tomas church. I returned with them and I went again in the church from where I took a guide to go to a hill nearby where is an idol, Pascual Abajo, venerated by the locals. He explained me lots of things that I already knew from the book, but he was nice and we chat going up the hill. We passed though Moreira that is a place that have masks used in festivities, Moreira being the combination of Maya with Spaniards. I wanted to buy some mask but I was already terrified to the amount I have to carry so I passed and we went to the idol, a nice 20 minutes walk in a pine tree forest. The idol is heavily used, it looks like a statue from Easter Island and here it got the name from. It was nobody there and he explained me lots of things related with colors and traditions. From the idol we went to the cemeterio, where the tombs of the Maya and the Catholic are separated and clearly distinct. The catholic being larger, with capellas and the Maya tomb being small but caring on top also the cross, a symbol that they were using well before the Catholics came with Columbus. I took pictures and I was lucky to see a ritual of some persons who were asking for good luck in business. Very interesting and eerie. One of the major issues that I had coming to Chichi was to figure out where to leave the backpack because I did not plan to get a hotel in town. In the morning, after I saw that the tourist office is closed on Sundays, I stopped at the Museo Colonial and I asked to leave it there. The custodian had his lucky day and he asked me for Q50 to do it. I was in a rush and I negotiated down to Q25, still astronomical but efficient, and now at 3:00pm I was supposed to go and pick it up because he was closing. I paid Alfredo, the guide, Q40 what we negotiated and I went to the museum where I picked the backpack and with such a heavy weight I just walked a little to look for some stuff near by.
I tried to find a direct bus to Panacachel, the town on the shore of lake Atitlan, where I am now but I could not find and the only hope was the same famous chicken bus. It came after about 20 minutes wait and it was full to a level that even they considered reasonably full. So I stand in front near the driver not having the guts to get inside, no matter that still two guys were able to squeeze in somehow. I wanted to take a picture but I don’t know if the passengers have liked it. So I got back in Los Encuentros in half an hour from where I took an other chicken bus, this time empty to Solola, from where I took another bus to Pana, as Panajachel is known, total time 45 minutes. Calle Santander is the heart avenue of the town, full of hotels, restaurants, internet and international phones from where I made a quick call and posted the story from yesterday. After that I went to a travel agency to get info for the tomorrow tours on the lake and many others, like the bus to Xela, and followed by a delicious dinner of a generous cevice de pescado watching the end of the Superbowl and the Giants win.
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