travel blog - panajachel and chichicastenenga

so after spending a relaxing day
haggling in the market at panajachel
we all met up for supper
and found a nice lil place
that served decent food for a moderate price
but had AMAZING service
in that the lady got every aspect of our order right
and did everything in a timely fashion
course after course
without the customary 1 to 2 hour wait
that had accompanied some of our more recent experiences
(like in flores... where the girl
kept writing down more and more and more
every time we repeated what she said for clarification...
that was scary)
the next day,
we were to go to chichicastenenga for market day
but erin had a nasty ear infection
and had a breakout of hives that same night
and so where 5 were to go,
only 3 went
as sarah stayed behind to take care of her
later,
we found out that the vaseline she´d put in her hair
to keep her braids more manageable
was the likely cause of the allergic reaction
and we returned to panajachel to
a normal looking, unbraided erin
oh yeah, and the hives were gone too
anyways,
chichicastenenga hosts a market 2 days a week
thursdays and sundays
this was thursday
and we arrived at about half past nine
and entered the market
it is one of the largest in the area
and was quite interesting to see
many of the stalls were covered with tarps
and a maze of tents created a really neat atmosphere
smoke from cooking fires
with the odd beam of sunlight piercing through
gave the food area a truly exotic look
the other thing that really stands out or, down maybe
is the height to which many of the tents were strung
you see,
the average mayan person is no more than 4 feet or so in height
so walking through the tent mazes
reminded me of being in the catacombs under paris again...
the really tight parts =P
the market was exotic
fun to learn
and fun to walk around and through
and the church had some mayan-catholic priest guys waving incense around
but all in all,
the market at panajachel was much better
the people were friendlier
and would haggle to a lower price
and there was actually more variety of textiles at pana
besides,
anyone who has been to a night market in taiwan
will know that size doesn´t matter
it´s the quality of the goods that does
and with that being said
the night markets in taiwan are HUGE compared to the market days in the highlands
and the coolest thing about that
is with my almost non-existant handle of the spanish language
i wasn´t too worried about getting lost or disoriented
speaking of getting disoriented
we had an almost-situation
after i split from anita and mikayla
to go wander the market alone
at kirby-speed
and found myself at the departure spot
on time
and alone
with the bus there
and everyone else who´d come
but no anita or mikayla
not long after,
i saw anita walk by from the oddest street
(not even in the market)
and waved her down
noticing that she wasn´t carrying
any of the dozen things she´d bought that morning
and noticing
that mikayla wasn´t there either
by sheer dumb luck,
she´d found the departure spot
while looking for the restaurant that she left mikayla in
our dear mini-bus driver, carlos
was intent on leaving
(the cabron!)
prolly because he was still miffed
at the fact that i´d gotten a lower price for the fare
than what he quoted me
and now he was stuck driving me and my friends
he tried to leave a few times
before mikayla came in search of anita
sans many bags of products
which she had left in the care of some nice local ladies
and actually pulled away
after mikayla went back for the loot
luckily,
by speaking directly to the other tourists
and apologizing while asking them if it was ok to wait a few more minutes
carlos couldn´t very well take off
and piss everyone off
poor carlos
in the end,
we all made it home
all the loot made it home as well
and we found a relaxed pair of our friends
3 tacos for 10Q with amazing toppings
and for me,
a whole bunch of better deals
than anything to be had in chichi
damn, but i like pana!
oh yeah,
there were some papoosa ladies on the wednesday night
out in the street
who were making fresh papoosas
for 4Q a piece and totally de-lish!
we were off to san pedro the next day
and i was definitely sorry to leave
but we made plans to return early
as it seemed we all enjoyed pana equally
=)