STUDENTS TRY A HAND AT WEAVING and make tortillas during a visit to a women’s cooperative in this small village. After a mouth-watering lunch, our hosts walk us up to mountainside fields and terraced gardens to enjoy the view and a snack of fresh-cut corn grilled over an open fire.
THE QUEST CONTINUES WITH A VISIT TO THE SHRINE OF SAN SIMON, near Chimaltenango, a church dedicated to Maximón, a Mayan folk saint, represented in black and obsessed with vices — smoking and drinking. The Mayans mollify Maximón with gifts and sacrifices. Offerings include candles, alcohol, cigars, cigarettes, sugar, and firecrackers burned for good health, good crops, and even fertility. Shamans perform ritual blessings by sweeping various herbs and flowers sprinkled with alcohol up and down one’s body to free it of bad spirits.
MAYAN CULTURE
SANTIAGO ZAMORA
Next stop: Chichicastenango in the highlands. Chugging up steep inclines and switchbacks, the bus reaches this colorful town, home to the famous 1200-year-old market. On market days, dawn brings a steady stream of vendors, buses, and exploding firecrackers. The streets become awash with colors, smells, sounds, and people from all over the world buying and selling everything from handcrafts, pigs, chickens, hand-carved masks, machetes, and textiles. Young boys, smudged with polish, shine shoes, beautiful little girls sell jewelry, old men swing incense. The 18 steps (representing each Mayan calendar month) of the church of Santo Tomas is a sea of flowers and vendors.
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