I just came back from a daytrip to Chichicastenango, a small town that is known for it's colourful markets every thursday and sunday. And while the market was nice, getting there and back was almost more fun. Though, admittedly, my sense of humor is not everyones.

Me, the Swiss girl I met yesterday and two other Swiss set out at 6 am, to board one of the famous "Chickenbusses" the cheapest for of public transport available. These are former school busses from the United States that are colourfully repainted and which are driven at insane speed (> 100 km/h) on the windy country roads. At least I found that this way you don't get carsick. After all, every moment might be your last, so you are trying to enjoy it :-). Another interpretation is that you simply too scared to get sick.

There is still room in there!

As you might know, most schoolbusses have nine rows of seats. Thats room for 36 adults. But here, they pack three and sometimes even four people into each seat and as many as will fit in the middle row. And if none fit any longer, they get some more. I counted heads on hour way back and as far as I could tell we were 90, yep ninety, people on that bus. That is not counting the young pig that the woman next to me was carrying... And still - I really enjoyed the trip! If all this remind you a lot of the pickups in Southeast Asia, then you are absolutely right! But to be honest I think that the Chickenbusses are slightly more comfortable. There is a tiny bit more legroom and the seats are well padded. Having to jump on and off the bus while it is still moving was a bit of a novelty, though. At least this way people don't linger at the entrance forever, as they do in the States. On the other hand, the music is much better that they play on the busses, though they do play it at full volume (and the loudspeakers are much bigger here!) as well.

Marketday in Chichicastenango

So, what was the market in Chichi like. To make it short: Very colourful and full of things that we tend to consider "enticing" and "genuine" when we are abroad, but which we'd probably call ethno-junk if we were at home. Still, I bought a nice little bag (which I think is made very artfully and genuine)and a baseball-cap, since I've lost my old cap again! I must have lost five caps on this trip. At least! I was a bit unsure whether I should buy the bag or continue to rely on my small backpack as a daypack. But in the end I decided that, when walking through crowds here, I do feel more comfortable if I can move my pack in front of me and hold it tight. And that's easier done with the bag I bought now.

Photos, photos, where are the photos?

Something I really liked about the market were all the indigenous people who were shopping there and selling vegetables, art and god-knows-what else. They were all dressed in their traditional colourful outfits, which are really quite amazing. Unfortuantely I don't have any good photos though, since, from what I have been told, they really don't like to have their pictures taken. Another big thing here - and I have even been told this by Guatemalans - is that you cannot take photos of children unless you have the permission of the parents. And it's quite unlikely that you get it. The reason: there is a rumor in Guatemala that Westerners take photos of local kids to kindnap and sell them to Americans who cannot have children of their own or even to use them as organ-donors. According to the Lonely Planet (which in Guatemala is so far very good) foreigners were even lynched by a village-mob after taking photos of children. As you can imagine "getting lynched" is no really on my to do list, so I decided to let it be.