After an interesting first week in Guatemala, we finally arrived at Chichicastenango hoping to camp before lunch time and have a few chilled day in Chichi. Well I can tell you that it didn’t happen, if you missed our last week post, you can find it here.
We were locked in the traffic at the entrance of Chichi, we have no way to go ahead or turn around so we left the car in a dead-end alley and joined the crowd going uphill to the entrance of the town.
But before going to town, we had a short visit to the entrance of the campsite that we wanted to stay originally and enjoyed all the fun things set up there for the kids and adults including a roller coaster, gambling tables, magicians, bars and shops and restaurants.
As we were approaching to the entrance of the Chichi, we saw people dressed up with the different traditional outfits and wearing interesting masks. The outfits were completely different for each couple and the masks were interesting.
We stopped in front of a door that most of these couples were coming out of and took some photos without knowing what was exactly happening.
A young man with a professional camera was standing next to us and was taking photos. It looked like he came prepared so he was the person to ask what is happening.
He was a Guatemalan Youtuber from one of the big cities nearby who came to document an interesting event. When we asked him what is happening, he looked at us, smiled and said, you are lucky, you got to Chichi on the first day of the most important festival of the year, Fiesta de Santo Tomas. He asked us to follow him to an exciting show that was about to start! We were lucky to run into him! He had all the program for the three day festival.
As we were following him, alleys were getting narrower with all the stalls took over the cobblestone streets and we were moving with the dense crowd toward the main event. It was so much happening on both sides, stalls selling handicrafts, foods, masks and all sort of things but it was almost impossible to stop as crowd was taking us like a river. And finally we arrived at a plaza where the Santo Tomas church was located. A beautiful and humble white church, decorated for the occasion and all the steps were covered with people trying to find the best spot for the show!
Although this festival is for honoring the saint of this town, Saint Tomas but the rituals and ceremonies are an interesting mix of Mayan and Catholic traditions. On a corner of the main plaza which was now packed with people was a group of men wearing the monkey masks and playing Marimba, Guatemala national music instrument. Another man dressed up in a monkey outfit and mask was walking around and playing flute. There was a massive wooden pole in the middle of the plaza and two men with the same outfit were climbing its ladder to the top which looked way high in the sky.
It took them a while to reach the top and work on something on top which we had no idea about. The music was still going and it gave us some time to fully grasp where we were and find a nice place to watch what was about to happen. It was a wooden wheel on top of the pole and here rotating it. It took around half an hour before they were ready. They were hanging off a rope and rotating around the pole and coming down slowly. The crowd went quiet and an exotic music was going on while these two masked men came down slowly. It was a nerve wrecking show to watch but it is a really old tradition that goes on for years in southern Mexico and Guatemala in Mayan communities. We felt extremely lucky to be able to witness it.
After spending some time in the main plaza and taking it all in, it was time to head back to the main street that we saw a lot of people with different masks and see what is happening there. The street was looking different, both sides were closed and big speakers were brought to the both side of the street and crown already sit on the street kerbs waiting for the next show.
After 10 minutes all the people that we saw earlier with their traditional cloth and masks walked in, music started and they all started to dance. The energy in that street was insane. The music was fun and these guys were dancing like there is no tomorrow! We couldn’t believe where we ended up!
Guatemalan to our eyes are reserved and shy people and during our stay, we found it hard to get closer to them but these masks were doing a magic! Behind the masks, they were open, happy welcoming and were moving and dancing in such a fun way. It was interesting that none of the crowd on both sides of the street were dancing. I couldn’t stop moving. Music was awesome and these guys were dancing in front of us and inviting us to dance. That was by far, one of the best experiences of this trip. We took lots of videos but not much photos since it is hard to capture the feeling of it in a single photo.
Here are some photo, but we added lots of short videos of this event to our Instagram Guatemala highlights too.
We felt so happy and couldn’t stop smiling as we were going down the hill where our car was parked.
After having all the fun, we had to get back to our main problem which was having nowhere to stay for the night!
The only campsite in the area was not accessible and all the hotels in town and around the town were booked because of the festival.
We wanted to be in the area for the next following days to witness the festival so we had to find a place.
We started to drive out of town and try few hotels with bigger outdoor area to see if we can park there and stay in the car.
Just before the sunset, we found a nice hotel with a great green area a bit far away from the main road to park for the next few days.
While we were on the way to Chichi, we passed a bigger city called Quiche which looked interesting with a great market.
For the following day, we decided to take a break form the festival and explore this city and get back again to Chichi for the last day of the festival.
So the next day was the day to get on the Chicken bus!
For going to Quiche, we could easily get on a bus or van right in front of hotel and leave the car and give ourselves and the car the break! The most important aspect was also trying the famous Guatemalan Chicken buses! If you haven’t seen a chicken bus, this is how they look like.
After waiting for few minutes, a shiny chicken bus showed up and we had an adventurous ride to Quicke. It is impressive to see how these old buses fly on these steep windy roads of Guatemala.
We got off in the Quiche bus terminal and it is normally where the markets are too. The Quiche market was just impressive. Chichi is really famous for its markets and a lot of tourists are coming to Chichi to see the authentic Guatemalan market but like everywhere else, when lots of tourists are visiting the area, even the goods for sale change a lot to meet the taste of the tourists but it wasn’t the same case for Quiche. It was a vibrant local market where people from the surrounding mountains come to buy and sell everyday and it was so much to look at. Here are some shots from Quiche
It was a great day at Quiche! After having a great lunch, we took another chicken bus to our base camp to rest and be ready for the last day of festival in Chichi.
It was much easier and relaxing to go to Chichi without the car. The town was packed with people even at nine in the morning. The first thing we walked into was a dance of group of men with stunning cloth and majestic hats covered with giant colorful feathers. Just watching a lot of them dancing together with the feathers of there hats moving in the early morning light was mesmerizing.
That was a beautiful and relaxing way to start another day at Chichi.
What we’ve learned in the 3 to 4 months in Mexico and Guatemala is that these people love their music loud and are literally obsessed with fire work and we were about to witness it again but honestly they took it to another level here!!
As we were getting closer to the main plaza, the music was so load that it was shaking all our bodies.
The Santo Tomas church was looking like a war zone. We hardly could see the top of the church as it was covered in smoke!
There were at least two or three people in charge of the fire work in front of the church. These guys were taking their jobs seriously and they were loading fire work without a break. They also have some crazy ones where they were like a string of fire works that when ignited, they were going on for few minutes. Even these guys were seeking shelter which they were setting them off.
That was insane, since people were going in and out of the church and crossing was like going through a full scale war. It was a group of firefighters on site just in case too.
The crowd was bigger than the first day and it was definitely a lot going on. On the back alleys there were all small stalled selling handmade Tortillas cooked fresh on the open fire and the smell of fried chicken filled up the air. Did I mention before that Guatemalans love their fried chickens?
There were definitely more drinking going on. And a group of men who looked like the head of tribes sat in a more formal setting close to the church and had a lot of drinking going on there. They were having a strong spirit that was served in a clear bottles with the photo of Virgen Mary on them. If they were feeling like it, they were pouring some for the crowd as well. It was a lots of rituals going on and they tried to show that they were doing something important but at the end it was mostly drinking that was going on.
The other difference on the last day of the festival was the portable shrines that were installed on the entrance of the church. They were decorated with feathers in vivid colors too and people were bringing their donations including cash and candle to them. By the late afternoon, they were all covered in cash!
And you know where was the only place in town that you could take shelter from all the firework and music? Inside the Santo Tomas church itself! If you were brave enough to go through the line of fire and get to the entrance of the church , you could experience a totally different world. Unlike all the glamourous shrines and colors and glitters that was scattered outside the church, the inside was surprising simple and calming. All the interior was build with a calming and simple dark wood with simple high windows that the afternoon light was coming in through them like magic. Some musicians were playing drums on the entrance but it was really relaxing and adding to the magical atmosphere inside the church.
It was early in the afternoon and I think we had enough. Our ears were almost blocked because of the load music and we inhaled so much smoke that we could hardly breath but we had such an epic day in Chichi. From there we headed to Chichi covered market to do some shopping and see how it feels. At the end of the day, we live on the road and we need to find a place for grocery shopping.
Guatemala was a heaven for fresh produce. It was a shame that we couldn’t find these produce on what they were offering as food. The main food always available was fried chicken with french fries so we were trying to cook most of the time in the remote areas.
Chichi market was no exception. It was packed with fresh and colorful fruits and vegetables. A perfect place for grocery shopping!
And it was a wrap up of our three days in Chichi and Quiche. It was such a great experience and we are so grateful to be able to witness it. From here we are heading to another interesting destination in Guatemala but that’s a story for the next time, till then take care and have fun.
