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kicked over an incense burner, apologized loudly in English to the woman kneeling there,
then fumbled in her purse and waved a ten-quetzal note at the Indian woman; a cofrade, a
member of a brotherhood devoted to the worship of a particular saint, was standing out-
side El Calvario, wearing the traditional outfit indicative of a special occasion and holding
an ebony and silver staff, the symbol of his office, when a tourist approached and asked
him how much he'd take for the staff: the tourist's money belt was already open when the
cofrade without a word turned and disappeared into the sanctuary.
Stephen Connely Benz,
Guatemalan Journey
While you may or may not witness such blatant disregard for the local culture,
Chichicastenango (Chichi, for short) will surely provide you with an opportunity to take
in a unique highland market experience. There are certainly other, more authentic markets
in highland Guatemala, at least one of which is larger, but Chichi's popular Sunday and
Thursday market is unique in that it includes allowances for the very strong foreign pres-
ence here. It is the only highland market where you'll see large tour buses packed with
camera-toting tourists negotiating the hairpin, dizzying mountain switchbacks along the
road from Antigua and Guatemala City. The road to Chichi diverts from the Pan-American
Highway at the Los Encuentros junction, along Km. 127.5.
The market, and Chichi's status as a bona fide tourist attraction, got their start in the
1930s when enterprising Alfred S. Clark opened the Mayan Inn and started busing folks in
from the capital for a look at an authentic highland Mayan village. Chichicastenango, ori-
ginallyknownasChaviar,wasanimportantKaqchikeltradingtownlongbeforethearrival
of the Spanish. The Kaqchikel went to war with their K'iche' rivals based in K'umarcaaj
(near present-day Santa Cruz del Quiché, 20 miles north) in the 15th century, moving
their capital to the more easily defended site of Iximché. Spanish conquistador Pedro de
Alvarado would play the K'iche'-Kaqchikel rivalry to his advantage, using the latter as al-
liesinhisfinalpushagainsttheK'iche',whocomprisedtheonlyrealoppositiontoSpanish
conquest. Chichicastenango got its name, meaning “place of the nettles,” from Alvarado's
Nahuatl-speaking Mexican allies after the town's reestablishment here after the defeat of
the K'iche' capital in 1524.
Today, Chichi is still very much a K'iche' town with strong adherence to the old ways.
Its traditional fiesta, the
Fiesta de Santo Tomás,
takes place December 14-21. There are
plenty of loud fireworks, traditional dances, moonshine, and the fascinating
palo volador
ritual in which men spin from ropes attached to a 20-meter pole.