Market Day in Chichicastenango

Chichicastenango's famous Thursday and Sunday market is also one of Guatemala's top-notch fun things to do. Although a Thursday visit won't disappoint, come here for the Sunday market if your schedule permits. During your shopping breaks, you can observe the fascinating rituals on the steps of the Santo Tomás church; they mix Mayan and Catholic, and the boundary is never clear.

At dawn, mist swirls around the vendors as they set up shop. Firecrackers go off and smoky incense wafts from the steps of the church in anticipation and celebration of the ritual of market day. (Lodging here the night before market day lets you take in that part of the spectacle before the day-trippers arrive.)

Credit one Alfred Clark with bringing Chichi's market to the attention of the outside world. Clark founded the Mayan Inn, the town's first lodging, in 1932. (Newspaper accounts at the time described the "gringo loco" who had opened a hotel in such a remote locale.) Clark needed to attract guests, so he encouraged area makers of textiles, pottery, and carvings to bring their wares to Chichi's longstanding twice-weekly market. The rest is history.

Tours depart on market days from many places around the country. (Cruise ships that dock at Puerto Quetzal on the Pacific coast on Thursday or Sunday also offer their passengers optional shore excursions to Chichi; at four hours one-way from the cruise docks, it makes for a long day.) Some include only transport and "Be back at the van at 2 pm and we'll head home" instructions from your driver. (On that topic, we recommend jotting down the license-plate number of your van. Vehicles have a strange way of all looking the same when you return at the end of your shopping day.) Other excursions may include a lunch voucher, often at the Hotel Santo Tomás. As far as we know, not even "fully escorted tours" include shopping guides.

Things begin to wind down by mid-afternoon, as the shoppers head out, and vendors, anxious to get home before dark, start to pack up. Here's another advantage to lodging in Chichicastenango: Savvy market shoppers know that this is the hour for the best bargains, as sellers are frequently willing to give discounts so they won't have to lug everything home.

We hear complaints about the market: "There are too many tourists." "The walkways between vendors' stalls are too narrow." "I see too many things I don't want to buy." Yes. Yes. And, yes. It gets crowded, but that's part of the fun. (On that note of crowding, do watch your things. The market is generally safe, but a few wallet-snatchers prey on unsuspecting shoppers.) Despite all appearances to the contrary, this age-old spectacle is not really staged for us visitors. Chichicastenango has been a center of trade since pre-Columbian times. Many vendors' stalls burst at the seams with souvenirs these days, but the real focus of Chichi's market are fruits, vegetables, and poultry—all the day-to-day goods that sustain the families who come here twice a week. Always has been. Always will be.