The Market of Chichicastemango

Busy times in the market

God only knows how people can pronounce names in this country, what type of name is Chichicastemango???
After a seven and a half hour journey in two different buses I finally made it to what is commonly knows as Chichi, like my mother's old Chihuahua.
The cemetery was bonkers, all these pastels were just plain odd

The town is famous for two things, its market on Thursday and Sunday, and its adherance to a mixture of Catholicism and old Mayan beliefs.
I managed to catch a procession on Saturday night - before it arrived the street was covered with pine boughs and flowers. Later on, men and women carrying a statue of the Virgin Mary came in front of a chuckkajaue, a local prayer leader, who was swinging a censer with incense inside.
Around this part of the country people are extremely religious and private. Taking pictures of locals is frowned upon and strictly forbidden when visiting the church.

The Sunday Market is a mixed bag. Part tourist attraction but largely where locals come to purchase what they can not find in their villages or to sell their surplus goods. The queues to get into the banks on Sunday mornings are enourmous.

Sanghita came down from Antigua and we spent the day walking around. She is the haggle queen. Sometimes I had to walk out, being embarrased at how low her initial offers were.
But then I realized that prices are so inflated for tourists and that a fair price was always reached. As the traders say, the give a price, but you give yours.
Sanghita haggling, I am hiding away, how could she keep that straight face

Only once were we told to go somewhere else.

Tourists are hassled by women trying to sell them locally made cloth, though sometimes I got the feeling that it was manufactured in some big factory far away in China. It was that feeling you get from Chinese acryllic, 'dont-get-too-close-to-a-naked-flame' type of thing.

Have not managed to work out why they wear the cloth like that on their heads

They all follow the same tricks, like giving you a ridiculous price of one dollar then, when you are interested, deny that they said that and tell you that it was twenty one in the hope that you are too embarrased to walk out.....of course, we were never too embarrassed.

Like in Nepal, men and women carry everything around on their heads or in huge bags that they pull with their heads, which must damage their spines.

A lot sadder to watch is the number of children working and begging. Some work in stalls with their families, others try to sell you bits of this and that, and a lot of small children just ask you for a Queztal. It is sometimes so difficult not to encourage this by giving them something, so we bought some fruit.

All in all, it is a must-see in Guatemala that allows you to get a sense of people's day to day lives.

Tomorrow I am off to visit Atitlan Lake, which is meant to be one of the nicest in this part of the world.

I hope my friends like the big sombreros I bought them, and Mel is getting that dress she asked for a couple of blogs ago.......

The King Marcos Cave

El Calvario, Chamelco´s church, one of the first in this part of the world

This really is Middle Earth. I know it is an easy joke, but it is so true.

I have not checked the feet of these people but I am absolutely certain they are hobbits.

Guatemalan's are around 60% indigenous, and I swear they make Kylie look tall.No one here reaches my shoulders and sometimes that is a bit inconvinient.

For example, public toilets are an ordeal. They are so small which makes aiming backwards a real challenge. Also, their minibuses, in which they pack too many people anyway, are a killer on my legs. To make matters worse, I have lost my flip flops but here they don't sell size 44 here.

Today I went up from Coban, where I am staying, to a nice Maya Village called Chamelco and then on to see the San Marcos Cave. Coban has got a strange history. Until WWII this was a heavily German town. The Germans had arrived in the 19th Century founding coffee and spice plantations. That all came to an end when the USA got the Guatemalan Government to deport the Germans for supporting the Nazis.I had never heard about this. There are plenty of postwar Nazi refugee stories in South America but I had not heard about them being kicked out during the war.

Chamelco is a nice town, with a very strange market. I was there first thing in the morning and went back later on.
The women arrive with whatever they have to sell, bringing little stools with them, and they sit in lines all the way down the street. As the morning progresses more women arrive, and more lines are created, leaving only minimal space for customers to walk pass. It is fascinating to watch but it also make you realize just how poor some of the indigenous people are.

Pure Guatemala, the crochet tops and the white cowboy hat
Women come to the market, having travelled a few hours to sell a chicken or two, maybe some corn, or just a few tomatoes.

From Chamelco I went on to Rey Marcos Caves, which were only discovered in 1998.The caves are spectacular and what I liked most is that a river runs through them. At one point you have to wade through the river, which is a nice change from other places I have been that are too health and safety conscious.

One of the main caves, with river running at the bottom of the cave
The road to the caves is infested with pot holes, and being market day the mini buses are full so I had to come back on the top of the bus.

They call this the Twin Towers

Tomorrow I am off to Chichicastenango for the Sunday Market.

The Two Granadas

Granada Cathedral

The other side of Granada, the town market
There are two very different Granadas.
There is the rehabilitated, rebuilt, retouched and re-everything, that is beautiful and charming.
And there is the real Granada, the one of its buzzing market, full of life, but also of dodgy characters, touting black market currency or indeed any black market you want.
It is fascinating to stand and hear every vendor shout about their product, from eggs to tomatoes, from bleach to frijoles, poison to kill dogs, rats, or even your wife......

I can´t remember what this lady was selling, or if she was just sitting there letting the day pass, but she was really flattered that I took a pic of her.
There is such a contrast between the manicured and extremely beautiful old town, with its vibrant colours, cathedral, churches and restaurants, bars and spas, and the run down Market Municipal, just so full of life and decay.
Nicaragua has proven to be everything I had heard.
It is beautiful and green, it is dodgy without being dangerous. It is a bit like India, and I am loving it.

It is really sad to see these girls having to work in the Bus Station as street vendors, what has happened to the Sandinista revolution and their push for education?
Of course, at some point, I will kill a tout, especially the stupid one that keeps hassling me to fix my shoes in his stall...I am wearing frekking sandals!!!!

I have met a really nice Indian girl from Belgium and we have been hanging out together. Sadly, her room was broken into last night and she was not happy. She's funny, though I think she missed the page in the guides about dressing modestly....

Markets of Taipei

Chinese sausages in Taipei

This little stall cooks the food in front of you, maybe not the Ivy but delicious
I am starting to wonder how people in Taipei are not a lot fatter than they seem to be.
For what I gather people don't really go to restaurants or bars in the evenings, but walk around the tens of night markets they have here. And the food there is all fried, lots of great, 'heart attacks on the making' snacks.
These markets are not for tourists, as they hardly have any tourist, compare to other towns in Asia.
They normally mix food with other things. Mostly the other things are a tat galore, it is like QVC in the street...I actually saw several things that could have been QVC bestsellers, and as an old employee I know what I am talking about.
My first night market was the main one, Shiling. The food area is a near the MRT station, and it is all I was expecting. Lots of things I didn't know, all far too fattening and unhealthy, and all really tasty.
I had something that look like a big dumpling, that had been deep fat fried at a low temperature, it was kind of jelly with meat inside and left in the oil...it was fatty, oily, nonetheless tasty and delicious.
I also had some breaded 'thing' only because everyone was queueing to get one, so I decided I had to try it...long queue, worth the wait.
However, the non food market was a dissapointment. It was tat heaven, from Kalvin Clein underwear to 'I did it with Kylie' T Shirts, fake sunglasses, mixed with real Puma store.
It is true that is a market for locals, although I may have seen more tourist there than anywhere else, it was still less than 5 or 10%, there are so few tourist in this country.
My second market, Huaxi Night Market, was a strange discovery. A lot more local, smaller, and with a sleazy side to it...somehow I managed to discover the prostitues that work in a dark ally on one of the sides of the market. I know I have always have an ability to find the gutter, either the drunks in India or the brothel in Chang Mai where I went to upload my blog.

A dark ally in Taipei
As soon as they discover that I was not going to be a customer, and I just wanted to take a pic, they all run from me. Prositution is very frown upon in this country. There is shame on it as oppose to what you see in Thailand. I think this is probably good, sad for the people that work on it, but probably a deterrent for people to fall on it if they just see it as an easy exit.

Queen Victoria Market

Barb, Bill and myself in Menindee station

I was sad to leave behind Barb and Bill, and the clean air and healthy living of the Outback. As soon as I got to Sydney I got hideously drunk with Damien's cousin and really regret it in the morning.After a week of health, health, health, I manage to ingest my body weight on alcohol and waste all my good work.One great thing of only having one train a week is that with a bit of luck you will catch the train with the same caracthers that have enterntain you on your way out.Most of my favourites were there, the stretching lesbians, the old couple with the strange hobby. However, someone really threw me out. A young woman in her late 20's travelled all the way down to Sydney, and at around 6PM when it was dark outside, open her bag and got her dressing gown out...and it was bright acid blue with pink flowers!!!!Anyway, did make it down to Melbourne to catch my flight to KL.One thing I had not done on my previous visits here was to go to Queen Victoria Market, the largest market in the Southern Hemisphere.I have to say, I was pleasantely surprised with it. It reminded me of the nice markets of Barcelona. As oppose to Borough Market in London this is not a posh market, or at least not just that.One thing I noticed is that while most customers looked like the typical Ozzy the people working there weren't. Lots of Asian people, and then quite a few Italian, Greek, Hispanic looking.

Well I am now off to Kuala for one day before making my up to Taiwan...it is going to be so nice to put away my winter clothes, and back on the shorts

A Day in Louang Phabang

After three days traveling we decided to have a lazy day, while at the same time soaking in the town. Louang Phabang is of a fairly small size and set at the confluence of the Mekong and the river Nam Khan. The old town is formed of streets full of colonial houses in subtle colours, palm trees lining every street. Everywhere you look monks in saffron robes seem to wander, happily, under their umbrellas.

As Crystel and Carles were leaving soon to go back to Bangkok I moved to smaller accommodation then later on we met to visit the Buddhist School.

Ignasi, the Catalan that is cycling around the world, joined us. I am amazed by the will power he must have. He has cycled on his own through most of New Zeland, Malaysia and part of Thailand, before meeting to come here with another two German guys.

After Crystel and Carles left I had dinner in the buzzing night market with the cycling group.

I am planning to go North to visit some National Park. I heard today that in the last two years the landscape around it has been seriously degraded as a result of Chinese timber extraction. I am hoping that it's not so bad.

Crystel, Carles and myself by the Buddha of the School Temple...

Ignasi and myself, have a look at his blog in my blog list...

I love the next two pics, they really give you a sense of this town....

Only Mad Dogs and Englishmen

Earlier today I met up with Beth, as she had kindly agreed to take a day off so we could hang out.

A light breeze had slightly weakened the grip the smog had over the town and the air didn't feel as dense.

We agreed to go up to the Queen's Botanic Gardens, as this was the only out of town tourist attraction that interested us both and on her day off Beth fancied getting out of the smog. Neither of us wanted to visit the tiger or monkey centers. They're not rescue centres but tourist attractions where the animals are drugged so gullible tourists can touch them.

The Botanic Gardens were up in the nearby hills, in a lightly forested area, and they're really a mixture of slightly manicured gardens and indigenous vegetation with a small waterfall thrown in for good measure.

We decided to have a small lunch in their visitor centre and I was pleasently surprised. The spicy chicken and noodle soup was the only dish on the menu, but very nice it was indeed. It's fairly common in Thailand that some places specialize in one dish only.

After that early lunch we decided to take a walk to the top of the hill. However, as we were heading up, enjoying the views, we realised that although the map that we had been given was pretty, it was anything but useful.

We had no idea where we were nor how far away the top was, though it was clear that the place was bigger than we had thought. It wasn't our Liz's back garden in her house by the Mall. This Queen had a lot larger a place. And under the sweltering heat I also realised that it wasn't the right time to be out and about exercising. Mad dogs and Englishmen indeed.

However, and after passing some Australian bottle trees, we finally got to our destination and were treated to a great view over the valley...

There is also an interesting green house complex worth visiting with beautiful orchids, funny looking cactii and flowers and lotuses of impossibly bright colours.

Banana Tree with flower and small bananas...

Cactus? Or candy floss?


If you have time to spare and you're not into the usual tourist traps, or shooting, which is a tourist attraction here, or bungy jumping, this is an enjoyable thing to do.

On our way back we stopped at a local vegetable market that was just closing to get some produce for a small bbq we are having later on. I'm so looking forward to it.


There are so many different varieties of odd looking aubergines in this country, and some wonderfully intense colours...

In the meantime I am packing for my three day trek up into the mountains visiting hill tribes. I've researched this, looking for an organized group that won't treat the people as exhibition pieces in a hall, and I'm hoping I've chosen the right one.

Charles Finds Love

We have finally arrived in Mysore though somehow last night I managed to lock from the inside the train door so people couldn't get on.

Drama started really quickly with people shouting and the police rushing to see what was going on. I somehow remembered that I had closed the train door, so discreetly opened it and got off the train to get some chai whilst everyone was screaming at each other.

In Mysore we are seeing a very different side of India. This is middle class India with lovely suburbs, and little poverty on its streets. South India is a lot wealthier than the North, and that is very apparent on the streets, though there is still some rubbish around.

James, Charles's uncle picked us up and brought us home at 4 AM. The sight of a large confortable car put a smile on Charles's face. I have to say I was happy for once not having to deal with anything, no hassle, no tuk tuk.

After a few hours kip we went for lunch. I made an effort, and to fit with the modesty rules of this country, I put on a sleeveless, ie. my shoulders were uncovered. I just didnt know that we were going for a posh meal in a hotel. The food was lovely, but I think I prefered my experience yesterday when I was a bit bored and hungry and left Charles by the water and went off looking for something to eat. Eventually I settled for a canteen. I had a vegeterian thali served on a metal tray for 20 pence. There was only one dish served, and there was no knife and fork, so you ate with your right hand. Always your right hand cos you use your left to wipe yourself after the toilet...

Anyway, we have visited the local market. It's a hive of activity and full of colour, both from flowers and from the powder paint. I initially thought they were spices for food, and was wondering who on earth could eat something that bright...

Charles also was chased around by a 'new little friend' who painted a little pink lotus flower on his hand and gave him some sandlewood incense, adding that he gave it only to "special people".

He was also told that he should not discount Indian men as it would mean a lot to them...now that's a new angle.

It was love at first sight....

I have also managed to buy my flight to Bangkok.

I'll be heading to Thailand and Laos on the 19th February.