Western highlands

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Trip Start Mar 31, 2006 Previous
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  Chichi and surrounds, Guatemala
Friday, April 21, 2006

Well we have been in Panajachel for five days and our batteries are definitely re-charged - well "charged" is a relative term, more like just above comatose might be more correct. Our campsite has grown on us partly because a fellow camper is a bird expert and has shown us lots of lovely birds and the hill behind (from which the lake view is taken) is lovely for a morning walk up to an old coffee patch with lovely views and birds. We took a 4km hike to the next village, Santa Catarina Polapo, which is smaller and much prettier than Panajachel and is a local art centre with lots to look at and buy. If we weren't camping we would have moved there. For their Semana Santa parade they had decorated the road surface with flowers and coloured sawdust in the most delightful patterns (I think most of the villages do the same thing). Tourists walking in the middle of the day caused the locals some surpise.
Saturday (between Good Friday and Easter Sunday) was the day for the Maya to come down to Panajachel in their hordes and there must have been at least 40 bus loads

chichi procession

. Evidently Lake Atitlan has special significance and the Panajachel shore has the greatest significance. They all come down to bathe at the shore as a form of re-baptism and then party for the rest of the day; very interesting and remarkably few tourists.
Easter Sunday took us early via a "chicken-bus" to Chichicastenango which has a famous market on Sundays and Thursdays. These buses are retired US school buses painted very imaginatively but in various states of mechanical effectiveness. Chi-chi is a lovely hill town and the market is one of the best we have ever seen and we could have bought yards and yards of beautiful cloth so have bookmarked it for the return journey. While we were there they had their Easter procession which was fascinating as it wound its way from the church through the market stopping every few paces to pray. As you can see from the photo the mixture of costumes, heavily decorated statues, musicians and incense with a backdrop of all the material in the market was almost overwhelming; we felt really privileged to see it and there were not enough tourists to spoil it all. The Maya seem to make use of both their own beliefs and what they like from the Catholic Church to produce a very rich religion. The day in Chi-chi was one of our lifetime's delights.
We left Panajachel on Monday to go north to Nebaj. Although the area is pretty the town is a bit drab and not nearly as interesting as the Lonely Planet described

lake atitlan

. So early next day on to Semuc Champey some 50km East of Coban on the most atrocious roads we have EVER driven. Even with a mixture of paved and dirt we only averaged 20km/hr and kept apologizing to our car.
Semuc Champey is a natural wonder where the river has plunged through a tunnel and left a series of azure pools over the top with sparkling clean water trickling from pool to pool all surrounded by dense jungle and high limestone cliffs. We camped there for two nights and had the campsite to ourselves so were able to get to the pools before the tourists arrived. It is one of the most beautiful places we have ever seen and the Lonely Planet does not do it justice. But boy was it hot: Chris thought of having a fit but could see no advantage to this as Sheila was singularly unsympathetic. Cooling off the next day was magic with only the birds and cicadas keeping us company.
We are now getting expert at negotiating all the little towns and their idiosyncratic one-way systems. As you enter there is usually a sign that says "Viajo Obligato" signed by Tu Muni which we first took to mean "your municipality". But as there are no further signs to get you around the town we realized that tu muni means "for your amusement" and that what is created is an auto-maze for the amusement of the locals who can sit at the street corners and watch the out-of-towners go round and round their one-way systems. The only town we have been through with good signs was started by Germans.

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local beer shop

maya sheila

semuc champey

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