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21/2/10 - day 74.
rubbish nights sleep. the pillow i had felt like it was made of rocks so i ditched it half way through the night but no pillow wasnt a great alternative either. got up soon after 8 and went to the area where buses tended to be. i wanted to go to chichicastenango (chichi) so i went over there not knowing where they go from exactly, when they go or how often. as luck would have it, there was one waiting there and left pretty much as soon as i got on. chichi is home to one of the largest outdoor indigineous markets in central america, certainly, guatemala anyway and its takes place every thursday and sunday.
took an hour and a half to get there on a rammed chicken bus. about half an hour in, on the highway, the carriageway was blocked off. as we went passed i saw why. there was a man lying dead in the middle of the road with some plastic sheeting loosely covering his body. there was 1 police car and a crowd of maybe 50 or so people. they were just diverting traffic around it. it was grim. i dont know what happened though as there was no debris on the road from a car accident, no cars that looked damaged or anything like that. just a fella lying on the ground with no one near him.
first thing i did was get breakfast when i got there (pancakes, eggs and bread) and as i left the cafe i noticed a load of people crowded round a screen outside an electonics shop watching something. it was the man city vs liverpool game! of course i had to join them for the last 20 minutes or so. afterwards i met the belgian guy id first met in lanquin, then again in antigua and here he was again watching the game as well in chichi.
we walked around the market, neither if us wanting to buy anything but keen to see what was on offer. it was different to others ive been to in that it was more organised, sectioned, and fairly clean pavements. there was also a lot of tourists and backpackers to be seen walking around - a feature of guatemala so far. as well as the stall being stationary, people were constantly approaching us selling whatever it was. a large proportion of the market was made up of people selling these large, think, woolen, woven, heavily embroidered blankets.
traditional dress is still a big thing here. in highland areas like chichi, xela, pana, and a few other towns it is very very common to see women and girls in traditional mayan dress, as this is where the highest concentration of indigineous people live.
i was ready to head back to pana by about 12 so i jumped on a bus that was heading that way, while belgian dude stayed on. its wierd how you get to know people while travelling and belgian dude is a classic example. ive seen him around in a few different places, chatted to him a fair few times, i know his nationality, his football team, his opinion on thomas vermaelan, even details of his recent bowel movements (he told me he'd got diarrhoea). but his name? no idea. never came up and to be honest its not important.
i spent the rest of the afternoon at the hostel, reading and relaxing. went out for dinner that night to a place where they have waiters outside with menus trying to entice people in. felt a bit sorry for them, the amount they get ignored. one old american guy was walking past and the waiter said his usual line of "hi! good evening! come inside" in quick but more than audible spanish. his response was to stop, look at him and say "that{s just waffle!". ignorant git.
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