Chichi Market

Sunday I took a day trip to Santo Tomas Chichicastenango in the Quiche department.  Chichi is most famous for its large indigenous market on Thursday and Sundays.  Interesting market, but like most them, a giant hazard for anyone over 5’7.

La Subida por La Vida

La Subida por La Vida was an event hosted on Saturday in Guatemala to raise awareness for domestic violence.  More about the event and a short video can be found here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-16669818

The main idea was to form a 10,000 person human chain up the side of Volcan Agua, a 12,336 ft tall volcano just outside Antigua.  We stayed in Antigua Friday night and started our day at 4am so that we could be on top of the volcano in time to form the human chain and to pass up the Guatemalan flag.  Needless to day with 10,000 people climbing a volcano, there were a few logistical issues throughout the day. 

 Heart at the crater on top of Agua

From the church at the crater

Quick photo-op with the flag as it nears the top

Volcanoes Acatenango and Fuego 

Sunday morning in Antigua

Quetzaltenango to Atitlan......by foot

Taking advantage of the long MLK weekend, I decided to do a 2.5 day hike from Quetzaltenango (locally known as Xela) to Lake Atitlan, that is organized by a local NGO (http://www.quetzaltrekkers.com/guathome.html) 

Day 1 (Saturday) we headed out of Xela to a small community called Xecam and started the uphill hike from there, passing through forests, rural communities, agricultural lands, and cloud forest.

We ended the day in Santa Catarina Ixtahuacan, sleeping on the floor of the municipal building.

Day 2 took us from Santa Catarina to Santa Clara la Laguna in the mountains above Lake Atitlan, where we spent the night on the floor of a local family’s house.

After a 3:45AM wakeup on Day 3, we hiked to a mirador overlooking Lake Atitlan and waited for the sun to rise.

From there it was a downhill hike to the town of San Juan la Laguna, a quick pick-up truck ride to San Pedro la Laguna, a boat ride across the lake to Panajachel, and a van back to Guatemala City.