Market Day at Chichicastenango

I have been in Guatemala before.  I was in Chichicastenango many more years ago than I wish to admit.  Way back before my current career, I was a tour escort taking people all over Latin America to introduce them to quaint towns and lovely peoples dressed in their typical native costumes.

Back then there were markets to see and trinkets to buy, however in modern day Guatemala this has gone way beyond what I remember.  Guatemala is not the only country that has fallen into that pattern. There are many more.  Peru, Ecuador, Chile and Argentina all have followed this path.  What once were beautiful areas untouched by T-shirts  and jeans and where you could actually purchase a work of folk  art from a local and not be pressured to bargain (at least not too much) are long gone.
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Tourism does have its downside.  And that is basically that the more we visit these wonderful peoples and countries, the more they know that we have the money to make their lives easier.  They also know what "gringos" like to purchase.  Now when you get off a bus at a wonderful market or historic site, you are surrounded by hundreds of little people pushing trinkets under your nose.

"Lady, lady, but from me....only one dolla"  "Lady, lady buy mine" "Nice Christmas tree ornament"..."only one dolla".  "lady, lady, I give you special price"...on and on and on.   Pressure at every turn.  Where is that monument I want to see, where can I get that special picture of the people in their typical dress.  What no typical dress...only jeans and T-shirts?  Can;t they even dress up in costume for us?

So tomorrow is Sunday, a very special day in Chichicastenango where locals come from towns near and far to sell their goods.  In years past, they would sell fruit and produce from their farms or textiles that they wove for clothes or hats.  Now, I am told, it will be stand after stand of ...you guessed it....trinkets.

There will be thousands of tourists from France, the UK, Japan, and of course the US.  We are all targets for these vendors of trinkets.  They are all mostly short, dark skinned with black hair and big brown eyes.
Most of us are blond, blue eyed and white skinned.  There is no escaping.

Trinkets here we come.