Guatemalan local markets and scenery

Guatemala doesn’t seem to have many  Asian tourists yet, so I got a lot of attention wherever I went. When I walked around the streets, I found most people stopped  to look at me! Especially when I was browsing the local market in Coban, I heard a Mayan lady, holding her little baby on her chest, was educating her baby by pointing me “A la Chino!” haha!  Was I annoyed? Never! Every mom wants her child to grow up to be an intelligent person. : )

Here are the markets that I visited and shopped and some good scenery photos.

If I had more crowded eyebrows, do we look a little alike, right?  : )  I bought some dried fresh oregano and  colorful beans from her in Chichicastenango market. When I looked back after taking this photo, she was laughing quietly covering her face with both hands. She was shy! I wished we had exchanged our clothes for fun, but gave up because we could not understand each other’s language. How could it be possible to explain my suggestion with only body language!

Chichicastenango Market (the oldest and biggest market in Central America)

It’s not his hat but a large basket with a few live chickens to be sold!

Freeze! You are under arrest! : )

Mayan Waitresses served fried chicken. It was fantastic taste!  (Chichicastenango Market)

pinatas

a kind of chili pepper. It was super spicy. Anybody knows the name of this chili pepper?

(one of my blog readers Hanna gave me the answer. “Those little bitty spicy chilies are called chiltepe, or chile tepin. In Texas, they’re also known as “bird’s eye peppers”. Tepins are my favorite because of their heat. I miss them!”

Thank you Hanna! : )

Open aired market , Antigua

Market, Antigua

hoho, check the mischievous looking catfish! One day I bought all these ingredients to throw a party for my fellow backpackers. The hostel had a kitchen on the rooftop, so I could cook this. I made rice and stir-fried fish and vegetables. The red shrimp behind the fish is very interesting because it is fermented and salty! It reminded me of Korean saewoojeot (fermented salted shrimp). The difference is that Korean saewoojeot contains some liquid, and tiny shrimp are used to make it, but Guatemalan salted shrimp are large and they have no liquid. The seller treated his shrimp like gold! When he weighed it using his small hand scale, his hands were shaking!  : )

I minced this shrimp to salt the dish. Several lucky backpackers who tasted my food for free were very surprised to see all these ingredients I bought. : ) They enjoyed the food and one of the guys said, “oh, it’s been a long time to have this kind of homemade food!”

I was happy to taste their tomatoes, garlic, potato, squash, and green onions.

This intersting painting hung on the wall of Elsabor del Tempo is showing the advent of Christianity to Mayans

Beautiful fresh flowers!

In the corner of Chichicastenango market, this man was surrounded by many people. Check the huge snake coiled around his left hand. He sometimes put the snake under his shirt so that the snake could crawl all over his upper body! Soon he took out a huge eyeball (I guess it’s a cow’s eyeball) from his bag and cut the edge of the eyeball with his razor a little by little while he kept speaking! Everybody looked so nervous!

I watched him about 30 minutes with those people. He eventually opened another bag and took out small bottles filled with yellowish liquid to sell!   He used the poor snake, the huge eyeball, and the razor as tools to stop the people going away!

I felt sorry for the snake!  There was no way to escape from him!

This man was selling his garlic in an interesting way! Garlic necklaces! I bought 1 string !

This cute girl wearing traditional Mayan clothing was sitting next to her mom.

A cheap restaurant in the market. I had some chicken, rice, and black bean paste here.

The beer company Gallo sponsors Christmas trees all over Guatemala. I saw the same kind of Christmas tree in Antigua and Coban.

They sell these puppies in the market at super cheap price! I saw a man buying 2 puppies for US $ 20!

What a sexy can of sardines it is!

This girl was selling these dolls made with corn husks and dried flowers in Tikal.

Middle of town, Antigua

All the roads in Antigua are made of cobblestones. The man riding the bike looks ok in this photo, but actually he was barely managing to keep going forward. It was funny to watch he was almost falling off the bike!

A steep road in Coban.

from the rooftop of my hostel in Antigua.

A main food source, corn is everywhere in Guatemala

Local buses, Antigua.

This area is packed with restaurants, bars, Spanish language schools. English signs! (San Pedro)

A church on the hill in San Pedro

San Pedro.

Walking up this road is like hiking a mountain!

Some children are playing basket ball, the girls are still wearing their traditional long skirts!

A used book store in San Pedro. Some backpackers buy books to read to kill time

Atitlan lake has problem with algae these days. The man in the boat was getting rid of algae.

Beautiful mural on the wall in San Pedro.

I took this photo from the shuttle bus when I went to Semuc Champey. These backpackers were also on the way to Semuc Champey by a truck.

At the entrance of the Cave in Lanquin.

Temple V, the second tallest pyramid is 58 m high. It was built around AD 600. I climbed up the top using the ladder. The view from the top was awesome! (Tikal National Park)

Temple  I (Temple of the Grand Jaguar) was built to honor and bury King Moon Double Comb by his son who succeeded to the throne in 734.

Internet cafe!

I had to go through this narrow alley way so many times every day during my stay in San Pedro!

I took this photo from a local bus on the way to go to Coban from Frores. The bus suddenly slowed down so as not to run over this huge snake.

Wild turkeys in Tikal National Park are not afraid of humans! : )

Semuc Champey

Semuc Champey

Semuc Champey

Semuc Champey

Thatched roof house in country side, clothes on the cloth lines, peaceful scene!