I'm still in Panajachel, Guatemala and apparently they made a mistake and booked me for two days/nights here as I found out when I returned from Chichi. There are worse things than being stuck here for two more days.
I spent the day walking around a cemetery in the Guatemalan highlands just looking at something different.
It was Sunday and with an extra day to spend here a ride over to Chicastenango for the Sunday market again. But this time I unexpectedly spent most of the day walking the general cemetery.
I found cheap parking for my bike for 5 Quetzales per hour and walked into the market. Amazingly and almost immediately I was recognized by someone I had spent time with last weekend at the market. This first person that recognized me was the guy that led me to a parking lot to park my bike last week and then walked me to the market. He remembered me by name.
This happened two more times over the course of the day with another young guy that assisted in the transaction near the church in selling me the Mayan coins and weight nesting thing. The third person that recognized me was a woman that sat on the steps of the Iglesia Santo Tomas with me trying to sell me her homemade tapestries. She was the one that asked me for my email and social media info. This time she made me pinky swear that I would return this Thursday to meet up with her and buy some of her goods. The strangest part of these three people recognizing and remembering me by name is that this market is so packed, shoulder to shoulder with people yet they still spotted me, found me and remembered me.
One of the guys who recognized me was trying to take me around to look at various landmarks and sites. I didn't want to buy what he had so his Plan B was to try and make himself my guide. I didn't want a guide but I did remember him asking me if I saw their landmark arch or the cemetery. I lied that I had seen these places last time just so I could be left alone. After being led to the arch I made it clear that I just wanted to wander and noted him mentioning the cemetery. He left me alone and so I went out to look for it. It wasn't long before I spotted it down a steep street from the market.
This long street between the vibrant, colorful and noisy market and the gates to the old, general cemetery had a different feel. It was less busy, almost empty with a few hardscrabble old women selling live chickens sitting on the sidewalk against the wall and the occasional hunched over man carrying a heavy pack on his back supported by a strap on his head. This stretch of street had a kind of ominous feel to it. I felt at that moment, that as an obvious tourist, I was leaving the relative safety of the over-populated market and entering a sort of no-mans land before I would walk through the cemetery gates far off in the distance. And unlike the crowded market, I couldn't hide.
But it was just a feeling. Like you do anywhere questionable, you walk with confidence and with the feeling that you belong there. Before long I was entering the gates to the "Cementario General".
This place was so cool. I wasn't sure what to expect but I do remember reading about the suggestion to visit a colorful cemetery somewhere. As I entered its gates, I was starting to think that it was this cemetery in Chichi.
I wasn't expecting to be there that long but I spent most of my day at the cemetery just taking in the little details and there was plenty everywhere if you stopped and just looked.
The most obvious detail in this place where we bury our dead is the color. This is in stark contrast to the solemn, gray cemeteries of the U.S. But the way the dead are honored, buried and celebrated is different here even if the religion is the same by name. I think the vivid colors here indicate that death seems to be acknowledged as a celebration of greater places beyond. Families come together for the day to light candles and small fires, to pray in Mayan and to spend the day with the deceased.
At first I was self-conscious about just walking around in here, let alone taking photos. But slowly as I walked around I picked up on some of the smaller indications that things here weren't so serious - a guy cutting through the dirt paths on a small motorcycle, a passing family laughing, children playing on the monuments, young men trying to stay out of sight sitting on a monument drinking beer, a couple from Houston being led around by the aforementioned tour guide - and I started to relax.
Eventually I walked back up that steep street towards the market as I saw the sun starting to dip and I had the first sense of worry in getting out of the city and back to Panajachel before night.
I did buy two more Mayan coins from this guy for 110 Queztales. Who knows if I got ripped off as I got him down from 150 Q for one coin to 110 Q for both coins, but it's worth it just by the craftsmanship and history alone. One is supposedly all silver depicting the 18 months of the Mayan calendar. I stopped off at another vendor and bought a Mayan, stone idol that reminds me of that one Tiki idol Bobby found on a beach on The Brady Bunch.
So, I guess I have to get moving on from Guatemala. I definitely feel like there is unfinished business here. I was just kind of starting here and didn't really go to many places that I had planned. Then this virus thing just came through and has started changing things.
I'm not going to make it to Panama this trip thanks to this Corona virus thing. Unlike in the U.S., it's not really a thing here yet but borders are closing, etc. So, my trip is far from over but I'm being warned by native Guatemalan's to get out of Dodge and get back up to Mexico. Tikal is closed as of yesterday so that is out of the question.
So I guess within the next couple of days I'll make me way back up to the Guatemala/Mexico border and see what's up. It sucks but I guess I'll come back down later.
