Market day in Chichicastenango followed by a journey to San Juan la Laguna and learning to use lanchas at Lake Atitlán
Chichicastenango Market
There are very few tourists who actually stay overnight in Chichi—most just come on day trips from cities a few hours away for the market on Sundays and Thursdays. I’m so glad we stayed overnight! The drive up to the mountain town is 2.5 hours from Antigua and 1.5 hours from Panajachel (the two nearest places to stay), so we knew that trying to put it all into a day trip would be too much car time for all of us (especially baby). Our lodging was Hotel Museo Mayan Inn—a 100-year-old hotel. Highly recommend!
We definitely stand out here in Chichi, even more than normal. 98% of the population is Mayan and the average height for adults is between 4ft 10in and 5ft 2in (women and men!). We are both over 5ft 8in tall so most people we pass on the sidewalk don’t even come up to the height of our shoulders. Little redheaded Robin gets so many “hola’s”, giggles, waves, touches, and people asking to hold her. The altitude here is 6,600ft, which makes it a few degrees cooler than Antigua. Most of the women and girls you see walking around wear beautifully embroidered textiles, and many have babies on their backs (like me!).
The Chichicastenango market is said to be the biggest in Central America, and we spent about 3 hours wandering through it! It branches out in all directions around the 400 year old Spanish church that was built on top of an ancient Mayan temple, and we bought several beautiful treasures to take home. They shut down a huge chunk of the town’s roads for this market twice a week, and people come from all over to purchase textiles like clothing and bedding, produce, meat, limestone (to lime-wash houses), jewelry, kitchenware, and much more.
Here is a list of what we purchased:
- Embroidered bedspread
- Crochet hat for Robin
- Jade and silver earrings for myself and baby (she can’t wear them yet, but she will!)
- A cheap pocket knife to use on fruit throughout the trip
- A couple of embroidered pouches to use as a toiletry bag and a coin purse
We made a brief visit to the colorful Catholic cemetery on the other side of town, then loaded up into a shuttle to take us back down the windy roads to Lake Atitlán.
We took a lancha (motor boat ferry) from Panajachel to San Juan La Laguna, checked into our hotel and enjoyed a nice breezy evening at the restaurant here.
Hotel in San Juan La Laguna: Eco Hotel Uxlabil, $78/night. It was a bit pricey for what it had to offer, pretty far from town, and lots of stairs! But otherwise no complaints 🙂
Follow along for updates on our entire trip to Guatemala with our 11-month-old daughter!
If you’re like me and you read travel blogs wondering, “Should I use this itinerary?” – because how do you know if the blogger would do it the same way a second time? I’ll just say, I highly recommend this route! Our original plan included some beach time down on the Pacific Coast, but you’ll see we changed our plans mid-trip. I’m so glad we did!
