Chichicastenango, Guatemala - the biggest and most beautiful indigenous market in Guatemala

We made a day trip to Chichicastenango from Lake Atitlan where we are staying in the little indigenous village of Jabilito overlooking the lake. Our transfer took in the beautiful views over the lake as the road wound through coffee plantations and local villages on route to ‘Chichi’.

The pretty highland town of Chichi is famed for holding the biggest and best market in Guatemala where all the indigenous peoples come from all over the area to sell their wears.

Everything is on offer from bright embroided cloths and beautiful bags to medicinal plants and machetes. The food produce was also just as incredible as the crafts on offer.

I haggled with the local ladies for a couple of gifts to take home; a beautiful hand woven blanket with pom pom trim and a handbag made of embrodied cloth that has since been admired by many. But if the shopping potential isn’t tempting enough, it’s worth the trip just to see the colourful array of traditional dress worn by the indigenous women.

The church that overlooks the market, Santo Tomás, is seeped in Mayan ritual and history. The steps to the church are in bloom with flower sellers setting up shop. Whilst taking a stroll in the town we stopped to photograph the colourful cemetery littered with flowers and playing soft music over the hills that was so evocative of Guatemalan culture.

It was worth the early start to make the most of the market and you have to be prepared to take on the crowds but the charm of Chichi is that it isn’t a tourist market. It’s real Guatemalan hustle and bustle and you’re more likely to be rubbing shoulders with a local stocking up on food and yarn than a fellow traveller!