After arriving and getting settled on Saturday, we set off for the market town of Chichicastenango located in the central highlands about an hour’s drive from Panajachel.  As you enter the town, you definitely could tell it was market day with lots of hustle and bustle, but it was apparent that we were in  a culture much different than our own.  The women wear colorful skirts and tops (traje’s – entire outfit) huipil for the tops and corte for the skirts and some men are in traditional outfits as well. 

As you walk down the first stall your senses are filled with a rush of both colors from the multitude of hand woven blankets, table clothes, tapestries, brightly colored masks and a variety of other colorful crafts.  The people who are selling their goods are akin to a carnival hawker.  As you settle in and become more comfortable you can see the differences beyond just dress.  There are young children who couldn’t have been more than 8 or 9 years old tending to infant siblings and kids of all ages are working just as hard as their parents selling whatever they can.  One starts to wonder what life must be like for these kids in a world so different than what we are accustomed to.  The one thing that several of us noted we compared notes from the day was how the kids there seem quite happy and were laughing and smiling and seemed to make the best of the toys that God has given them.