SIDE TRIPS AROUND XELA

Recently we've taken a couple of short expeditions to some of the smaller, more traditional and indigenous towns close to Xela. Some of these towns are known for the gigantic markets that spring up around the town square once or twice a week, selling everything from clothes and crafts to live pigs and chickens.


Part of the famous live animal market in nearby San Francisco El Alto (photo thanks to Casa Xelaju, used without permission)


Check out this, um, unique church, located in the small pueblo of San Andres Xecul, about 15 miles from our home in Quetzaltenango.


We came across this altar on the top of a hill one Sunday while hiking in the woods about half an hour from our home in Xela. The indigenous Mayans use these altars for traditional (pre-Catholic) rituals, and we encountered a Mayan family just as they were leaving the site, the fire in the altar still burning.


The view from the hilltop altar was spectacular. (photos don't really do it justice)


Carley meditates near the altar.



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