chichi

sorry, i don't have many pictures for this awesome adventure. i completely forgot about my camera as i was engrossed with the sheer bargain madness, salesmanship, and variety of goods that were being exchanged. chichicastenango is the largest open market in central america. acres of tightly cramped boothes that are loosely covered with bamboo and tarps that are filled with some of the most beautiful crafts, clothing, jewelry, foods and various other crapula that people can't get enough of. sunday morning, the 29th, i left antigua on a pretty nice bus with two of my australian roommates around 7am, switched onto a 30 (over) occupancy astrovan a little bit past halfway, got to chichi by 10, breakfasted, and hit the market by 10:30. a wonderful interchange occurs when a vendor pleads with you to check out their stuff, and 1} you continue walking 2} you check it out and then walk on or 3} you begin the process. THE PROCESS: i would say, and i'm sure there are different schools of thought on this, when i find something i want, i set the price in my head {it's also helpful to get exactly that amount into your pocket for a quick exchange, cash only} then find out what they want for it. they start with something insane that you immediately blow off and start walking away. without fail, the vendor will grab you and say 'no hay problema, yo te daré un buen precio, amigo' {no prob buddy, i'll give you a great price} at this point, you got'em, just say that price that you had in your head and add 'final!' yes, you can bounce back and forth and pay for the fun of negotiating, but really what you´re counting on is the desperation factor which is prevalent in this whole area. you feel bad at first, but then you realize they absolutely will not sell something to you for a loss. so, consequently, there are some things that the price in your head will not buy so you have to give a bit...but then you realize that you're still paying fractions of store prices, even in guatemala. por ejemplo, my fair roommate charlotte scored some authentic jade jewelry for the equivalent of $30, and my boy avi was the toughest of us all as we worked a mean 2 man game when it came to walking away from deals. on the other hand, the joke is probably still on us, because the folks would still sell that stuff for half of that price, but in this case...it's a win-win. i highly recommend hitting up an impoverished or developing nation's largest open market because they love foreigners {money} and you'll never get worked harder for a friendship bracelet in your life. plus, the most impressive part was these kids...4 or 5 years old persuading the hell out of people. when i was 5 i was getting praise for writing my whole name out, even with backwards 'e's, and who said street smarts aren't all you need in this world. in this pic, you can see i put myself in a central american blender, and set to mince. todo hecho de mano.