The famous market in "Chichi" is the place for handicrafts and a cultural experience. Indigenous come here on Thursdays and Sundays to sell their handicrafts, food, flowers, pottery, wooden boxes, condiments, medicinal plants, candles, and all sort of things. I particularly liked the comedores inside. I met Jennifer, a 10-yr-old girl who was doing her Spanish homework. She had to respond to questions related to a small story she had read. That reminded me of how much I hated Spanish when I was in primary school, but she seemed to enjoy it.
The Iglesia de Santo Tomas is next to the market. It was build in 1545 over the foundations of a pre-Columbian Mayan temple. The altar and images inside are centuries old, and the steps leading to the main entrance are the same ones that the Mayans built for their temple. Nowadays, Mayans still use the church for pre-Hispanic rithuals.
Next to the church there is the Municipal building. Along the walls in the front there are a series of murals as a reminder of the struggles caused by the civil war. They show death, violence, peace and hope. Each one tells a different story. One of them has a men being chased by wolfs. The men is an indigenous trying to escape from his hunters. In the front steps women set up shops to sell flowers and handicrafts. I liked the way it looks, full of live, colorful, and so traditional.
Nebaj
This village is about three hours north of Chichicastenango, passing Santa Cruz del Quiché. The ride up to the mountains is very scenic. The buses here also get packed, and even then, with the sharp curves, they go up the hill at full speed. On the day I went, there was a guy who was very drunk. He didn't have any money to pay for his fare, and soon enough the driver's helper kicked him out, and left him in the middle of nowhere. I didn't think they would do it, but in a matter of seconds it happened, altough without him giving a fight first.
Here I learned to cook Boshbol, a local dish. I visited Patronila's home in the afternoon, right after the final between Barcelona and Real Madrid, and could not believe the Real had won during extra time...Anyhow, I came to cook and forget about soccer for a while. But then, el Barça elminated them during the semi in the Champions League... take that Cristiano!!!
Boshbol turned out to be a really good dish. It is made of leaves (e.i. basil) and corn dough, the same one to prepare tortillas. It is served with pepian (chayote seeds powder mixed with water), and homemade tomato sauce. Many add spicy sauce, but not me!
If anyone has some interested in learning how to prepare it, here is the receipe. On a hoga wiskil or basil leave, smear the corn dough and roll them up. Then boil for a few minutes in high heat and take place them on a plate. Add the pepian and tomato sauce. That simple, and tasty!
I also walked around and visited the main plaza and the church. It is quite an interesting place. During holy week, the faces of the saints are covered, and in the middle of the church there is a pyramid structure with flowers and fruits. This is the equivalent to the flower carpets in Antigua, at a smaller scale.
Cocop
Cocop is a village up in the Cuchumatan Mountains. There is no public transportation to get there, so I walked 3 hours crossing the mountains both ways. Around here, people rely on their backs and their horses to carry wood.
This was one of the worse hit indigenous villages by the war. On Holy Thursday of 1981, precisely 30 years ago, the national army descended from the mountains at around 5:30 pm, came into the houses around the village, and shot 73 people to dead. No warning, no mercy, just killed families while seeking for guerrilla supporters. I met Jacinto and Filiciana who told me what had happened there.
Jacinto is on the left. He was 14 at the time. His brother had heard the shots in the mountains and saw the soldiers on their way to Cocop. He came to warn his family, but Jacinto’s father was convinced they would not harm them, as they had not done it in previous visits to the village, and decided he and his family would stay home. Jacinto took off with his brother to the mountains, and soon they heard the shots and screams behind them. His entire family was killed. He and his brother moved to Nebaj on their own, and lived there for ten years before Jacinto decided to move back to Cocop.
Feliciana is second from the right. She was 16. Feliciana was at home with her husband and five-months-old baby. When the army came to the village, she was outside and saw them going into people’s houses shooting everyone and burning down homes and busineses. Her husband had been shot and killed on the spot. Her family and his were killed as well. She run with her baby on her back to the mountains seeking a place to hide, and as she was trying to escape, a soldier took a shot at her. She stopped running and realized her baby had taken the shot, and was already dead. Feliciana stayed in the mountains with many others for three months, hungry, cold, sick.
The villagers buried the bodies of their friends and families on a ditch. Decades later, the bodies were exhumed, and in 2008, 49 tombs were built for a new cemetery in memory of those who lost their lives on April of 1981. Only five of those tombs have names, while all the others could not be identified. In front, there is the field where there are still many bodies buried. The villagers need more funds to finance another project and build more tombs.
The civil war was from 1960 to 1996, 36 years in total. From 1980 to 1983, the conflict took a more aggressive turn, in a time where indigenous groups were massacred.
Thousands of indigenous had settled in the mountains. The guerrilla came to them looking for support, while the army came to make sure they had control over everything and everyone at all cost. By accounts of the survivors I met, it was the army who committed the worse of the atrocities including genocide and torture.
Today, many indigenous groups are doing much better than in the years prior to the Peace Accords in 1996. Yet, they are still underrepresented, even though they are the clear majority in Guatemala. Many of whom I spoke to told me they also resent their culture and traditions are not that well supported as compared to Catholic traditions. Also, many of them lack adequate medical and affordable secondary school services.
Many have denounced over the years that indigenous groups have always been looked down by the elites and their human rights violated in multiple times. The situation seems to be much better nowadays, not only here in Guatemala, but in other countries across Central America as well. Yet, it seems clear to me there is much more to be done, particularly by the national governments in terms of representation and public services, among many other areas. This could be a good theme for a thesis. Anyone?
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