Chichicastenango

A hubbub of pre-Columbian charm, Chichicastenango and its colorful Chichi markets, Mayan shrines and the misty mountain surrounds of El Quiche, is best explored with a local tourHQ guide.

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Chichicastenango

Bursting with colour and teeming with indigenous life, the pint-sized town of Chichicastenango is one of the last remaining vestiges of pre-Christian, pre-colonial culture in Guatemala—and boy don’t the locals let you know it! Every Thursday and Sunday the Masheños hustle and hawk their handcrafted fabrics in the iconic Chichi markets, and in the city’s cemetery they adorn the tombs and mausoleums with a kaleidoscope of colours to mark the passing of the dead. What’s more, in the town’s churches, visitors can witness the ancient rites of old Maya still in action, with the floating fumes of incense and brightly coloured shrines peppering every alcove and cranny of the 450-year-old Iglesia de Santo Tomas. There are other mysterious points of interest to explore between the mountains of El Quiche too, for which curious travellers should ask their Chichicastenango tour guide about places like the Pascual Abaj shrine on the hill, or the weird and wonderful morerias mask emporiums that pepper the centre of town.