Sunday

Today we had another day off and planned a trip to a small town called Chichicastenango which is renown for it's market. It took us about two and a half hours to get there in our little bus. On the way we were pulled over for a fruit check. It seems that checks are made to stop contamination in certain areas. I took a snapshot of the sign on the wall which you will find in the Flickr file.

The market was amazing and full of traditional Guatemalan goods; so colourful. It was very busy and there were lots of international people there. Unfortunately there were so many children selling goods. Ironic really that we are in the country because we want to eradicate child labour and there we were surrounded by children who were working. We were warned to keep our bags close which made me feel a bit paranoid and our backpacks were worn to the front! The tourists were constantly followed and pestered to buy goods. It is so sad because they are all so desperate to sell - survival out here is hard.

Tomorrow the break is over and we have the morning to plan lessons and then it is off to school in the afternoon. We have been told that we have been invited to meet the town councillors on Tuesday which is a great honour and we are looking forward to it.