Santiago Atitlan

This morning, we went to another town on the lake. Santiago is a very interesting place. Its much less touristy than the other towns that we have seen. Its very mayan, with very few spanish speakers. We first went to the big catholic church...actually the first church that we have visited on this trip. It was beautiful and has a lot of history from the recent civil war. In 1981, the town was attacked by the military. The priest, an Oklahoman, allowed locals to sleep in the church at night where they thought it was safe. He was killed for protecting the people and the church has a memorial for him. Its amazing how recently this all occured.

We then hopped in the back of a truck to go see Maximon, an important Mayan god. What you cant see in this picture is that besides Rob and I, the truck was packed with Mayan women. I easily stood a full head taller than all of them. For all you short girls out there....Jamie..Nikki...come to Guatemala, you will never feel taller. I mean it, these arent children that I am taller than but full grown women.

This is Maximon. Every year he moves to a different house. People come and pray to him. They bring cigarettes, alcohol and money. He lives in a room that is thick with the smoke of incense. He always has a lit cigarette in his mouth.

Santiago had a nice big market. Its so hard to truly capture that atmosphere of the markets in pictures. They are bustling and the smells are incredible.

Tomorrow we go back to Antigua to meet my parents.