A visit to Santa Maria de Jesus, Guatemala

Santa Maria de Jesus sits on the side of Vulcan de Agua, rising above this central square

We took a public van from near our B&B to a small town up the slopes of the volcano that looms over Antigua, Vulcan de Agua, to Santa Maria de Jesus at the suggestion of our host Daniel. As he promised we were the only tourists there and we doubt they see many at all. Despite it being a Monday the market in the town square was bustling. After a while people got used to us and I was able to take pictures and just sit and watch this vibrant scene. Hope you enjoy this photo visit.

Multi purpose checkered cloths serve as head coverings

Dried Fish anyone?

That's various herbs on the right

The vegetables looked very fresh

Children help out their mothers or

Scott towers above everyone

Another use of the cloths is carrying children or parcels

Notice the ubiquitous flip flops

This little girl is helping with the weighing

While this one is fascinated by her diapers

And this lovely little girl by my camera and myself

Blouses on display

I bought a blouse very similar to the one on the left

These women are filling their clay water vessels to bring home

A big celebration was planned that night

Many of the men in the town were lined up outside

The local laundromat

Wood for the cooking fires

Another view of the hard work of cleaning clothes

Kids everywhere have fun

A wide variety of skirt material

That's a selection of belts on the rack

Everyone needs toilet paper and paper goods

This looks like a selection of modern clothes - one women appears to have already succumbed.

These are 17th Century towers at the gate to the square

Vibrant colors are everyone's favorite

scarfs or cords are used to bind up your hair

Tomatoes anyone?

Sundays are the big market day but this was busy enough

It seemed most of the town was there

These women got a kick out of Scott and I

As did this woman - we bought some of her fried potatoes

Behind the scenes as they get ready to serve lunch

Too bad we weren't provisioning for the boat

I'm sorry I didn't buy any aprons to complete my costume