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Chichicastenango On the two-hour trip north to Chichicastenango, on roads that wind through green terraced hills, there is nothing like hearing Madonna on the car radio to make one long for the pre-global village days. Chichicastenango, this nation's most famous Indian city, is actually home to about 1,000 ladinos, but each Sunday and Thursday upwards of 10,000 Indian vendors pour into the central plaza to sell their goods. Overnight, a tent city springs up in front of the 400-year-old Church of Santo Tomas. Scores of canvas-covered stalls display hand-carved masks and figurines, hand-woven fabrics and clothing, handmade tablecloths and napkins, handbags, ponchos and stuffed toys. At one stall, after some negotiating, I buy an elaborately embroidered tablecloth from a 70-year-old indigena woman; a stereotype or two is shattered when she whips out a pocket calculator. Here, as elsewhere in the rural highlands, the diversity of native costume is astounding: More than 200 villages have their own distinctive style of dress — a hummingbird motif, for example — and each individual adds a unique variation to the theme. The women, especially, adhere to custom, wearing their huipiles (blouses), cortes (skirts) and fajas (sashes). Some of the men wear the traditional short-waisted jackets, knee breeches of black cloth, woven sashes and embroidered kerchiefs around their heads. Lunch in the plaza is an explosion of sights and sounds. Smoke pours from kettles and clay pots, dogs run underfoot, women dish out soup while their daughters pat down corn tortillas. Two girls, perhaps 12, argue over who will get to serve tortillas to a handsome boy. The meal — chicken, rice, soup, beans, carrots and a Coke — comes to three quetzales: 65 cents. We leave a large tip. We return to our hotel, the Mayan Inn. There, the desk clerk tells us, as others have told us during our visit, that Guatemalans are exceptionally proud of their Mayan heritage. Raising a 20-quetzal bill to the air, he points to the Mayan symbols on the national currency. "You see?" he says. "Here is the Mayan figure for 20. Here is Yum Kax, the Mayan corn god, holding our most important crop. And here is Tecun Uman, our national hero. He was a Mayan leader who fought the Conquistadors, winning many battles. So you see why we are proud?"   n e x t b a c k   NEXT: Guatemala resources Guatemala: An introduction Tikal Antigua Panajachel/Lake Atitlan Chichicastenango Guatemala resources Guatemala photo gallery Travel articles CONTACT JD