Once again one person in the group had needed special treatment - a tuk tuk to get her up the hill - and so had missed the visit to Maximón but when she eventually met up with us in the main square we all then had to stand around waiting whilst she changed money in the bank (we changed ours at the border, as Emilio recommended!). A few snaps whilst we waited.
Local men in their traditional dress.
And carrying goods on their heads is still popular among the older women.
From there we visited the parish church of Saint James the Apostle which was built in the town's main square by Franciscans around 1547, however the steps you see are actually over 1,000 years old and once led to a Maya temple which of course the Spanish Catholic Church destroyed in their attempt to force Catholicism onto the indigenous people.
There was a Tz'itjul lady outside the church selling beadwork and she treated us to a demonstration of how her hat was constructed with just one lone piece of ribbon
Eventually, after much confusion, she obliged me by taking off her glasses for a photo.
Emilio told us that her image was on the 25 cent Quetzal coin
I agree she looks very similar but having investigated further, although the coin does indeed feature an indigenous woman from this town, it would appear the person who is widely attributed to the image, Concepcion Ramirez, actually died just over a year ago. As it's been a couple of years since Emilio visited here, I'd like to believe that he just didn't bother to look at her face too closely, rather than think he was telling us a fib.
Emilio warned us that the worshippers weren't particularly welcoming here so not to talk and to keep to the side aisles rather than the centre which was again strewn with pine needles. One poor lady was dragging herself around on the floor and I asked Emilio about giving her some money, which he said to do as I left but also mentioned she'd be up and about pretty quickly afterwards!
The church was quite plain inside and there were no paintings on the walls whatsoever but there were these various sets of what looked like saints, all dressed in matching outfits (they look tiny here but must have been about 1-2' tall).
These larger figures on the altar were positively scary,
This altar freeze depicting Jesus' birth and death looks relatively normal, except when you look closely at the faces they resemble indigenous people which shows the skilled local workmen employed to work on the building refused to be subjugated by Catholicism.
As with everywhere we've been this church was full of fresh flowers.
This was another church where over the years pagan and Christianity have merged to suit the beliefs and practices of the community.
I don't know what the original stained glass windows were like but I rather like this abstract one which I presume was installed after the church was extensively damaged by an earthquake in 1976.
Next we headed for the local market and again Emilio warned us to be carefully of taking photos, so I hid behind a pillar and got a few rubbish shots.
Gill on the left is taking a picture of the 25c Quetzal coin so I risked going for the ladies.
Shot from the hip - I must practise more.
This is probably the nearest I'll ever get to a Resplendent Quetzal, Guatemala's national bird.
This photo borrowed from Beyond the Ordinary's website shows it in all its flying glory.
A few souvenir shops as we made our way back down to the lake edge.
Even at lunchtime the light was still beautiful.
Emilio - who reminds us so much of Ian's eldest nephew; both are full of joie de vivre with smiles that reach every part of their face.
Of course we did the usual "back a bit" joke to make the others laugh, but I didn't notice the bottle otherwise I'd have picked it up!
