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Warning: There are no commercial Hotels or Lodging
Ken_Weaver Says: If you plan to stay overnight in SJC, you need to make prior arrangements with a family or an organization that works in the area...or camp out in the jungle. While a bit risky for me, you could ask around the village and they may be families that will put you up for the...
Ken_Weaver Says: Market Day is Saturday in SJC in the Central Plaza. Negotiate everything but do not involve yourself unless you really want to buy the item. While this is not as big a thing as the Market Days in Nebaj or Chichicastanango you will have an opportunity to buy some beautiful...
Gestures and Body Language III
Ken_Weaver Says: When I becken someone to come over to my location I would wave them over with my hand upright and my palm toward my self. Apparently this gesture is one that you would use in Guatemala to solicit a prostitute! The correct way to beckon someone toward you is to motion with...
Ken_Weaver Says: When I want to indicate the location of something, I will point with my idex finger. However, in this area the natives indicate direction by pointing with their chins! "It's over there" they will say as they jut their chin out in the direction of the place you have asked...
Ken_Weaver Says: Gestures and body language vary throughout the world and this place is no exception. The indigenous people here are Ixil, descendents of the Mayas. They may not look you in the eye when you talk to them. They believe that there are certain powers that one has in their eyes...
Ken_Weaver Says: San Juan Cotzal is right in area of the mass genocide that was committed on the indigenous people of Guatemala during the civil war that began in 1960 and ended in 1996. Many of the army members and the members of the civil patrols that committed these atrocities have just...
Ken_Weaver Says: The children are so beautiful. It is amazing how clean they always are considering that most live in homes with dirt floors and clothes are washed by hand in a pila or sometimes in a stream.
Ken_Weaver Says: These Ixil women are enjoying a nice juicy piece of gossip or perhaps they are admiring some young man....perhaps even one of the crazy "Gringos!"
Textiles of Guatemala are Wonderful
Ken_Weaver Says: Many of the Ixil women are excellent weavers. Their textile products, all made by hand, are extremely beautiful.
Ken_Weaver Says: Here is an Ixil woman in full indigenous dress complete with head covering.
Several Ixil Women Practicing Patience
Ken_Weaver Says: The Ixil women are being most patient. Many of them have walked for miles to see the AGROS Medical Team.
Ken_Weaver Says: I have a feeling this young lady has just about had it with someone, perhaps a teasing hermano.
Ken_Weaver Says: Even the smallest of young girls wear the native dress on a daily basis.
Ken_Weaver Says: Ixil women waiting to see AGROS Medical Team that comes to the area every year from the Seattle area. The women do not speak Spanish so usually a husband has to interpret for the women and the doctors which often creates embarrassment for the women who are very shy.
Ken_Weaver Says: You will see women and children working with long strands of material right in the streets. They take the fibers from the maguey plant and fashion them into a rope-like material when they dye first and then weave into such things as hammocks. I was given a beautiful hammock...
Ken_Weaver Says: The patron saint of the village is John the Baptist. The village celebrates this on June 24 each year.
Ixil is Primary Language of the People
Ken_Weaver Says: Remember that Ixil is the language of the local people. Most men speak Spanish as a second language as do most of the children. Very few women speak Spanish so don't feel ignored if they don't respond to you if you are so fortunate to Habla Espanol.
Plan a San Juan Cotzal vacation with reviews, tips and photos posted by real travelers and San Juan Cotzal locals
The patron saint of the village is John the Baptist. The village celebrates this on June 24 each year.
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Journey to the Western Highlands
The last paved road from Chichicastenango ends at Sacapulas. It is uphill from here over a mountain pass and into the Ixil Triangle bordered on the corners by Chajul, Nebaj and San Juan Cotzal.
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