Guatemala Part 8 — Cobán and Chichicastenango

Left Lanquín the way we came in: slowly, in first gear, up a mountain. The views on this stretch almost make the road forgivable. Almost.

Overnighted in Cobán, where we stopped at the brand-new Cobán Guatemala Temple, and this one was just dedicated in 2025, which was neat to find. The inscription out front is in Spanish and Q’eqchi’, which tells you something about who built this region. The boys posed with the flowers and gave it two thumbs up, which is the highest rating Axel and Enzo issue for anything that isn’t a water slide.

Then the long haul west through the mountains and valleys and up to Chichicastenango, where we came to the Santo Tomás church, incense drifting off the steps. That church is 400+ years old and sits on top of a Maya temple platform, and the ceremonies happening on the stairs are older than the church.

Sunday morning: the famous Chichi market. It’s supposedly the biggest open-air market in Central America and I believe it. Streets disappear under tarps. Tuk-tuks give up entirely. We walked stalls of hand-woven textiles for an hour, and the colors are honestly hard to describe — walls of embroidered huipiles, blankets stacked chest-high, women working needle and thread right in the stalls while they wait on customers. And seeing all the elderly men and women walking around with heavy loads strapped to thier heads. My hypothesis is that is why they are so short here.

Total purchases by our crew at the biggest market in Central America: mango ice cream off a street cart. Dirty ice cream, the boys call it. It was excellent mango.

Murals everywhere in these towns too — Lanquín had bats and drums painted on half its walls, and Chichi’s Santa Elena de la Cruz mural (giant festival masks, a dancer in a headdress.

Next we drop out of the highlands to the “Waters of Mormon” (Maybe).

#unpavedparenting