Neil and I find the customs and dress of the different Guatemalans so very beautiful and interesting. Every time we go to a different part of the country we can find differences in theirnative dress and in the type of fabric worn by the women. The variety of colors is wonderful! Many of the women carry their loads on their heads. Needless to say, they have very good posture.
We drove through the town of Solola (located northwest of Guatemala City) and nearly drove right into the middle of Market Day activities. The colors of their clothing caught my eye immediately. These women wore beautifully embroidered "huipiles" (blouses) and their skirts were a very different type of woven fabric.
The women carried so many different things on their heads. We wondered if they thought that the "gringo" women were strange because they (or we) carried so many things in their arms!
These ladies were off to the market with their loads on their heads---also wearing their very best fancy aprons. The further north we go the less we see of the aprons worn nearer to Guatemala City.
What wonderful colors! The fabric, the embroidery, and the vegetables!
Now here was a very different native dress for the men of the area of Solola. The shirt is like a cowboy shirt except with wonderful embroidery. The hat is much like the cowboy hats in the USA. His pants are made of a colorful woven fabric. Then there is the "skirt." We haven't quite figured this out yet. It is a heavier fabric in brown and white checks. Some of our friends wonder if maybe this took the place of the "missing" aprons of the women. I just thought that they were wonderful and so very different. I hope to learn the story behind them.
One of the mainstays of the Guatemalan diet is corn. It is ground to be used in making their tortillas. These women at Market Day were making and selling their blue corn tortillas.
This is one of our favorite pictures. The load on her head is quite big, but every hair on her head is beautifully in place. Many of the women weave lovely ribbons into their long, dark hair.
With different areas came different patterns of woven fabrics---and another way to carry things.
We have probably placed pictures of mothers carrying their little ones in different places on our blog, but we couldn't resist this picture. They always have their children with them.
Not only do the women carry things on their heads, but this man has also "used his head" in order to get his bananas to Market Day to be sold. (Gives me a headache just looking at it.)
"This little piggy went to market".....or rather, these BIG piggies went to market! I wonder if that is why this little Toyota truck is leaning?
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