Jocotenango, Guatemala

Last Saturday (15 August) we went with some friends to visit a town on the outskirts of
Antigua, named Jocotenango. Little did we know that it was a holiday---Day of the Ascension. So when we got there we saw all of these carnival rides and food vendors like you would see at a county fair back in the States. Notice the colorful front of the church that was built onto the old part of the church behind it.

On special religious holidays the people lay out designs on the streets made out of leaves, stems, and flowers. They call these "carpetas." We found these being laid out on many of the streets where we walked---as we looked for certain woodworking shops.

The artistic abilities of the Guatemalan people are amazing. This man has worked with wood most of his life---probably just as his father and grandfather did. He turned this chunk of wood into a beautifully smooth pear. You can see the wood chips flying in the air. Would you believe that he started the motor of his lathe by touching a curved bare wire wire to a nail?

Here is the finished product. It's too bad you can't really see the fine, smooth finish of the pear and the wood grain. Neil and I bought a couple of these that had been stained and polished.

This is the store at the back of the woodshop. The pear on the left is one of the pears that we bought. We learned that this woodworker used several different kinds of wood like cedar, coffee, and others. Notice the interesting piece of wood in the center of the photo above.
The photo below shows some of the fruit and vegetables that we bought at one of the wood shops. The unique bowl was made of highly smoothed and polished coffee wood.