Los Cerritos

I was invited to a local fiesta in a community of Chichè called Los Cerritos. I was looking forward to seeing my first traditional Guatemalan festival, particularly because the main attraction was to be the masks. At the front of the house where I live is a bread shop: Panaderìa La Economica 2, and the bread shop proprietor was honoured to be participating, so the ever-vivacious Doña Carmen took me to see the festivities. It was so brilliant and so funny. I was expecting to see an authentic performance with rustic costumes and lots of marimba music, and authentic it was indeed, but rustic it was definitely not! The dancers entered the floor in a procession resembling the Greenwich Village Hallowe`en parade in New York, i.e. anything goes! So Mr. Bread Man was one of a pair of crusaders, Celia Cruz was sashaying with George W. Bush, futuristic warriors combatted with space cowboys and all to the rather impressive strains of a 15-piece marimba band complete with brass section, three very good vocalists and funky percussive sets! We ate chuchitos (maize dough steamed in maize leaves - tastes better than it sounds!) and Carmen offered me and her other compañera margaritas , disappeared behind the curtains of the little rural comedor and returned with plastic cups of a very strong local liquor topped up with pepsi. Go girls!