Still at the Market at San Francisco de Alto

Believe me, this is not even a tenth of the market. It is massive and chaotic.







Dorkus Malorkus













There's always that one guy... Everybody questioned why I took the pic.




Coming up, the livestock part of the market.

At the Market at San Francisco de Alto

I have never been in such a press of people. The aisles are obviously packed and going is slow, but that doesn't stop the woman with bananas on her head behind you from pushing, shoving, and poking you in the back trying to get through. I learned quickly to be like a brick wall.







We stopped off in the church at the top of the hill.







Inside the church courtyard. This was the first chance I had to breath. Q10 entry fee ($1.20).




Doorway to the tiniest, tightest spiral staircase I've ever been on.










On the roof of the church. I guess only us rich touristas could afford the entry fee










Coming up, more market pics.

A Day of Chaos at the Market

My Spanish class's activity for today was to go out to San Francisco de Alto to the huge market they have out there. I figured the market would be interesting, but I was most interested in going out there on the Chickenbus. "You don't say 'pollobus'?" Nope, you actually say "Chickenbus". Awesome.


Walking to the chickenbus:




Getting on the chickenbus










Out driver kind of seemed like he was recovering from a night of crack or something. He was kind of spastic and jerky. Our bus had a fine sound system and our driver made sure that we could hear every note that was played.





Mi profesor:




This is only a small sign of the chaos to come:




WATCH OUT COWS, THIS IS A CHICKENBUS!




Yes, out driver decided he didn't want to wait in traffic, so he went up the oncoming traffic lane and forced his way back in at the end.




Next stop, at the market.

Walking Around Town Tonight

The main square is a madhouse with people jammed in all over the place, listening to the bands, seeing the vendors, getting into the church, etc.


One of the things I've tried and failed to get a picture of, are that the parents dress their little kids up and put them into a religious scene and take their picture. It's really very cute, but every time I snap a pic I get some mean looks, so I try to be surreptitious about it, but it ruins the shot. I'll try again tomorrow

Thanks for the kind words on the video. I have hours and hours and hours and when I go through it I think "nobody's going to like any of this crap" so I try to pick some kind of theme. Eh, I dunno


I payd 4 2 weeks of skool , but I'm listening to some of the students here who just blow me away and they've been here for only 4, 5 and 6 weeks. So, I'll do my two and the probably another two and probably at the same place. But the place is pretty amazing. A girl from Germany, a guy from France, an Asian, the US, etc, and we're all trying to communicate with the only real common language; español, with random words from out native tongue thrown in. In having a conversation with the German girl for example, it's common for all three languages to be used in each and every sentence. It's a crackup. Yeah, I'm liking this place


I hear you on not speaking español with the cops. I won't forget how to butcher the language, for sure.


Cool, thanks for the offer, Gringacho


The view from the top of the school building, looking across to the center of town:




The student body and faculty





Señor Dorkus Malorkus himself









This is pretty much where my bike will live for the next two weeks. No need to ride, here.




another pic of the campus




Here, I'm standing in front of the school, looking back across town. The Esso station is a landmark.




And this is the actual school from the street.




This is a picture, for those that haven't been keeping up.




First thing in the morning, looking across town.