Artisan market (market! ) — Local services in Sacatepéquez

Our church sends mission teams several times a year to the poorer areas in Guatemala. Most of the time were were building low cost housing or setting up feeding stations for the poor people. The last day of our trip we go to the Artisan Market and support the local economy by buying locally produced goods. These places look similar to American "Flea Markets". A lot of the goods are indeed locally hand-crafted cloth and leather goods that are unique. This is how some of the locals earn their living. Here you must be able barter/bicker over the price. This is a sport for them. They will not be happy with you if you do not argue over the price. However, you must be aware of the exchange rate because they will only take local currency. You can exchange dollars for Quetzales at the local banks. The rate when we went there was 8 Quetzales to the dollar. This rate changes every day. This is a good chance to get unique items in a...

I love browsing and buying colorful Guatemalan hand crafted items. In this Artisan market each vendor has a separate stall. There seem to be an endless amount of vendors in the two buildings that flank the side of the bus yard behind the busy market (mercado) in Antigua. While the nearby mercado has everything a person needs for their everyday life, like fruit, vegetables, shoes, clothing, cosmetics and more, the Artisan market is strictly for handmade items, typical of Guatemala. You could easily spend a day in the Artisan market admiring and buying the handcrafts, yet not see all of it. It's too bad it's somewhat obscured by the big utilitarian mercado it is next to. But seek it out, the vendors are friendly, they will gladly show you their wares, colorful and vibrant products of proud Maya...

This was a fun way to spend some time without necessarily spending any money. I know there were over 250 stalls and virtually all of them had identical merchandise. If you saw an item that caught your attention but the color was wrong you could bet that the stall owner would say 'wait here' and hurry off and find from a neighbor an item closer to what you were looking for. Every owner knows 'what do you need? ' in English. You have to learn 'solo miro' (just looking) and many of them will let you off the hook. Otherwise expect to spend a lot energy declining to purchase at each stall. Fun and amazingly colorful! You will probably find something that you need to take...