Guatemalan Blankets at Chichicastenango, Guatemala

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Souvenir shopping at Chichicastenango Market in Guatemala

Chichicastenango is a large market a few hours outside of Antigua, Guatemala. It’s held every week on Thursday and Sunday, when a slew of vendors take over the town, selling everything from tourist trinkets and Guatemalan souvenirs to traditional clothing to tools to soap to live chickens. It’s the biggest and best destination in Guatemala for buying souvenirs or, at least, for window shopping for them.

I managed to come away from the market buying just one thing: a small dark blue weaving featuring a bird print that I will someday hang on my wall. When I have a wall to hang it on, that is. I had wanted a big long weaving to match a table runner I bought in India. And I was hoping to find something a little more teal to match, well, everything I normally buy when souvenir shopping. But I never found a longer one I really liked. And I never found one in quite the right color. So, the birds, would have to do.

I almost bought a giant Guatemalan wool blanket. Not one of those multi-colored woven blankets you see in every market in the country. This one was thick and bulky and muted gray and blue. It just looked warm and cozy and comfortable.

But didn’t want to carry around the extra weight. I didn’t want to carry around the extra bulk. So, I passed that blanket by.

Of course, I’m sure I’ll spend the rest of my life reminiscing for the blanket that got away…

I don’t tend to buy a lot of souvenirs while traveling, but I have been trying to purchase at least one nice thing in every country. I figure that whenever I move back it will be nice to have little pieces of my travels to decorate my apartment with.

There are, of course, always so many things I want to buy, but I need to stop myself from collecting too much. Because there are so many countries worth of souvenirs left to see.