The Chichi market primarily serves locals who come from throughout the El Quiché department of Guatemala to buy and sell products. There are merchants whose handicrafts target tourists, but for the most part, vendors sell fruit and vegetables, medicinal plants, candles, incense, grindstones and other tools to locals.

Travelers on the Mayan Trail often visit Copán in Honduras, Chichén Itzá in Mexico’s Yucatan and Caracol in Belize. If you want to meet today’s Maya, however, head for Chichicastenango on market days. Located on Guatemala’s Altiplano at an altitude of 6,447-ft, “Chichi” is  about 87-miles northwest of the capital. The town of 71,500 comes alive every Thursday and Sunday when it becomes the largest market in Central America. Sunday is the busier of the two market days because of student bus trips from schools in Guatemala City.