San Andrés Xecul

One field trip from Xela organized by PLQE was a visit to San Andrés Xecul, a little town which is famous for its brightly-painted churches.     14.9045, -91.4828 

Our journey was by chicken bus, of course. You can see the U.S. school bus heritage on some of the yellow (not-yet-repainted) buses.

The town of San Andrés Xecul was small and hilly, with steep narrow streets.

We first visited the chapel at the top-end of town. Worshippers at this chapel practice a mixture of Catholic and native Mayan ceremonies — a combination that is growing more common in Guatemala.

The view from the top of town.

The "Tigo" cellphone company seems to have a huge advertising budget — spent painting buildings all over the country deep blue, with their company color & taglines.

San Andrés Xecul is also famous for hosting a San Simón (aka Maximón), the cigar-puffing booze-swilling saint. This town (like several others) has a couple effigies of San Simón, which are hosted by a (periodically different) local household. We paid a small fee to visit the current Casa de Maximón inside the tienda "San Simón". San Simón has his own room, complete with bed.

The big church, also brightly painted yellow.

The sign says: urination and ball playing are not allowed.