The Fair Comes to Town : Panajachel, Guatemala

It's 4:00 a.m and 'the bombs bursting in air, gave proof' that the fair has come to Pana.

The bombs were bursting when we went to bed, and for many hours in between bedtime and wake time.

Other signs of merriment include blocked roads, diverted traffic, an influx in population, amusement rides in the middle of town, and two weeks off of school for local students (since the school grounds have been commandeered by peddlers selling their wares...)

[pullquote style="right" quote="dark"]Our full-length book is done and I'll be releasing it next week, so 'stay tuned!'[/pullquote] Yes, the kids get two weeks off for the fair, despite the disapprovement of parents, who aren't pleased about their kids idling around the fair unsupervised while they are off at work all day everyday.

Then there's the drunkenness. Pana already has it's lot of imbibers whom you can find passed out on the streets Saturday and Sunday mornings. But with the fair in town, you can find them now almost any morning of the week.

But in spite of all this (and despite the protests of my husband who had no interest in going), we went to the fair --  for an afternoon (we wanted to avoid the night time revelry).

We walked from our house toward the mercado where the festivities commenced.

I don't know if this woman and her husband were going to the fair or not, but she certainly looked festive.

It's fascinating to live in a place where many of the locals wear a traditional dress (and speak a native indian language). I never get tired of seeing it. Much of the world has become 'Americanized' in their clothing, losing some of the original culture of a place.

In fact, much of their clothing is 'leftovers' from thrift stores in the United States -- you'd be flabbergasted by the amount of 'hand-me-downs' from the U.S. that come through countries like Guatemala.

If you reject the food, ignore the customs, fear the religion and avoid the people, you might better stay home.” James Michener (Post on Facebook)

We reached the fair 'grounds' and headed directly for the ferris wheel -- the kids ride of choice.

But up close and personal, it seemed really big, and it was moving really fast. (Too fast for mommy, especially after she'd heard rumors of safety issues on this ferris wheel.)

Hmmm... maybe there's another option?

Here's a very short video clip of the chaos and noise. (I couldn't get anything longer because my camera card isn't working right for recording video.)

This girl seemed to be having lots of fun, on this manually powered 'merry-go-round'.

Atlas decided he wanted to try it, but didn't like it quite as much 😉

Finally, the kids decided to ride the smaller ferris wheel, and daddy joined them.

For someone who didn't want to go to the fair in the first place...

...he sure seemed to have a great time. (He was making the most noise anyway).

Atlas was mildly amused.

The kids had fun too, they just weren't as vocal about it as Greg. 😉

After the ferris wheel, the kids all got ice cream...

Then we left the centro and went in search of 'real' food.

Not here...

Or here...

Or here...

Definitely not here...

We did try some of these later, but they weren't that good.

This is what the kids wanted.

The grown ups got gringas.

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Just like any old fair, after eating, there's not much else to do besides walk around and look at stuff to buy. Atlas did the driving.

This guy was having lots of fun!

This guy? Not so much.

After some shopping, some rain, and some more food, we went home -- and I spent all night being sick after eating too much junk food.

Hurrah for the fair.

Has the fair come to your town?

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