In any case, I spent as much time awake and traveling as possible, I talked to lots of locals and other travelers, and I have a reasonably good idea of where I most want to revisit. Their stories and my own future travel plans are worth sharing, I think, but first I d like to document some of what I observed while traveling. In Central America, the market is where the action is. Not only can you get almost any kind of food product there, but all the buses pass through, too. Because they are transportation hubs, the market is usually the first thing about a city that a traveler experiences.
Markets are an exercise in sensory overload.
Even small markets are usually crawling with people, heavy with smells, and loaded with color. Depending on the time of day and your mood, markets can be exciting and stimulating, or overwhelming and nauseating. I observed one small, active market where everyone seemed to be selling cabbage, lettuce, and onions, and that was about it. Truckloads of these products kept rolling in, and loud sounds of bargaining and buying filled the air. I m not sure what else the people of Zunil eat, but somehow all those cabbages, onions, and lettuce disappeared.