Young men dancing in the festivities outside the church The beautiful church that looms over the town On the wall are testimonies to the many miracles that have been performed in the name of the virgin of El Quinche This is the virgin. In the church the pilgrims who come to see her are allowed to walk up on the altar to come as close as possible to her. The beautiful painted interior of the church Outside there was much dancing and music since it was both a market day and a fiesta. The group dancing was from Guayaquil on the coast. Their masks would not be politically correct in the US but the majority of inhabitants of Guayaquil are desended from Africans brought to South American hundreds of years ago. These masks were of wood and very mysterious. These masks were of wood and very mysterious. As seems to be the custom here, the dancers gave out small glasses of liquor made from cane sugar - very potent, nothing like rum. Parading the Baby Jesus. There was a group dancing around in a circle carrying two glass boxes containing dolls that represented the baby Jesus ( I think) A face in the crowd Traveling fruit stand I bought a beautiful skirt for Molly from this lady. Not a tourist skirt but a real village skirt.
