Winston, I don't think we're in Toto anymore

The Statue of the Apparition of Saint Michael the Archangel.

There's a better Wizard of Oz joke there somewhere, but I can't grasp it. After San Pedro, I set my sights on the mountain town of Totonicapan (fun to say if you can get it right, faster is better), where they were celebrating the festival of the Apparition of Saint Michael the Archangel. Now, for all you eager Catholic school alumni, everyone knows that late September is the usual time for such revelry, but this is all about the apparition, the various inspirational appearances of Mike's ghostly self that inspired such great things as the Mont-Saint-Michel in Normandy. Apparently the Lombards of Sipontum defeated the Greek Neapolitans on May 8, 663 thanks to Saint Michael and it became a holy day. The Pope later declassified it but the Guatemalans don't give up that easily.

New game. Where's Winston?

Winston and I had the good fortune of finding a true local fest, with mobs of indigenous people out to drink, eat, and be merry, and very few tourists bothering to attend (we counted 3 others).

Lalo Tzul (on the right, obviously) and his horns.

The main event was a performance by Lalo Tzul and his Manzaneros, a marimba backed band with horn section and the inimitable Lalo as frontman. The guidebook promised traditional dance and fireworks. You get fireworks all the time in Guatemala, usually as frightening bomb blasts from no particular source in the middle of the day. While we did see some fireworks when they trotted Michael out of the church, and I caught a pic or two of fireworks behind the band, I'm not sure we even caught the prime show, or if there was one.

This one, possibly drunk Mayan lady was the "traditional dancing."

Unless you count these definitely drunk guys.