Dalama Adventures Tale of two corporate types ditching their jobs and traveling the world for 14 months... check out all photos, blogs & interesting tid bits at http://www.dalama.net

Brilliant colors abound everywhere, the streets are crawling with woven textiles, leather, produce and a ton of interesting handicrafts from traditional clothing, to carved masks, to dolls to musical instruments.  There's a small white church at the far end of the market, where we find an intriguing array of people, customs and colors.  We're lucky Darrin has a camera where the view screen can twist and turn, so he can keep the camera low, and literally shoot from the hip to capture some amazing in-action photos.  The steps of the church are packed with families dressed in traditional, colorful clothing, sitting together and enjoying lunch.  Ladies selling beautiful bouquets of flowers look eagerly for buyers.  Old ladies and men 4 feet tall swing incense tins in front of the church doors.  Women sell tortillas from covered baskets, and there's an array of "dollar" store product around the fringes of the steps.  We push our way further into the market and we see stalls and walls lined with cheaply made masks, like the ones we generally see made in Mexico.  There are stalls with beautifully embroidered huipiles (women's traditional blouse) and long wrapped skirts, patchwork embroidered pants and tops for the men.  Some stalls specialize in leather - belts, shoes, hats and bags, and others display beautifully woven textiles made into purses, wallets, wall hangings and home wear products for kitchen, bath and bed.

We pass the open air food stalls and the sound of hands clapping fill the air - we've arrived at the tortilla vendor area, and group of women furiously kneed dough into little balls, clapping them into little circular doughy disks and slap them onto the grill.  We order up two that are made with corn and bean, the young women curiously watch us while we eat them, smiling shyly and giggling at us, as we smile back.  The mood is friendly and festive, the market an abundance of culture and color.  We stop along the way to practice our Spanish, and learn about the local craft and history and stories behind design and patterns in fabric.

Central America is famous for their cocoa beans.  The local hot chocolate here tastes like a melted chocolate bar, and is perfect as we sit after a great market day, watching the rain, black clouds and lightening roll through town.