San Andrés Xecul is located a short chicken bus ride from Quetzaltenango (Xela). It’s snuggled up against the mountains, giving the whole town a steep slope. They have an indoor market, plenty of dyed threads hung out to dry, and two brightly coloured churches. I believe one of the churches is actually a cenotaph commemorating those who died during the civil war.
If you’re in Xela and decide to make the trip, be sure to get on the direct chicken bus. We made the mistake of hopping on the first bus going in that direction and were dropped off on the highway about 7km outside of town. Also note that there are two San Andres in the immediate vicinity, so it is necessary to specify which one you desire to go to.
Without further ado, I give you the Technicolor Dream Church (and the cenotaph):
Beautiful!! It looks like someone took a crayon and colored it!!
We were expecting a brightly coloured church from the description in the guide book, but we definitely weren’t expecting this. Because the town is on a slope, it was the first thing we saw from the highway. At least we didn’t have any problems finding it!
Whoever designed that church must have been on some serious drugs!
Yeah, it’s pretty bizarre. There’s supposed to be monkeys painted on it, but we couldn’t find them!