Traditional Mayan Clothes
When I lived in Bhutan, I wore the local outfit whenever I went out in public, which was almost every day. Since the locals had to wear them most of the time, it seemed respectful and a good way to experience the culture directly. While some locals made fun of me, thinking I was a tourist, I felt that everyone who knew me appreciated the effort. I remember buying comfortable cotton pants in Cusco to match the clothes the Incans wore, and would have been happy to do the same in Guatemala. In fact, I came with few clothes because I planned to buy everything here, but it wasn't to be. The men here wear jeans and t-shirts. I've been told twice that the Mayan men's clothes are too expensive for them to wear, so I believe that's an important consideration, but the women wear more ornate hand-woven outfits, so there has to be more to it. Our cooking instructor had another theory. She told us that during the civil war, which ran from 1960 to 1996, men and boys were taken to be trained as soldiers for both sides. And the fighting had a tit-for-tat mentality that meant men of certain villages would be killed in retaliation for something another villager did. The risk of being drafted or targeted was higher for those wearing clothes that identified which village they came from, so men stopped wearing their traditional clothes. When the war ended, the art of making men's clothes had been lost and the men were used to wearing western clothes anyway. My Spanish teacher believes it's because the traditional clothes are inappropriate for the lifestyle. In San Pedro La Laguna, the trousers