Salcaja

Salcaja makes jaspe, the tie-dyed thread that gives the blurred-edged patterns found in skirts across the western highlands: bundles of thread are tied in sections before dyeing so the tied parts resist the colour, and when the thread is untied and woven the pattern emerges soft-edged, a technique known elsewhere as ikat. Workshops through the town dye, dry and wind thread and weave the cloth, and it is sold across Guatemala. The town also holds the Ermita de la Concepcion, a small church whose foundation in 1524 gives it a claim, widely repeated locally, to being the first church built in Central America. Fruit liquors are another local product.

What you actually see

• Jaspe thread tied and dyed - the resist technique behind highland skirts.
• Thread drying and winding - the workshops through the town.
• The Ermita de la Concepcion - the church founded in 1524.
• Local fruit liquors - the other thing the town makes.

When to go

From November to April, when the weather is settled. Half a day. Workshops keep working hours. The church is small and may need to be opened on request.

Honest expectations

The claim to the first church in Central America is repeated with more certainty than the evidence supports and the building has been much altered. Workshops are working businesses, not displays. The town is otherwise plain and busy with traffic.

Nearby

Quetzaltenango is south-west; San Francisco El Alto lies north.