Swimwear

Bikini, trikini or one-piece, decided by the top:

how much a suit holds you up matters more than how much it covers. A triangle top ties at the neck and back and fits a range of cup sizes, so it is the easiest to buy without trying on and the least supportive. A bandeau has no straps and relies on its band. An underwire or balconette top is sized like a bra. The one-piece gives the most support through the body; a trikini is a one-piece with cut-outs at the waist, and a tankini pairs bikini bottoms with a top that reaches the waist. Bottoms come as a classic brief, a high-waisted cut or the narrow Brazilian cut. Suits made for pregnancy belong with maternity wear.

Black-sand surf, water-park pools and the springs at Zunil:

choose by the water first. At Monterrico and El Paredón the Pacific breaks hard close to shore, and a wave will shift a triangle or bandeau top that sits fine by a pool; a one-piece, a high-neck top or a bikini that fastens with a clasp as well as ties stays put. Chlorine is what wears out a fashion suit fastest. Most are soft nylon and elastane, and regular pool laps leave them baggy and faded long before the print wears. If you swim lengths, a training suit from Speedo or Arena in chlorine-resistant polyester or PBT feels firmer and lasts far longer; those sit as comfortably with women’s sportswear as here. The sulfur water at Fuentes Georginas can mark pale fabric and blacken metal rings and clasps, so an old dark suit is the one to take.

Department-store suits and Agua Bendita prints:

mall and department-store labels run from about Q150 to Q500 for a bikini or a one-piece. Colombian designer labels such as Agua Bendita and Cosita Linda, with hand-finished prints and embroidery, come close to Q2,000. That gap decides what is worth listing. A department-store suit moves mainly as a complete set in its packaging, because anyone who wants one can replace it new for not much more. A designer piece with its tags and liner intact holds its price best, because that print is not hanging in any mall.

Hang tags, hygienic liners and tired elastane:

a suit listed as unworn should arrive with its tags attached and the liner still stuck in the bottoms; one that has been peeled off and pressed back loses its tack and sits crooked. Hold the suit up to a window too. Elastane perishes with heat, sunscreen and age as well as chlorine, so a suit that spent a few seasons in a hot cupboard or a shop window can be tired before it ever gets wet: stretch the seat gently and it should spring straight back, with no thin patches that let light through and no tiny white threads poking out of the knit. Sunscreen from a try-on leaves yellow or orange marks on white and pastel fabric that washing will not lift. On an underwire top, check that the wire has not worked through the end of its channel and that removable cups come as a matching pair. On a designer piece, ask for photos of the inside label and the composition tag before you travel to see it.

A swimsuit listed before Holy Week:

is a swimsuit with a buyer, because those are the weeks when families plan the coast or the lake. Give the label size and, for an underwire top, the bra size it fits; say whether top and bottom are different sizes and whether you will split the set. Copy the fabric content from the care label, so a lap swimmer can tell polyester from nylon at a glance. Photograph it flat in daylight, front and back, with the tags in shot and a close view of the lining and the liner. A bikini bought for a trip that fell through is the easiest kind to pass on: say why it never went in the water, leave every tag attached, and expect a buyer from Quetzaltenango or Taxisco to ask to try it on over her underwear.