Xela - Learnin us some Spanish...

“a journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step” – Lao Tzu

well, the first couple of weeks in Guatemala have certainly been interesting. a couple bouts of sickness, tropical storm Agatha (which has done an immense of amount of damage to Guatemala – about 170 deaths and over 150,000 people evacuated…extremely difficult to deal with in a country with such little money), a giant sinkhole swallowing up an intersection in downtown Guatemala City, and a volcano eruption… we experienced it all!

the weekend of the storm, we had reserved a day trip to a natural hot springs close by, Fuentes Georginas. we decided to postpone it, because of the rain. saturday night, the heavy rains caused a mudslide and Fuentes Georginas was basically destroyed. if we had gone on Saturday, we would have been stranded there for a night, or two. apparently, it will cost over $30,000 to restore the springs (meaning it won’t be restored this time).

welp...to give you a little taste of the first leg of our guatemalan adventures, below are some pictures documenting our past couple weeks.



our room at our homestay. we arrived in Xela at 7:30pm after about a day and a half of travel – including an 8 hour layover at LAX and a 8 hour “layover” in the bus station in Guatemala city until. anyhoo, after arriving in Xela we headed to our school and met the owner, Sary. she immediately brought us to our homestay. we would be spending the next week with Doña Antoinetta, an “interesting” older woman who doesn’t speak a lick of English. our accommodations were nice and just about all we needed – a hot shower with good water pressure and a good sized room.



courtyard at our homestay.
a few things about Antoinetta:
-she feeds you waaay to much food, and we were unable to get her to reduce our portions.
- she talks to herself, and her pets, quite a bit. we would often be confused if she was trying to talk to us. after a few days, we realized she was not talking to us.
- she occasionally has a friend over to eat with us, but never introduces them. our best guess was that one of them was her daughter – no clue about the other one.



during the first weekend in Xela before starting our classes, we climbed a big hill just south of the city. there were a few spots where we got a great view of the city – we could also see the courtyard of the house we were staying at.



every Sunday, and sometimes at random times during the week, you would hear music – the sound of a “middle school” band playing songs that they’ve played hundreds of times before. when you follow the music to its source, you would find a parade/processional. not sure what to call it, but its definitely religious in nature (some kind of mix between mayan and catholic), and it definitely has a sad tone to it. here’s the typical scene, in front of a big church in the Parque Centroamericano.



the indoor/outdoor bar/restaurant area in the center of the city, pasaje enriquez. pretty beautiful building. might be headed there tonight for a “last night in Xela” cerveza or two :)



north of the central part of the city is the mercado democracia - a large outdoor market selling everything from mangos to couches, and a pretty church - iglesia san nicolas.



also near the mercado democracia is parque benito juarez. this picture was from the day after la tormenta (the storm, Agatha). this is not really a good representation of the damage to guatemala. however, it does document the extreme disparity in the amount of damage. we were able to have a nice sunday afternoon in the sunny park. however, at the same time, thousands of guatemaltecos were trying to figure out how to survive after their homes were destroyed.



again, in the park.



one of the other attractions in Xela besides the parque centroamericano is the teatro municipal. we hung out here a few times among the cute stray dogs.



most houses are pretty much the same. cinder block houses with a stucco-like material on the outside. this one was one of my favorites...i think just because of the many varied colored paint jobs :)



after a confusing week with Doña Antoinetta, we decided to leave the homestay and move to the hostel at the school. although it was good to get a feel for true guatemalan living, at our hostel we liked the flexibility of our schedule a little more, and didn’t feel like stuffing our faces at every meal anymore. another plus = constant WIFI :) ...yes...we’ve realized that we’re a little addicted to the internet.
here's the courtyard in our hostel...very good studying/reading spot.



this was the table right outside our room in the hostel...also lauren's "desk" during our 8am to 1pm classes.
we were so glad we took 2 weeks of class. although we still need a lot of practice and have to continue studying, we actually feel confident enough to start our traveling via "chicken bus." i'm sure we'll have lots to report on that later :)
a basic knowledge of spanish in guatemala (and most other central/south american countries) is a must. and so is a dictionary. during my (lauren) last day of class, my maestra asked me what i need to bring for our hike the next day. i couldn't think of the exact word for good shoes in spanish...but i thought i had it. "necesito buen zappos." my teacher started cracking up. zapatos = shoes. zappos = frogs.



view of parque centroamericano...the happening spot in Xela... from the museo de natural historia.



museo de natural historia. we thought we knew what to expect. our guidebook and online sites called it "fascinating, funky, quirky, weird." yep...it was all of the above. the most interesting room was the room of stuffed animals and fetuses. yes...fetuses. pretty disturbing. and you could tell that these were the reject stuffed animals that couldn't quite make it into a legit museum. eyes looked like marbles and sometimes feet were missing. but hey...it was less than a dollar to check it all out :)



just joe...happy during a random city walk :)



so after two weeks of classes and a pretty miserable last weekend due to the storm, we finally made it out of the city for a trip. we decided to go with a guide for our first trip (although pretty expensive!) and to go with a "moderate" hike...instead of a "difficult, very difficult" hike. i think that they have different standards here. or maybe its just the altitude...but it was a tough one. we hiked up to the laguna de chicabal. chicabal is an extinct volcano that is now topped by a beautiful, sacred lake at an elevation of nearly 8,900 feet. local mayans use the site for their annual may ceremonies, to thank the gods for the sun and rain. although difficult, totally worth it. since it's sacred, no swimming is allowed. although it would have pretty nice to take a dip after the tough walk up!



same view, but inclusive of a sweaty joe and lauren :)



the other awesome view from the top was of the three local volcanos, one extremely active. starting from the left is santa maria, the tallest of the three. san tomas is in the middle and santiaguito is to the right, just poking through the clouds. santiaguito is extremely active, erupting several times per day. we caught the end of an eruption...a huge puff of grayish smoke.



after you reach the top, then you have to walk down about 600 steep steps to the lake. our legs were like jelly afterwards.



la laguna de chicabal.



there are several mayan altars around the lake. you would see a sign for every one.



ceremonies take place around the lake during the first week of may. this altar was used during the 3rd day of may - indicative of the 3 crosses.



this was the most relaxing part of the hike. and according to our guide, the area where the mayans who need healing would go and ask the lake to heal them. since i had told my guide that my knee was bothering me a bit after the 600 steps down, he told me to put some water on my knee and ask the lake for its healing power. so far...my knee has been great!



not a usual sighting...a quetzal. in total, we saw 2 female and 2 male quetzales, the national bird of guatemala. the males are extremely rare to see. our guide, carlos, said we were extremely lucky to see them. since you can't make out it's colors in our picture, we included a more colorful one so you can get a better idea of how beautiful they are. when they flew away they were a brilliant array of nearly every color.



me and my handy walking stick after the hike.



somehow, joe had enough energy afterwards for a go on the rope swing :)



view of the local village next to chicabal, san martin sacatepaquez.



same view, complete with our awesome guide, carlos!

a few other memories of our Xela experience...

last night, after the hike, we didn’t have any energy to go out and get food. in order to eat, we had to overcome a fearsome obstacle – we ordered a pepperoni pizza, for delivery, in Spanish – score! it was actually a decent pie too!

we will miss our doggie friend, known to us only as “the howler.” we’ve never seen him, but he comes to visit us each night – he sits somewhere right outside of our hostel and lets out these short little howls, which actually sound more like hoots. “hoo, hoo,” every 5 seconds. at first it was annoying, then it became funny, then a little perplexing. “what is his purpose?”, we would wonder. “is he looking for something or someone the he’s lost? is he retelling countless wild tales of his doggie past? is he simply crazy?” we will never know. as we leave Xela, we leave him (or her) behind and hope that he accomplishes whatever it is he’s trying to do.

goodbye Xela and "howler." tomorrow we are off to chicken bus it to san pedro la laguna, off the beautiful lake atitlan. we heard there was a lot of damage there due to the storm so we're not sure of the length of time we'll be there (5ish days?). anyhoo...take care everyone! time to put our spanish skills to the test during the next few weeks of guatemala traveling :)

tallyho!

-lauren and joe