Thanksgiving!

My time here in Xela since Thanksgiving has truly been a time to give thanks, through some ups and some downs.  Starting with Last Thursday, Thanksgiving, when I had a wonderful potluck dinner with some other American folks away from home and a few locals as well.  Eating chicken (not turkey but almost), potatoes, gravy, FRESH salads, and baked mac’n'cheese was really incredibly after subsisting off of a cheap Guatemalan diet for a while.  The dinner was with some nice folks affiliated with a volunteer organization here in Xela called Entremundos and I really did feel quite at home.  The next day, I moved out of the local family’s house and into a rental room in search of a little more privacy and my own (relative) choice of food.  This was just in time to get my things ready to go on an overnight backpacking trip to the volcano Tajamulco, which is the highest point in Central America.

I Went with  a local group called Quetzaltrekkers, made up of volunteers who donate money to a local school for street children.  The trip was with two friends from school and  about 20 other people.  We woke up at 4:30 am on Saturday morning to take a pickup-truck ride to the bus station, where we took a chicken bus to a halfway point.  There we ate breakfast and continued on another bus.  We started hiking around 10am and arrived near the top of the volcano around 3:30.  It was really an ideal situation; there was an Israeli guy with us who brought a whole coffee kit onto the mountain & I had a little scotch.  We did some yoga on the mountain while a rainbow was visible below.  Afterwards, we hiked up to slightly below the peak and watched what was truly the most magnificent sunset of my life.  Being so high above the clouds was spectacular; the shapes and the colors mind blowing.  Afterwards was a nice night of card playing and we went to bed at 7:15 in anticipation of waking the next morning at 3:30 for the sunrise.  Another spectacular experience, though incredible cold on top Central America at 4:30 in the morning.  I really enjoyed the opportunity to hike up there and Quetzaltrekkers did a great job of leading the trip.

Since then I have been studying and enjoying my time here in Xela.  Its very easy to feel at home here and I definitely feel the pull to stay here for some time, though am not at all sure how long that is yet.  I will be doing some volunteering, which started today with a trip to a computer lab in a rural community just outside of Xela.  The school was inaugurating the lab which had been setup by Partners in Solidarity  which is the organization that I’ll be working with.  Its amazing to see the technological junk of the US relished by communities here which would otherwise not have computers to learn on or about.  The community the school is located in is only 1.5 km outside of Xela but lacks paved roads and potable water.  Quite a contrast to the city I’m living in now so close by.

 I am going to take a week off of school next week to relax and hopefully do some traveling.  After three weeks of 25 hrs studying I’m ready for a little break from learning and would like to continue building my Spanish through practice with local speakers.  I will probably continue with private lessons (which are SIGNIFICANTLY cheaper) when I get back to Xela and before I set off again.  I’ve been on-again/off-again sick and have spent a lot of time looking for good places to live – but otherwise things really are nice here.

 You are all in my thoughts and I look forward to being in touch and hearing about how things are back home.

Thoughts on Guate

Its Monday night in Guate, just started my sceond week in school.  This week I start in the mornings instead of the evenings so have more of the day to explore, and work as it may be.  I´ve become quite settled here in xela for the mean time, making traveler friends and local friends.  Its interesting acclimating to life in a country such as Guate, which really does teeter precariously towards anarchy.  There are so many luxuries that we get used to back in the states that don´t exist here.  Sanitation regulations, police protection, reliable transportation.  Within all this though, people are amazingly kind and helpful for the most part.

It really is amazing here that the mechanism functions at all.  This all really set in for me today while I was speaking with a local college student that lives in the home stay with me.  We were walking around town, then took a minibus to the market to buy a cell phone charger for me.  The minibuses are minivans that are filled beyond capacity to around 25 people and drive circuitous routes to pick up as many people as possible.  Fare is around 20 cents US.  They are fun, but so different from anything one would experience in the states.  I´ve been in them many times in the last couple weeks but today the contrast really began to set in.  Living with the family has also been nice but a little difficult.  I´m feeling the need for privacy and will probably grab a weekly room in an apartment next week while I continue my studies.  The family unit, plus three boarders, is a little lacking in privacy ‘ though great for practicing Spanish.

Last weekend had a packed weekend. Went to a gringo’ish DJ party with some friends Friday night, and went out with the local kids from my house on Saturday to a public concert and to club.  The concert was sponsored by Gallo beer, and faetured a large fake christmas tree, the ¨arbol gallo¨.  Fun, but also the most isoalted Ive felt yet, as it was loud and hard to understand people´s Spanish.  Sunday I went to Fuentes Georginas, a tropical paradise with Hot Springs in the hills above Xela.  (link)  Nice to leave the city and be in some actual hot water!

I will probably stay in Xela and volunteer for a while with an org that places donated computers from the states in rural schools.  More on that soon, and more photos soon.  Hope everyone´s well and please be in touch!

Xela

I have now been here in Xela since Thursday night, and am actually becoming busy and developing somewhat of a routine.  Last week I chose a language school named the Proyecto Linguistico, or PLQ (link), and signed up to start Monday.  Choosing a school was hard as there are probably 50 to choose from, all which offer essentially the same thing.  Howver, the PLQ is a non-profit cooperative that focuses on the social issues in the past and current lives of Guatemalan people, of which there are many.  It seemed to me the best way to gain an understanding of what the lives of locals are and have been like.  So far, I think its been the right choice.  Sunday night I moved in with a local family, where I have my own bedroom with a double bed , TV and small table.  The family is Mom, Dad, a 7 year old son, a 17 yeard old son and a 19 year old daughter, plus many other people rotating in and out.  Meals are eaten with some or all of them depending on the time and the day.  None of them speak English so its a great time to practice my Spanish.  Sometimes they don´t say much and watch TV, but I have been able to speak a fair amount with them and feel quite at home at the house.  If only the water were hotter…

 I am about to start my third day of school, which consists of five hours of one on one instruction with a teacher.  We converse a lot, and also do exercises practicing verbs and vocabulary.  I.m remembering a lot, but the practice is very important.  I´m really pleased at how fast my Spanish is coming back and how much I am able to speak with people.  There are also conferencias at the school where locals come in and discuss topics from the present and the past.  Yesterday we learned about the situtation in Guate´s liberal colleges during the 80´s, which was marred by violence and repression.  Quite a sad situation and one that made me think a lot about how different attending college is these days, espescially back in the states.  Everybody here has a story, so many of which are heartbreaking. The amazing thing is that when they tell the stories, they come out as quite normal and my reactions almost seem out of place.  So bascially, being here in the school and with the family is allowing me a chance to see the culture here from a more involved place than traveling form place to place usually allow for.

 Xela itself is pretty large and located in the Guatemalan highlands.  The sorroundings are beautiful, though the town is rather decrepit and full of diesel fumes.  I do like it here a lot.  The central park of the the town is a bizarre remnant of German occupation, feeling like a European square that somebody forgot about with many faux Romanesque details.  There´s some good food here, though mostly now I am eating meals with my “family”.  Today I went to a town called Almolonga, which is the wholesale vegetable market for the area and walked through fields.  Afterwards we took a hot spring bath in a small room from natural hot springs.

One more interesting thing was that last Friday night, in the Casa Argentina where I was staying, I had a Shabbat dinner that was cooked up by 18 Israeli people.  It was very homey and great to be invited.

Volcan Santa Maria

Just a quick post today to tell about my hike to the top of a 3700 meter volcano yesterday.   It was one of the hardest hikes of my life but well worth it.  The terrain was nice, passing through forests and farms, and the view from the top was stunning.  The first photo above shows the volcano from where we started hiking.  The second shows a friendly group we met at the top who made us coffee, and the the third a view from the top. Many more photos are on flickr.

Antigua to Xela

Greetings All. I am now in Xela, where I arrived early last night. Until now, I have been in Antigua where I stayed for three nights instead of the one that I originally planned. I will post photos from Antigua soon as I don´t have them with me today.

Antigua is a beautiful city, protected by building and painting codes and kept very clean, so that it maintains a quaint feel, somewhat akin to Santa Cruz if it were more of a grid and widely spread out. The town is sorrounded by lush volcanic mountains and the weather was mostly crisp and clear. My time in Angtigua was peaceful and relaxing, spending many hours walking the streets and getting to know much about the town´s restaurants and bars. The hostel I stayed in had great people running it and a nice quite courtyard where I spent many hours reading and relaxing. I also hiked up to Cerro de La Cruz, a hill above town. My time in Antigua was also my first view of a traditional Guatemalan market, a truly sprawling indoor7outdoor affair where literally anything could be bought.

I met some nice people there and kept deciding to stay one more day. This was partially attributed to the peace & quite of the town, but also, as Graham Greene descrbes in The Lawless Roads finding love for a place simply out of fear for the next. And the next did hold some fear.

From Antigua, I took Chicken Buses on the 6 hour ride to Xela. I´m sure many of you know, but these buses are old retired school buses with no schocks and 2-3 people per seat. They stop often, drive fast and are loud and dusty. The ride to Xela is over mountainous territory ripe with construction and long delays. However, I was the only white person on the bus and this was my first taste of a more un-westernized Guatemala after the very ex-pat and American experience I had in Antigua.

Arriving in Xela was another experience, really arriving in a true city and not a quaint town. I had some trouble finding where I was going, taking two walks, a minibus (van crammed with 10 people) and finally a taxi. The chicken bus ride was exhausting, so aside from a quick meal where I met some nice folks I slept last night, on until the morning when I was awakened by the freezing cold Xela dawn. Today I will choose a language school and hopefully start school and move in with a family on Monday.

I look forward to finding my way around Xela improving my Spanish along the way. Please stay in touch.

Antigua

After a couple months of planning and talking about leaving the country, here I am at the start of my journey in Antigua, Guatemala.  I intended to go to Quetzaltenango, or Xela, this morning when I arrived but ran into somebody at the airport who was on their way here and thought I´d check it out before settling into Xela where, where I will be spending the next couple of weeks.

Its  an incredible feeling to actually start the trip after so much thinking and preparing and warnings and excitement.  Arriving was quite easy, no hitches, no craziness at the airport or anywhere else as I had expected.  I´ve been here a few hours, am staying in a quiet hostel called El Hostal and have been wandering the city for a few hours.  I had an amazing lunch of Pollo Pipian, which is a mole made from Pumpkin Seeds I believe.  Served with Chips and Guac of a great homemade variety in a courtyard.  And all for under $5.

Antigua is a beautiful but very touristy city.  The pastel colors and colonial architecture sorrounded by jungle covered mountains make for good walking and photography, but I have not felt much warmth from the locals or from travelers. I am waiting to see how it feels here, but will probably not spend more than a day or two.

I look forward to hearing emails or comments from those that read this blog and send all of my love home.  I will post pictures and write as I can.