Xela-tastic

(view down the main strip in Xela... note, Christ is Coming!)

Sorry to have been so negligent lately with my blog, but I haven't been using the internet much. Which is a really nice change of pace. And now that I'm trying to write, there's so much that's happened, I don't know what to relate.

I've been in Xela for just over 2 weeks now. My first week here, I took spanish lessons. One-on-one, 5 hours a day. My head was spinning with theory. And now, a week later having let it all sink in, I'm not sure that I really speak spanish any better. In fact, I might actually know LESS spanish at this point. Just like any school I've ever been to, it was packed with a lot of theory that turns out to amount to almost no practical knowledge when you take it and try and apply it in the real world. None the less, my teacher was cool, and taught me all of the most important street slang, which is the only thing that's really come in useful.



(my Spanish teacher, Mario)

A really great part of the spanish classes is that they placed my in a homestay with a wonderful Guatemalan family. Even after my school ended, I have stayed with them, and we've developed a great relationship.


(multi-tasking, outside my family house)

Xela itself is a vibrant city, of about 150,000 people, set up in the mountains at about 2000m, but surrounded by volcanos (some active) and mountain peaks. There's a mixture of old and new everywhere you look with women dressed in traditional dress talking on cell phones, and market stalls beside McDonalds and grocery stores. There's also a pretty happenin' tourist scene here, but generally speaking, these tourists are a good kind, here to volunteer or learn spanish.


(this is a normal sight... it's probably about 11 am)

I've done a tonne of cool stuff in the extra time:

I went to a few "natural" saunas -- the steam comes from the volcanic activity under the earth.


(on the walk to the sauna, check out the eucalyptus trees!)

I have toured around to a few of the surrounding towns within a few hours, to check out some of the markets.


(the "chicken" busses, getting to and fro')


(ah, the old and the new -- traditionally dressed lady with cell phone sign in the background)


(I just loved this dude.)


(what do you MEAN that's not for sale?)



(a few market stalls, artisans selling their wares)


(typical market scene)

I've bumped into friends that I met on the road months back. I went to a natural spa, with hot water created by vents in the earth. And to a spot with rocks that shoot up from the ground in a strange geographical formation that looks like it's from an old Star Trek episode.


(sitting atop a phallus)

Probably the highlight of the 2 weeks in Xela was the overnight full-moon hike we did up a mountain. It was so awesome (in the proper sense of the word) that it deserves its own blog entry.

Oh, and of course, I jammed with a parrot.



Logan and I split up when I went to San Marcos, he went to San Pedro. We connected again for a week or so in Xela when he came through. But he's subsequently gone east and south, and I'm heading south. We'll hook up again soonish I hope. Due to a miscommunication, it will be a little longer than we expected, as he's headed east and then south into Honduras, and I'm heading to El Salvador tomorrow for a week or so of learning to surf!