Quetzaltenango, Guatemala Travel Blogs

Lago-Chicabel
Jul 2, 2008 (4 photos)

Lago Chicabel I was collected at 6am, and by 6.10am I was rubbing my eyes with disbelief. I thought my mind was playing tricks on me, surely one of the other five people on our tour was not wearing an Ipswich shirt? My eyes did not deceive me and to ...

One Week In Guatemala - What I have learnt
Jun 4, 2008 (6 photos)

... little has happened. The week began in England and has ended in a cold room in the house of a local family in Quetzaltenango. During the week I have made many discoveries, some of which are negative in nature and others of which are more positive, also ...

Quetzaltenango (Xela)... finally!
Nov 19, 2006

You may well ask ¨why finally?¨    I left Antigua as planned and went by shuttle bus to Guatemala City where I got on another bus (my first chicken bus) going to Xela.  These buses are interesting, they are old US school buses, obviously ...

Hola todos!
Mar 4, 2006 (1 photos)

Wow, with a huge headache, from not drinking enough water, I have safely arrived at the Internet cafe yet again. After school today, I went up the steepest road I could find, which had a ton of switchbacks straight up the foothills on the outskirts of ...

Studying Spanish in the Mountains
Feb 3, 2003

At around 2400 metres Quetzaltenango, a.k.a. Xela, temperatures fluctuate between 0C and 23C daily. Buildings are not heated, so dressing warmly for dinner is a good idea, heavy blankets on the bed, a must. The man that owns the house where we are staying ...

Guatemala!...yeah!
Jul 22, 2008 (38 photos)

... here, things are definitely dirtier, and older. Traffic is CRAZY everywhere!   Xela (formally known as Quetzaltenango)...our first destination in Guatemala! We checked in to the first hotel we saw because again we were wet and hungry. The hotel is ...

Parasites, Pullmans and Parathas
Jul 7, 2006 (15 photos)

... frog, a big beetle and a few birds. MIGHT have heard a rare Quetzal, the national bird of Guatemala, but Ephrahim wasn´t sure. The centre of Quetzaltenango or Xela (Shayla) as it is also known is compact and friendly. Sort of like a slightly shabby ...

Bienvenidos Guatemala!!
Aug 2, 2007 (14 photos)

... (giving us a small heart attack)...they were cordial and sent us on our way.  Driving into Quetzaltenango was almost indescribable. Indigenous women outlined the streets, wearing bright long skirts and carrying everything imaginable on their heads as ...

Surviving the Michael Schumacher of bus drivers
Jun 5, 2007

... known by it´s Mayan name of Xela (Shay-La).  Mainly beacause there´s a lot of Mayan people here and also because Quetzaltenango is too much of a mouthfull. In order to get to Quetzaltengo I decided to splash out and get a minibus shuttle.  ...

Back to School
Sep 6, 2008

... city. Arriving at my hostel and dumping my gear I went in search of my Spanish school - Proyecto Linguistico de Quetzaltenango - based upon my terribly unreliable memory and good vibes. After getting exceptionally lost, 40 minutes and wandering about 4km´s ...

Land Slides, Earthquakes and a New Year
Jan 5, 2008 (21 photos)

... . Rick and Peggy were in Antigua were meeting up with their son and daughter-in-law who have adopted the sweetest little boy here in Guatemala. We got to spend about an hour with Meg and Kate on our way out of Antigua on the 2nd. Meg was heading back to ...

Day 18: Rum for the good saint
Jul 2, 2009 (1 photos)

... taken up by a long drive down from the highlands and towards the Pacific coast. Finally, we came to the town of Quetzaltenango (called Xela by the locals because it is surrounded by mountains). Xela is the second largest city in Guatemala and happened to ...

Mom comes to Guatemala
May 18, 2008 (81 photos)

Before I met my mom in Antigua, (the old capital of Guatemala) I stopped by the magical Lake Atitlan.  The volcanoes were shrouded with fog but the massive lake was crystal clear. I rode in the back of a pick-up truck (local taxi) to the small sleepy ...

Thwarting death and a sneaky thief
Feb 6, 2007 (4 photos)

... to pay for our guide, only our entrance fees etc). We caught a chicken bus (the ubiquitous form of transport here in Guatemala which are old US school buses and so named for the livestock that is commonly carried in them we believe) to a non-descript ...

Volcan Santa Maria
Feb 24, 2007 (14 photos)

Righto, What an absolute mission today was!! We woke at 4am to be at the school by 4.30. On a Saturday morning. Thankfully, we just managed to foil the men in white coats chasing after us with straight jackets that the ready....At the school, the ...

My first 2 weeks in Guatemala
Jun 22, 2006 (5 photos)

I'm pretty well settled in at this point. My host family is a grandmother, Mimi, her daughter, Paula, and her 6 year old daughter, Stephanie. They are really a sweet family and the food is really good, although not what I'm accustomed to -- lots of salt ...

Laguna Chicobal
Feb 17, 2007 (4 photos)

Ahoy Mateys, Yesterday was rather unspectacular as a whole - we had school as normal, spent a couple of hours on the internet and had dinner at the school, which we left promptly because we had an early start today. Thankfully the middle of the ...

Settling in Quetzaltenango (Xela)
Jul 27, 2005 (3 photos)

... driver saw that we didn't have a clue and took us to another bus station where he put us on a much better bus to Quetzaltenango (or Xela as it is better known - pronounced "Shaylah"). Xela was where we decided we would study Spanish. When we arrived we ...

Getting to know Xela
Mar 21, 2008 (43 photos)

... journey.  Everyday is frustrating and often I feel like giving up.   But what it comes down too, is letting go of expectations, and remembering what opportunities are breathing all around me in this city, Quetzaltenango.

Antigua to Xela
Feb 27, 2006 (6 photos)

... open said there were no more buses going to Xela because all had left to the market in chichicastenango, or the volcanoes, or guatemala city! I thought I was going to have to take a chicken bus and figure out some exchange in a town I know nothing about, ...

More adventures from the terrible twosome
Feb 12, 2007 (2 photos)

Had a very lazy day on Sunday. We were pretty exhausted from all our lessons and other activities (and the game the night before), so we slept into 10.30 and generally farted around until the early afternoon (we studied and read a little) when we went to ...

By the Numbers
Jun 17, 2006 (2 photos)

... into these malls to purchase the latest fashions, meanwhile the city's seedy criminals carry out dubious deeds in nearby allies. Quetzaltenango (more commonly called by its Mayan name, Xela, pronounced "Shay-la") couldn't be more of a contrast. Xela ...

Carnaval!! (y 200kg de amor!)
Feb 23, 2007 (2 photos)

Hey Y'all, We had a interesting lesson again today, when we left the classroom with our teacher to go and have a look at the Carnaval - the market and fair that runs up until Easter. It was far more of a ´local´ market than Chichi was, and really ...

Project SOMOS Work
Dec 29, 2007 (20 photos)

Heather and I are leaving tomorrow for Antigua for a meeting with a project contact from the US of A. Before leaving, we thought an update might be useful and enjoyable, as we will not be back in Xela until the 3rd of January. Christmas is ...

Three Crazy Danes and a Bottle of Rum
Jan 21, 2007

Hola from Guatemala, or Quetzaltenango (Xela pronounced Shay-lah) for you diehards,   How I came to be here goes something like this: Left the cold of Calgary on Tuesday and by the end of the day I had undertaken flight number 8 in over three ...

Staying another day
Jul 2, 2007

Paula has had diarrohea, so we are staying another day and will hopefully be able to move on tomorrow. I thought that I would spare you the photos this time.

Random Thoughts from a Guatemalan Traveller
Jan 31, 2007 (38 photos)

... As for the Lake it is surrounded by three towering volcanoes, lets face it with McDonalds you get fries with your meal, in Guatemala its Volcanoes´. Travelled down with three americans and we stayed at a place that typified the phrase ´´you only get what you ...

Quetzaltenango
Sep 7, 2006

...

One Week of School Complete
Jun 7, 2008

Friday Night After the Completion of One Week of Spanish School This is written at 2am from the comfortable sanctuary of six blankets and a sleeping bag. I currently have a dark foreboding that a hangover awaits me. It is not definite, I feel ...

Xela Countryside
Jan 14, 2008 (20 photos)

... local street kids. They also support a home for homeless kids, Hogar Abierto. They are the largest trekking operation is Guatemala and are entirely volunteer staffed and run. Later this week, we will visit both of their projects. From the many ...