Carnaval!! (y 200kg de amor!)
Trip Start
Jan 23, 2007
1
25
120
Trip End
Dec 24, 2007
Quetzaltenango, Guatemala
Friday, February 23, 2007
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 īlocalī market than Chichi was, and really interesting because of the sweets and treats that are sold seasonally for Easter, much like we have specific Christmas goods and gifts. We tried jummy coconut ice type treats, and Churros, which, are essentially a long sausage of heavily sugared, deep fried donut dough. Mmmmm. We hope that they stemmed the scary weight loss for at least a day....
Other notable sights and smells included dried fish stalls (stinky), and, to our amazement and semi-revulsion, a number of small (one wonders if they were clandestine) alligator meat stalls
01. Xela carnival - the fish stall
. You could clearly tell they had been alligators, because the large scales were clearly visible, and, in some cases, the clawed feet were still attached. One hopes they were from an actual farm, and not just shot in the local river, but this is probably a rather naive hope. Our teacher assured us they actually taste pretty good though....Speaking of which, going around the market with our teacher was far more interesting than doing it alone. One of things she brought to Samīs attention at one of the many stalls that sold Wrestling and Heavy Metal band posters and t-shirts, was one poster than had a smiling, hugely obese & naked woman reclining on a couch, with the words '200kgs de amor' - literally '200kg of love'. Weīre not quite sure whether this is the kind of thing you would give someone on their stag night as a joke, or whether someone would buy it in seriousness.....
On the way back to class we paused to watch a group of locals play soccer on a basketball court. Some of them were attempting full blown bicycle kicks (where the attacking player puts his back to the goal and basically does half a back flip and kicks an aerial ball at the goal) and landing on the concrete!! Ouch. If only the local professional team showed that commitment!
02. Looking back at the market
After lunch at home, we decided to visit the local railway museum. Frances, as I'm sure you can all imagine, was overjoyed - estatic even. Sam on the other hand was more subdued, and tried to calm Francie's excited jibbering.
When we got there, however, the railway museum wasn`t a museum at all - just the garrishly painted grand old station, that had nothing inside. So now Francie's excitement will have to wait until next week when we find the right place!
Thankfully the situation did have a saving grace - a big westernised supermarket and mall complex across the road. We wandering through the aisles of the supermarket for the best part of half an hour, and, among other less interesting purchases for our trek the next day, we were excited to find bona-fide New Zealand made cheese. It was even in the Mainland wrapper! Its amazing to think even in the middle of Central America, you can buy ordinary food from home.
Suitably pleased, the walk home to bed wasn`t as bad as we thought it would be, and we got an early night for the early start the next day.
Comments
Methinks 90,000kg de amor
Eh Frances! I know the inside Duncan truth. We only ever come second to steam trains!