My primera semana de la escuela

Trip Start Aug 21, 2008

Trip End Ongoing

Loading Map

Map your own trip!

Map Options

Show trip route

Hide lines

Flag of Guatemala Quetzaltenango, Guatemala
Monday, September 1, 2008

Its was quite a long week, and I actually worked harder than I have in the past 3 months - some may say in the past three years...I've been learning Spanish in Xela at Casa Xelaju in an effort to survive the rest of the journey and converse with the locals without getting completely riped off.

I arrived Sunday afternoon after a couple of chicken bus rides from San Pedro (no dramas this time) and was recommended Casa Argentina Hostel to stay in overnight. Rather than slum it in the dorms I 'upgraded' for an extra 10Q to my own room needing a good nights rest before starting lessons on Monday. That night, I went out with locals and a couple of top Canadians (Aidan and Andy) to a local jazz bar before sampling some of the street food on sale. I've been warned about eating it as apparently it can give you amoebas (nice) but I think its important to try out local cuisine not worry about the consequences - suffice to say my iron-clad stomach has had no problems to date (touch wood)..

After a pretty good nights sleep, I rocked up to my school and met 'mi profesor' Victor (highly recommend him)who turns out to be a really good teacher and a great laugh too. My spanglish has improved four-fold over the past week and am confident I'll be fine travelling now...

Xela itself is pretty quiet (winter season) with not so many students but I've had a couple of good nights out at La Rumba and the aptly named 'Pool and Beer'. I have also voluneteered at a local school and helped the ninos with the maths homework.

The weekend was pretty much been the highlight as on Saturday, Andy and I along with a bunch of teenage US girls (chillax Meridyth), hired bikes and rode through clouds 7km up 'Cerra el Aboul' providing great views of Xela.

A few of us from the school had also booked a Sunday-hike up Volcan Santa Maria so I was scheduling a sensible low-key Saturday night..Yeah right...It was Andy's last night in town and Johan the Dane (who wears a swedish soccer shirt incidently) bought a bottle of Rum in La Rumba just as the entire town of Xela had a blackout. At 1.30am I decided it was probably best I got a couple of hours shut-eye before getting up at 4.30am for the hike, so stumbled home in the pitch dark carrying the half-drunk (like me) bottle of Rum as protection...

Amazingly, I rose from my pit and met the others on time....(Xela still had a blackout) . We were driven by what turned out to be our guide (we worked out noone had actually asked him if he was with the tour company before we initially got into his 4x4!) to the base of Santa Maria...initially the volcano appeared small but trust me; we were all deceived. A long arduous 3 hour climb began and in no time at all I was feeling a little queasy and regretting last nights decision to 'have a couple of drinks'. Nevertheless, the sickness subsided and I managed to claw my way to the top. I had a quasi-epiphany half way up ; Jason, a student from the school who doesnt drink was bearly breaking sweat and thus I decided that drinking less is definitely the way forward....lets see if I remember that next time I'm out at the weekend!

We finally reached the summit and was greeted by an evangleical communion sobbing their hearts out asking for forgiveness from their 'padre'. Fortunately the summit was a big one and away from the creepy 'church' we gleaned great views.

Although Santa Maria is a non-active volcano, 3772M above sea level, it provides views of Santaiguito, another volcano that typically erupts every 45 mins. The 360 degree view also boasted views of Xela and numerous (not so) distant volcanos/mountains stacked upon each other.

After our 90 minute photo shoot/siesta we decided to climb back down (the 'church' was now more upbeat and singing what I'm sure was a few guatemalan classics). Although hard on the knees it was a lot less strenuous then then the hike up.

In the PM, we decided to go to the 'Fuentas Georginas' in an attempt to re-energise. The Fuentas are a set of volcanically-heated pools where we rested our weary legs. This 'must-do' was surprising hot and the experience was magnified by the afternoon shower raining cats and dogs whilst we were in the pools.

We returned to Xela early evening and I crashed pretty early in order to recover from the last 24 hours. I slept like a log and dreamt about all the homework I hadn't completed that weekend....

One more week of lessons in Xela before moving on....not sure where yet...

Print this entry Quetzaltenango hotels

Previous Entry Next Entry