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  Quetzaltenango, Quetzaltenango, Guatemala
Tuesday, July 28, 2009

I write this from the upper veranda, that overlooks the courtyard of my hostel in Xela (pronounced shayla) in Guatemala as the evening light bathes me in a warm familiar embrace. My vague plan of going to Antigua to learn Spanish was quickly adapted over my first breakfast by other travellers I met in my sparsely populated hostel in Guatemala City.  So within hours of being in Guatemala, I found myself heading in the opposite direction to my intended destination with an amateur documentary film maker from New York. 

Arriving in Guatemala City

So as my previous blog stated my plane from Mexico City was delayed, so I arrived close to midnight in Guatemala City, which is actually fast becoming a pretty dangerous place to be.  With the drug wars going on Mexico, a number of gangs have started running their operations out of Guatemala and other central American countries

Parque Central

.  But irrespective of that I had not intended to stay for any length of time in the capital and had pre-arranged a bed in a hostel, with a free pick up close to the airport, with the sole intention of heading first thing in the morning to Antigua.  I got off the plane, went through immigration and customs for the 2nd time that night and walked out into the waiting crowds, okay crowds is a bit of exaggeration.  There were a few people waiting for friends and families and a few half hearted touts asking whether I wanted a taxi, except for one who was more persistent than the others, or maybe he just spoke better English.  My free lift was nowhere to be seen, so he pounced and tried to persuade me to stay in his hotel and he would take me there, all for a very reasonable price.  I shook my head and claimed it was too much.  He then assumed I had pre-paid, but still wanted to 'help'.  The following is an excerpt from that exchange:

"Okay where you staying?"
“Hostal Los Volcanos”
“Okay I call them and if no response, you come with me?”
“No I’ll wait.”
"Okay, I’ll call them, see I have their number.”
I nod
“So I call them and you pay me something for the call.”
I laugh “If you want to help me, then help me, if you don’t, don’t.”
He shrugs “Okay I call them.”
“No answer...

Chicken Bus

. so you come with me?”
“No I’ve arranged to meet someone here, so I’m going to wait.”

Just then a mini van with Hostal Los Volcanos magically appeared.  With a wave and a muchas gracias I jumped into the van and headed to my basic accommodation.  I slept soundly despite being in the flight path and a few hundred metres from the airport.

I woke up a bit confused over time zones, thinking Guatemala was on the same time zone as Mexico, it’s not.  However, despite this I made it to the included in the price breakfast and met my other travellers.  Two Americans, the aforementioned doco maker and an older guy, who within 5 minutes was sharing... he used to be a cokehead, but had been clean for years, since he had had children, liked Antigua because it had an English speaking AA meeting and he was in Guatemala to work with retarded children (his words).  There was also a German archaeologist who was there for a major conference and between the three of them, they persuaded me to head with Robin, the doco maker to Xela.  So an hour later, after a quick email to cancel my just booked night’s accommodation in Antigua I was haring through lanes of traffic and thick bulging clouds of diesel fumes pouring out of lorries, trucks, cars and the brightly coloured ‘chicken buses’

Robin

.  Chicken buses are the cheapest way to get around central America, they are ex-American yellow school buses, that have mostly been repainted with Mayan inspired patterns and colours.  Everywhere you go, they weave in and out of traffic, overcrowded, with people standing in the aisle and crammed into the seats and a ‘helper’ jumping up on and off the roof securing and untying passengers’ luggage.

We took the slightly more upmarket bus that allocates seats and baggage tokens for your luggage in the luggage compartment under the bus.  It being a four – five hour journey and Robin was travelling with some expensive equipment, we decided to splash out and pay the $8 per person.  The journey was fascinating as we wove up through the highlands of Guatemala, past lush green hills, that had been cleared for cultivation (mainly maize/ corn) to make the staple food, tortilla.  Past little villages and towns, where chicken buses and other cars, impatient to wait in line, overtook a queue of stationary cars on blind bends and the crests of hills.  We stopped at a cafe where we were told that they were using dynamite further up the road, so we would need to wait there for a while, no one was sure how long the wait was.  It turned out not to be too long, but the journey onwards was slow as we came across the area they were blowing up to improve the roads.. which was much needed and a huge line of traffic

Out and about in Xela

.  Eventually we arrived in Xela and Robin and I grabbed something to eat in a local market restaurant, before finding me somewhere to stay.  We tried a couple of places and plumped for the Black Cat. 

A Week in Xela

So for approx $ 7.50 a night, I get a bed in a dorm with a shared bathroom and a large breakfast (and wireless!!!!) And you get the added bonus of no to little sleep with others getting up / getting in at all hours of the night/ morning...  Okay getting in at all hours of the night doesn’t affect me as it is normally me that is last to bed, but the early 4 am starts of others do! It’s a pretty social hostel, not too big and closes up at 10 pm, and the bars/ clubs in town close at 1 am, but if you know where to go (the pool and bar) you can get lock ins to whatever time the last person falls off their chair.  Otherwise you can live quiet cheaply, there are market stalls selling three tacos for 10 Qs in other words -$1.20 or you can go to a local restaurant, get soup, huge pile of tortillas, which in Guatemala are thick and rather heavy and pretty tasteless, and a large plate of grilled chicken, half and avocado, rice, vegetables all for 20Qs or $2.40.  So far no disasters on the eating front or should I say post eating front.

Juan

Xela is the second largest town in Guatemala, and sprawls out, however the westerner end with a myriad of Spanish schools, catering for the evergrowing numbers of foreigners who want to learn in a slightly authentic environment, seems pretty self contained and small. The streets are narrow and cobbled, the architecture a mixture of faded colonial elegance and small crumbling dwellings.  Each building is responsible for maintaining the pavement in front so in places there are no pavements, which makes walking a bit tricky.  Although most of Xela is safe especially around Parque Central
America, where the hostels and language schools are based, it is still not advisable to walk around after 10 at night even in groups.  People are friendly and helpful, but Spanish is definitely needed. 

My first night Robin and I met up with an anthropologist contact of his who is studying the Mayan people of this area and ended up meeting up with some others who are in Xela for a while doing various voluntary work or research or both.  Xela seems to attract people who find it difficult to leave or who keep coming back, there is a charm about the town/ city and a steady but constant flow of new gringos.  For those who are interested – Gringo really refers to Americans and not all whites, although for years the vast majority were Americans, this has over the years changed and there are now probably more Europeans, Dutch, Danish, Germans, English over here than Americans

Church in Xela

.  So Gringo has expanded to encompass all.  There are many stories of where the word originated and the most popular is it started during the American-Mexican war, when Mexicans, not knowing much English would shout “Greens Go” referring to the green uniform/ camouflage the American soldiers wore.  Or another plausible explanation could be that it is the Spanish version of “It’s all Greek to me, “ as Gringo means to speak in Greek.#

The Saturday night was spent getting to know others in my hostel and we soon became great drinking buddies and fast friends.  It is a great group and we have had a fun week with much laughter, debate, dares and forfeits.  The group continually changes but the core is me, a dutch guy named Wouter although he prefers to be called Juan, 3 medics studying medicine at my local hospital back in London, St Georges.  They are all doing the post graduate course, having had previous careers before deciding to do medicine, a lovely couple Kirsty and Troy, Tim a Canadian and our resident musician.  Apart from drinking, we’ve also been to some amazing natural hot baths, Las Fuentes Georginas and a long hike up hill to some amazing, albeit bizarre natural saunas called Los Vahos, which are located in someone’s private house. 

Finding a Spanish school

The first full day in Xela, I walked around to find a Spanish school, but as it was Saturday everywhere was closed for the weekend, so I put it off for a couple of days, promising myself that on Monday I would find and start a course.  And that is exactly what I did.  I had been recommended a school ‘Juan Sisay’ by a few people over the weekend who had been in Xela for a while or had come back here and so I rocked up there on Monday morning

Xela

.  Yes of course they could accommodate me and yes I could start right away.  Juan Sisay was a painter that was murdered/ assassinated by the army in the 1989 Civil War in Guatemala for depicting scenes of that war. The school opened then and has been running now for 20 years.  It is a non-for-profit organisation that sponsors over 600 kids to provide them with an education throughout Guatemala, and if you want to you can volunteer to teach some of the kids English for an hour on a Wednesday afternoon, which I did and learnt more Spanish from 7 9 year olds than they did English... it was fun but tiring.  The school also contributes to other projects like re-forestation as the forest are being desimated for firewood and cultivation.

The lessons are all one on one and last from 8 am – 1 pm with a half hour break at 10:30.  In the afternoons there are various activities that you can choose to participate in.  The learning is intense and there is always tarea (homework), but my Spanish is improving and the good thing is being one on one, you can go totally at your own pace not feel embarrassed about how crap your Spanish is and it is all individually catered to your needs.  You can combine the studies with a homestay where you live with a family for a week.  I opted out for the first week, but will be staying with a family for my second week to immerse myself totally into Spanish as I can now string a sentence together although it takes me about 5 minutes to say one thing and I only know the present tense

Santa Monica`

.

Culture

There are many Mayan tribes within Guatemala and the local tribe wander around Xela in brightly coloured and patterned traditional costumes which have significance with Mayan beliefs of duality, the cosmos, the natural world and to represent this, the women have flowers and animals embroidered in their blouses.  The men’s clothes are less traditional as they used to wear long skirts (like a sarong) made out of cotton and other natural fibres, but after the Conquista, these skirts altered to trousers and a lot of the traditions were lost in this change.  However, weaving these clothes, only a woman is allowed to weave, takes 4 – 8 weeks to weave a single blouse and can cost between 50 Qs to 500Qs depending on the intricacy and this is being undercut by cheap synthetic clothes that can be bought for 10Qs and thus there is a danger of the traditional costumes being replaced by western clothes except at festivals and ceremonies.  It is difficult and considered to be rude to try to take their photo.

Different tribes have different customs and dialects but all use dance to explain their histories and stories.  There are many dances throughout Guatemala, and one fiesta is taking place at the moment near Xela in Momostenango where villagers dress up as animals and also re-enact the Conquista

The gang

.  This is what Robin is currently filming and although I haven’t been up to see him yet, I would like to take a chicken bus and see the dancing – it goes on to 4th August, so I think I have some time to do this.

Magic, Religion and Superstition

I was warned on my first night that I might find it hard in some rural areas of Guatemala, being a woman of child bearing age.  This is because there is a frightening rise of black magic especially amongst the mixed blood people or Ladinos, which has resulted in some barbaric things happening and also there are rumours (based probably on truth) of babies being snatched from villages by Gringos.  Although Guatemala is catholic, their religious beliefs are very intermingled with old Mayan customs and practices and old rituals still happen, superstition still rules and there are weird and bizarre rituals.  For example there was a man Simon who was sacrificed during the Conquista because he couldn’t save the village from the Spanish, but the villagers realised that his death released a great power, so they divided his power into 7 and there are now 7 shrines in Guatemala to San Simon.  One is close to Xela in Xecul and I with my Spanish school group went there.  At the back of a house, past the laundry and bedrooms is a room with two mannequins wearing shades and smoking cigars sitting on thrones amongst candles, chandeliers and flowers

Locals hanging out

.  Each San Simon has special powers, for love, travel, health, family etc and if you really want you prayers to work, you go to the local priest / priestess who prays on your behalf.

It is also a very macho society, illiterate and poor society.  Men will take a woman for a wife have children and then when the woman is too old, will take a younger woman, abandoning the first wife with his children etc, etc.  This leads to a number of women having to support children on their own, so the children do not get educated and often have to work to supplement the household’s income.  The women often themselves are uneducated so turn to selling food in the markets or turning to prostitution.   There are numerous charities and NGOs that are trying to help women and give them extra marketable skills.

Post your own travel photos for friends and family More Pictures

Las Fuentes Georginas	Xecul	San Simon	Courtyard where san simon shrine is located
Deliah	Xecul	Maize fields on way to Los Vahos	Tim and rabbit in headlights
Kirsty and Troy	Dave and Juan	Derek	James

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