Xetulul
Trip Start
Mar 22, 2005
1
9
26
Trip End
Sep 09, 2005
Xetulul,
Guatemala
Tuesday, May 3, 2005
I`m often in a situation filled with so many contrasting and incongruent elements that its hard to figure out how these things or people or places came together.
For example, this afternoon, after running errands and trying to study, I went to Dona Luisa´s, a famous bakery/restaurant, and grabbed a yogurt and cookie to snack on in the park. When I got to the park, a band was set up on one end and they were playing Hotel California. On the weekends, the park is filled with Guatemalans who come in from neighboring towns, the capital and the rest of Guatemala (plenty of tourists too)
01 starting our adventure
. Its always fun to see the families -- sometimes three of four generations together -- who still seem to have the tight-knit relationships you imagine were the norm in the US in the 50s. This afternoon was no different, except that everyone -- and I`m not exagerating "everyone" -- was singing Hotel California. How absolutely bizarre to be in the central park of an centuries-old town in the middle of Central America watching the entire park full of people sing an old american rock song. I have a lot of those experiences, but none as surreal or extreme as going to an amusement park, Xetulul. I sent this email to my friend Tom the day after:
Had the most surreal weekend.... Took off Saturday morning with a few friends for an amusement park, of all things... It was me, Pablo, a Korean guy who grew up in Central America, a English chap named Chris who teaches here, a Dutch gal named Elise and a Guatemalan friend, Monica. We drove for about 2 and a half or three hours toward the coast, into super muggy jungles -- easily a temperature change of 15 degrees from here -- to Xetulum (shey-tu-loom), an amusement park. This was exactly like a Six Flags or any amusement park in the US, except way way cleaner and way way better-run and filled with much better-behaved children
02 cooling off
. There was a replica of one of the temples at Tikal, replicas of fountains in Rome, French and German-themed areas and some really great rides. And, no lines for them -- we rode the roller coaster 3 times. We were possibly the only gringos in the whole place (and you can imagine how much we stood out) and many of the Guatemalan women there were wearing their traditional dress, elaborately woven shirts and heavy woven fabric skirts. Totally surreal to see a regal, traditionally-dressed guatemalan woman with her family on the log ride! Or, standing in line for a hot dog on a stick! I spent the first hour just trying to get my arms around what we were actually seeing. And, in an even odder twist, apparently the park was built in part with government money -- workers (those with social security-esque cards) get in for free and then just pay for a punch card for the rides. We had to pay 200Q -- about $26 -- really expensive......................................
Enjoy the photos!
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