Blankets needed
Trip Start
Feb 01, 2006
1
13
33
Trip End
May 01, 2006
Santa Cruz del Quiche,
Guatemala
Thursday, February 23, 2006
We also forgot to mention the neatest thing about our last night in Antigua when Pacaya, one of the most active volcanos in the world, erupted all night long. The peak has sulfurous fumes, barren plains and hot lava and is almost otherwordly. The glowing lava was clearly visible from our room at night. We didnt think we would climb it but after seeing that we think on our way back through Antigua on our way to San Salvador, we will.
The highlands are definitely different and much colder...Everyone calls Quetzaltenango by its Mayan name, simply Xela for short. It is the centre of commerce for SW Guatemala and the heart of the Quiche people. There are at least 20 different Mayan languages spoken and Spanish is a distant second. But it is also well known for its spanish schools...I will not be going in Xela however because it is simply too cold.
In Hue Hue the market is filled with traders that come down from the Cuchumatanes mountains, the highest in Central America. The town itself is not too attractive and once again it is too cold.
One more chicken bus story...We reently hopped on a bus knowing full well that the fare was 10 Q each. When the conductor came by, we first thought he said 23. When Paul hesitated for a moment, he waited. Paul handed him twenty and was looking for three, when all of a sudden he said it would be twenty each. I questioned him about it and he wouldnt budge. So we paid but when he came by again I asked again. When I did, an old, old lady in the seat directly in front of us, said Ella razon, meaning I was right.
He still wouldn´t budge, so the old lady looked at us, shook her head, pursed her lips and made a prayer-like gesture to heaven, saying something about the fact that he should be ashamed and he was a ladron, a thief and that he needed to ask for forgiveness, since it was Domingo/Sunday...Our first reaction was to mutter a four letter word appropriate to the situation and to be thoroughly ticked off. But then you remember that the UN estimates that more than half the population lives in poverty and that the official minimum wage for those lucky enough to have a job is about 150 bucks a month...puts things in perspective and you think that if this is the way the guy can get a few more quetzales for his family, all the more power to him!
We will spend some time at the market in Chichicastenango and then head back to Solola and to Pana for school. Perhaps the next update will be en espanol.
