Introduction to Quazaltanango
(or Xelaju as the local Mayans call it)
June 15th-21st
Day 86-90, Mon.-Fri.: Xela, Fernando’s house
We left from San Pedro early in the morning to try and avoid the many vendors that set up stands near or in the street. I guess we didn’t leave early enough. Some of the turns were so tight and sharp that the locals were having to momentarily move their produce baskets off of the road. I am sure they are use to it with the big buses the come in and out of these tiny streets… the only difference is is that the bus drivers know the good detours to get through town! The Colonel chugged along up the steep and winding road out of the volcanic valley. We turned on our walkie talkies and had Avivguide us on the corners. They were such sharp and narrow turns that if another vehicle was coming the other direction we’d be toast. Of course we could just take very wide turns, but we found out on our way down the hill the day before that the truck is so big that we would have to reverse every time we did that. So, about every 100 ft or so Aviv would say ‘car’ or ‘clear’ over the walkie talkies. A few times they sounded alike because of the static and we would just go back and forth: “c*&r”… “what was that, clear?”… “yep clear, over!”… “thanks got it, over”. Kindra’s grandpa would be proud! After a few breaks up the hill (because we kept overheating) we finally made it over the top and got on the highway toward Quezaltanango. It was only a few hours away so we got there pretty quick. For some reason I thought Xela was a small town, which made me very confused when I navigated us to a city. It is by no means near the size of Guatemala City or even what most of us would consider a city, but I was shocked to see so many stores, cars and smog. I even asked someone where Xela was because I thought we got lost and they looked at me kind of funny because we were in Xela. He pointed me to the center of town thinking that is what I meant. We stopped at an Esso gas station and Itah and Aviv called their couch surfing contact, Fernando. We figured he would know a good place for us to camp around town. We followed him to his place in Zone 3 (yeah it is big enough that it has zones!) and he invited us all in. He introduced us to his mother and aunt Frida (who was visiting from Canada) and they fed us some warm soup and tortillas. Not only did he feed us, but he invited John and I to stay at their house on top of Itah and Aviv. Wow how nice of them! Fernando’s grandparents lived in the attached house and they had 3 spare bedrooms that we were welcome too. Later we discovered Fernando’s girlfriend was staying a few nights there as well, in the grandparent’s house that is! Most of the youth here typically live at home until they get married. We still had some daylight left so Fernando took us on a small tour of Xela.We went to a look point and were able to see the whole city… my goodness I figured I would never be able to navigate through town, especially because most streets are only one way. Afterwards we went to the local outdoor produce market and got some fresh fruits and veggies. Aviv and Itah cooked some delicious food for the whole family and guests too (about 11 of us altogether); what a delight! We found a safe place to park the truck for a few nights and went back to the house with full bellies and peace of mind.
The next day (Tuesday) Fernando had some time to take us on a hike to a lake formed in the creator of a volcano. It is a very sacred place to the Mayans where they have ceremonies and do sacrifices (chickens and the such). There was a lot of fog and we could barely see the lake… it had a sort of “Blare Witch” ambiance to it, but without the eeriness. On the shore of the lake through the fog you could make out dried flowers protruding out of the water and overturned candles that were left by the Mayans from their last ceremony. It was a muddy hike on the way up and no less on the way down. Wallace had a great time being let free and running around… until he discovered that sheep like to head butt you if you get too close. It was our turn to make dinner so we whipped up some sopa de fideo and bought some fresh bread. Dinner in Guatemala here is not very big (their lunch is the biggest meal) so we didn’t need to fix very much food. Fernando’s grandparents are so old and cute, the grandpa kept showing us all of his little tools and trinkets that people have given him over the years. And oh how they adored Wallace!
On Wednesday Fernando had some schoolwork to do so his aunt Frida took us out for the day. First we went to the town… where they worship the ……. Kindrea had reas about him in one of her books, but had no idea that this is who we where going to see, why you might ask… well every year he is moved to a different house in the town so unless you know where he is or you ask someone you may never find him. Well, Frida did all of the asking and we found the house that he was at. Since it was father’s day in Guatemala there where many locals visiting him and paying honor to him. We squeezed through the narrow pathway to the house and knew where it was because of all of the people outside the door and the live band playing in the house next door. We drew a lot of attention with Wallace there in addition to us being gringos. We stood on our tippy toes to get a peak of him (John was taller than everyone there so he didn’t have too). We decided that he reminded us of Michael Jackson and it was a bit creepy. Frida said that the town’s women are also known for their witchcraft. We then went to the hot springs, which were wonderful. It reminded us a bit of being back in Colorado where the take a natural environment and build pools, stairs and sitting areas out of stone and wood. A bit manicured, but still enjoyable. It was very hot so we couldn’t stay in for very long. There were some locals who where in too long and one of them fainted. We were very hungry on the way backed and stopped in for some Chinese food… huge plates of food for very cheap! Today it was Father’s Day here in Guatemala and we ate cake and drank tea and coffee to celebrate.
Thur: We have been making a pros and cons list of where we intend to stay for a length of time… basically it has been a toss up between Panajachel and Xela. Since we have only been doing fun stuff since we have been in Xela we decided to walk around town and do some exploring. We wanted to find a bakery called Bab’s House because Kindra had found an ad online mentioning something about a job. We found the place and aquired within. The guy working there currently, Matt, said that he will be leaving in August and that his position should be opening up. We got a hold of Anne Marie, the owner, and we set up a time to meet for the next day. There was also a room opening up behind the bakery that we thought of possibly renting out. Hmmm all the posibilites and so close to eachother! We decided to go to the big outdoor market to get some veggies for dinner. We decided that even though Xela looks so big, it is actually very easy to walk everywhere. John made some delicious pasta for dinner and we ended our night feeling pretty good about wanting to stay in Xela.
Friday: Today our travel buddies, Itah and Aviv, packed up their things and kept on trekking. We said our goodbyes… to The Itahs! We couldn’t stay long because we had to meet with Anne Marie at the bakery to talk about the position. She basically told John that the position was his if Chaioto, the Guatemalan supervisor, agreed as well. So we set up a time to meet with her too. The only thing we thought might be a problem is that she speaks no English and John is still learning Spanish. We shall see! We met with another couch surfer, Edy, in the central park and planned on staying at his place the next night.
Sat. & Sund, Day 91 &92 So, on just about every street corner there are these flat metal rods that are formed around the corner of the sidewalk. I guess cars hit the corners and the sidewalk crumbles, so they put them there to either deter people from getting to close or so the sidewalk stays in one piece. Either way John happened to make direct contact with one of the little buggers and got a flat; this time it wasn’t reparable. We put the spare on (okay, John did) and we said our goodbyes and gratitude to Fernando’s family. Before going over to Edys we stopped by the big Hiper Paiz (owned by Walmart) to try and get a few items that we haven’t been able to find, such as: peanut butter, Maya-ik (hot sauce), cheese (not from the outdoor market!), etc… It was getting late by the time we arrived at Edy’s and we weren’t sure where we would be parking the truck because as we have heard it just isn’t smart parking on the street. Later that night after we ate dinner at our friend Josh’s place we found a parking lot behind the bar called Kings and Queens. They typically don’t have people park there over night, but she was very accommodating. She even gave us the key to the lock because she wanted to sleep in and said for us just to hide the key the next morning. We stayed out pretty late… listening to live music and dancing!
Sunday: Spanish, Spanish, Spanish! Our day was pretty much studying and relaxing at Edy’s. Funny thing, we invited Fernando over to Edy’s place and Fernando recognized it because it used to be his mother’s cousin’s place. Well, not used to be… it still was, but now his nephew lives there. So Fernando and Edy are cousins and they had never even met each other! Crazy!
ciao ciao
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