Greetings from Xela

Since the last writing I have moved into
my new home for a couple months. I am now living in
Quetzaltenango, Guatemala. The second largest city in
Guatemala (Guatemala City is the first) located 8,000
feet above sea level. It is a working class city
situated between three volcanoes located about four
hours bus ride from Antigua.

My last two nights in Antigua were followed by my
first two hangovers in Guatemala. The weekend brought
some entertaining nights. On Friday night, we were
rapping up the evening at 3am and needed some food.
In our drive to El Pollo, the car ran out of gas. So
we left it on the side of the road next to a church.
The owner assured us that it was much safer there
(without gas) than it would be parked by his house
anyway (with gas). Without a vehicle we set out on
foot to find food. Luckily, El Pollo was closed. We
ended up at a walk through type window about 6 blocks
further away. Parked outside were 4 police
motorcycles and 2 pickups. And standing around
laughing and carrying on were 10 police officers,
eating Ramen Noodles. Don't ask me. This crew
probably represented a majority of the overnight
police force hard at work. And they were very
impressed with the drunken americans.

Sunday, vicious hangover and all, I headed to the bus
station to try and navigate Guatemalan public
transportation. I parked myself 3/4 of the way in the
back in a seat by myself for the one hour drive to San
Lucas where I would need to switch buses. The buses
are 1980's elementary school buses. Not bad I
thought. Til the bus began to fill up. I was in the
window seat above the tire with no leg room and two
young guatemalan girls sharing the seat. My leg fell
asleep immediately and remained so until I tried to
stand up to get off at San Lucas. I almost fell on
the 12 year olds who looked at me like I was an idiot
of course.

I am now standing on the side of a "major" highway by
guatemalan standards with no idea what bus I need. So
I ask the locals and they assure me I am in the right
spot. Buses are stopping every 5 minutes and I am
asking if this is the bus to Xela. And none of them
are. After a half hour of this, I begin to figure out
that the city name on the top of the bus is its
destination (yes, i am a genius). So I stand and wait
to see one with Xela on it. And I do and it just flys
by. And then the next one comes... same thing. And
the next... The fourth one comes and I start flailing
my arms to know avail. Now I have attracted the
attention of a kind hearted 12 year old girl who tries
to help. Then her sister and mom come over. And the
three of them start waving for the next bus - no luck.
Than dad and brother arrive. I now have a family of
5 running out into the middle of the highway to stop
the next Xela bus for me. I was cracking up. (btw -
i am about a foot taller than all of them)

From there things are pretty uneventful... but the
trip took an extra 2 hours do to the complications of
trying to hail a bus in San Lucas.

Total travel time = 6 hours. Add in the impact of a
throbbing headache and no food and you have one
miserable gringo in Xela Sunday evening.

I get a hotel to unload my 30 pound backpack. I got a
bed in a large room with 15 other people for $2
(dormitory style). I wasn't in a mood to be picky and
the place came recommended.

I headed out in the streets to quench my hunger. I
had met three dudes on the buses/in the streets of
xela while looking for the hotel and they all
recommended one restaurant also one is a cook at the
restaurant. So I headed there. But it wasn't open.
So I just sat there for a while and Steve (the cook)
showed up and let me in. Restaurant is only open from
7-10pm. I am starting to realize this city is
different than anything I have been to before. Steve
hooked me up with a huge dinner for $2.50.

The streets of Xela are difficult to navigate. There
are tons of dead ends and diagonal streets intermixed
with the north/south and east/west streets. I got
lost ever time I went somewhere the first 2 days.
Which explains why I showed up at my school an hour
late. Although I was also an hour late because I
never checked to see what time it started or called to
make sure I was enrolled. But as I walked in the door
a lady said "Hola Nicolas" so I knew I was cool.

Started my 5 hours of spanish class the first day and
the teacher asked me where my notebook was. Of course
I didn't have one. Asked me where my pen was. Same
respone. I guess I forgot that notebooks and writing
utensils are standard operating procedure at school.
She was pretty impressed. My teacher is a 22 year old
Guatemalan. And no she is not hot.

After the first day of class I was
introduced to my family. Very nice family. There are
three living at home (mother-62 (not hot), daughter-21
(again - not hot), son-26, the father is dead) They
have a dog (Sheila - very hot) a parrot (Arturo - no
comment) and a car and a moped. Their house is pretty
small. It has 5 rooms that are all about the same
size (10x12 probably). The rooms are under one roof
but not connected by hallways. They each open up into
a cement courtyard type of area. I have a room to
myself and total privacy (the son and daughter share a
room). I have a key to the house to come and go as I
please. And the location is pretty central (5 minutes
walk from school and 10 minutes from the central
plaza) but it is right across the street from a big
cementary.

I am served three meals a day at home. The biggest
meal is at lunch. And I am settling nicely into the
afternoon siesta schedule. Oh and the family does not
speak a word of english.

The people of Xela are pretty poor typically. The
family I live with is relatively well off. There are
basically no tourists here but a good number of
foreigners learning spanish. As a result, there are
maybe 3 or 4 bars and 7 or 8 restaurants. I have
never lived in such a large city with so little
entertainment. But that is not to say that it is bad.
I am enjoying my life here very much. The people are
very nice. The food is great. I am learning a lot
very quickly. And have been continuing to read and
sleep a lot. My life is so simple.

There are very few attractions in this city either. I
think there are four things listed in the guides
books. The city is made up mostly of single story
homes. There are a couple buildings that may be 3 or
4 stories but that is it. The streets are pretty
dirty and crowded with cars that will run you over if
you are in their way. The sidewalks are very narrow
which forces you to walk in the streets.

I now have contact information for the rest of 2001.
I am living at 4th Calle 20-62 Zona 1, Quetzaltenango,
Guatemala. The phone number at the house is
011-512-765-2077. If you want to call me. Please try
between 8pm and 9pm mountain time (one hour ahead of
PST and two behind EST). Also, I can be reached at
Casa Xelaju (the school) which is located at Callejon
15 D13-02 Zona 1, Quetzaltenango, Guatemala. I have a
break everyday from 10:30 - 11:00am mountain time.
The phone number is 011-512-761-5954.

Oh yeah... there was a donkey tied to a lamp post in
front of my house today. No clue why.

To those who are keeping track of my health: No
rashes/STDs and today I had my first troubles in the
bano. But don't worry, they were not too bad. So I
am still pretty damn proud of my iron stomach.

Greetings from Antigua

First, I apologize to anyone that I missed on the way
out of town. I have been in Antigua for a week now.
And life is good. Sunny, beautiful weather.

The trip down was uneventful and I had the pleasure of
sitting next to a 54 year old Guatemalan hotie (yes I
looked at the birth date on her passport). I think
she dug me.

I stayed in Guatemala city for as long as it took to
drive out of the city. Not much to see as far as I
could tell. My first glimpse into the strange ironies
of the Guatemalan culture. The airport is fairly
modern and in good working order. Also, the first
things I saw on the way out of the parking lot were
Chuckee Cheese, Burger King and Dunkin Donuts. (yeah
america) But the remainder of the trip included
scenes of shanties, people walking on the sides of the
highway, the chicken buses, etc.

Driving into Antigua, the first thing to notice is how
very old the city is. Cobblestone roads, ruins of
churches, vivid colonial architecture and three
volcanoes looking over the city. We drove directly to
a hotel through the central plaza (the center of
town). Even the government buildings on the plaza are
in very depleted condition. I was not sure what to
think of this and it was beginning to make me
concerned about my accomodations. So I changed my
range from the one dollar sign hotels ($5-$20) to the
two dollar sign category ($20-$50) (guide book
legend).

My first hotel was very nice. Typical architecture of
many of the buildings here. Square layout with a
courtyard in the middle with a fountain. I got the
king size bed, huge room, cable tv with 100 channels,
a hot shower, the works. Yeah, I am really
struggling. The hotel was built on the site of an old
convent. The only thing that remains of this convent
is an archway over the street. The rest was
completely destroyed in earthquakes.

After getting acclimated, I moved down to the one
dollar sign hotel. Twin bed, hot water between 6:30
and 8:30 in the morning, electricity goes out every
evening for varying lengths of time - making good use
of candles, no tv, no phone. But it is very
comfortable.

I have hit all the sites in the city at this point I
think. The sites pretty much consist of ruined
churches and convents but I also went to a renovated
colonial style mansion which was very cool. It is
fascinating to see historical sites in there natural
condition after 300+ years of degradation. The impact
of 3 major earthquakes in the city has taken its toll.
In stark contrast to the ruins are the houses,
restaurants and hotels in the center of town. All of
which are in excellent condition (tourist dollars no
doubt) and are adorned with vivid colors and striking
colonial architecture. And always on the horizon are
the massize volcanoes covered in evergreen with clouds
masking their peaks.

Everything about the culture centers around the pace.
Everything is so slow. And I know that America is
ridiculously fast paced, but this is slow even on a
scale with Europe as the midpoint. Walking on the
sidewalk can be quite aggrevating for a gringo. I
mean people can walk really slow, really slow.
Everyone is so relaxed here. It is refreshing. I
have been spending a good amount of time chillin in
the central plaza (a simple park with a fountain in
the middle) reading, smoking, and meeting the locals.

Yeah, so I have been hit on by a guatemalan native
already - and yes he is a guy. So I have that going
for me. Anyways, he taught me some interesting
spanish words I didn´t already know and he was very
anxious to hear all about San Francisco.

Ironies abound everywhere in this city. The poor are
so very poor. The stray dogs are really gross and it
is sad to watch them scrounging around for food. On
the same block, though the Range Rovers and beautiful
homes are very impressive. And there are many gringos
strolling around shelling out money and being accosted
by guatemalan children selling jewelry, clothes, nuts
and posters. You can definitely get by speaking
english here but I have been putting forth a good
faith effort to start learning spanish. And I for one
think I am doing an excellent job of butchering the
language. Although I have not been laughed at yet.
And people are very nice and patient with struggling
spanish speakers here which is cool. Yeah, the people
hear are very very friendly.

The food is great and everything is so cheap. Most
meals cost about $2-$3. Portions are a bit smaller
than normal so I have just been eating 4 time a day to
compensate. And for all those concerned, I am proud
to report that the steel stomach is working its magic.
So far no need for any over-the-counter
pharmaceuticals.

The social life in the city has been impacted very
recently in a negative way. I guess the tourists were
turning the town into something of a party town which
was not making the locals very happy as they view the
city as an old-style sleepy colonial town. As a
result, they have shut down 7 bars here in the last
month and eliminated liquor from many of the
remaining. The gringos have reacted negatively and
are not going out "like they used to." But I have
been able to meet up with some UVA people that live
down here and meet there friends. A typical night has
consisted of 3 or 4 beers and home by 11pm or so.

Crime has reared its ugly head once also. I just met
a couple girls that were accosted last night on the
way home by four guys in a car with a gun. Luckily
their screams were heard by the family one of them was
staying with and the aspiring rapists were forced to
leave.

And I think that about sums it up so far. To those
who are expecting a phone call - mom, dad, etc. I am
an idiot and can´t figure out how to call out of this
country so in the meantime email is the only source of
communication.

I am leaving Antigua on Saturday to go to
Quezaltenango and start spanish classes on Monday. IT
will be my first chicken bus experience which should
be cool. When I am in Xela (that is what the region
is called) I will be able to place and receive calls
from the school and receive calls at the house of the
family I am staying at. I will also be able to send
and receive real mail from the school. I will send
the contact info when I get settled next week.