Making a home in Xela

We are just finishing off my second day in Xela.  We arrived yesterday early in the morning after an extremely early bus that left Antigua at about 5:30 am.  I am staying with Liz in her home stay with her host family.  There are 6 members of the family living here: the mother and father, three boys, and the grandmother.  They welcomed us to the house during our lunch.  Liz got me acquainted with the town a bit by taking me on a walk to downtown before she was off  to class for the afternoon.  I was pretty tired so a caught up on sleep in the afternoon and only did a short walk around town to see a place called Temple of Minerva. 

Today was more of an adventure.  I walked all around town while Liz was in class this morning.  I saw a Museum of Natural History near the central park, checked out a few markets, and generally explored all that Xela had to offer, in a couple of hours :)  The museum of natural history was kind of funny since it was pretty much a taxodermy museum.  One of the most exotic creatures there was labeled a generic dog, chow chow.  There were some other interesting creatures including a series of conjoined stuffed goats.  I figure that they could miss the opportunity to put these in a museum and just threw them in this Natural History Museum since that was the only place they sort of fit. 

This evening, we drove to some Mayan ruins called Talik Abaj about an hour and a half south of Xela.  The ruins and the forest were pretty.  There was a little animal sanctuary with some exotic animals native to the area.  I couldn't understand our guide all the well, but we got by. 

Tonight's dinner was a fancy restaurant that Liz wanted to try, which proved to be quite a disappointment in terms of food and ambiance.  Oh well, the rest of the day was a lot of fun.  I am looking forward to going to Zuhil tomorrow with Liz's school trip.

Volcano

Today, we got up super early to start a hike up one of the nearby volcanos, Pacaya Volcano.  The bus picked us up with about 10 other guests and drove us to the trailhead.  The trail up the mountain was steep and dusty, and we had to dodge a bunch or horse poop with every step we took.  Soon though, the trail was a little more picturesque as we hiked into the low clouds and up over the crater ridge.  We hiked down to the lava flow, which we were told was active about three months ago.  Today, it was mostly crumbling and brittle sharp rocks.  We didn't see and lava, but we did find a hole that reached down into the ground to a place much warmer than the surface.  Here, we could poke sticks with marshmellows on them to "toast" them to a scrumtious perfection.  It was a good hike and a great view from the top.  The weather was cool and comfortable. 

Later on today, we checked out the Church of San Francisco's colonial ruins and also went to Casa de Santo Domingo, which is a new hotel on old cathedral ruins.  There are about 6 museums to check out and a lot to see.  We spent most of the afternoon wandering around and exploring the area.  Tonight, for dinner, we found an Israeli restaurant which had a relaxed atmosphere with floor seating and lots of nearby hostelers hanging out playing games.  We're off to Xela tomorrow, so we are calling it an early night.

Antigua

Liz and I got into Antigua last night and had a long awaited reunion.  We slept in a bit today and spent most of the day walking around Antigua and seeing the old ruins of a town that once was.  Many of the cathedrals and monestaries here were ruined by earthquakes and never rebuilt.  The town is easily walkable you can find your way easily from churh to church to envision a more glamorous time. 

Our walk took us from our start at a cross on a nearby hillside where you can get a beautiful view of the city and the neighboring volcano to Parque Central, which is the hub of activities and social life for the town.  We are relaxing a bit before heading out for dinner and to meet up with Liz's friend Monica and her brother at No Se Cafe. 

Antigua is surrounded by 3 volcanoes.  One is very prominent and very close by.  Tomorrow, we are doing a hike to see some lava at the top of one.  We are going to attempt roasting marshmellows.

A Boatload of Teachers

Teacher boat with Ian, Liz, and Monica.

When I traveled with my sister after she graduated from business school we repeatedly encountered the company of other newly minted MBAs having one last hurrah around the world before commencing new careers. This weekend I learned that this was apparently not a coincidence; like-minded travels seem to find each other as they trek across the globe or dive into the particular wonders of a fascinating local. This is my first summer traveling as a teacher on holiday, and so it is my first chance to happen upon the company of other adventurous educators expanding their horizons as global citizens. In this case, Monica and I found ourselves on a boat full of teachers and their traveling companions as we toured the small villages tucked into the mountainous folds that surround beautiful Lago de Atitlan.

Each village we visited sported its own unique character. Between each village we chatted with a different teacher riding the same boat as us. We started in San Juan, one of the least commercial of the villages. Here we watched a local craftswoman spin natural cotton into yarn from which she wove beautiful scarves and the like and enjoyed the beautiful views.

Left: A weaver who is part of a local women's crafts collective spins a yarn (literally) from natural cotton.
Right: The Church in San Juan with the mountains in the background. The peak is known as Indian Nose because the shape resembles the nose shape of the people indigenous to the area.

Our second stop was the hippy village of San Pedro featuring colorful art whether it be spiritual or political.

Left: Statue in the square in front of the San Pedro Church.
Right: Anti-GMO art on the wall of a small clothing shop.

 The third stop took us to Santiago, where we took in the colorful vestments of the saints in the main church and in a small Mayan shrine.

Clockwise from top left: The view of Santiago from the lake. A mayan shrine where the Grandfather can cure your ailments. Inside the Santiago Church where the colors of this vibrant town are reflected in the garb of the statues.

Our homebase for the weekend was the town of Panajachel, a lakeside municipality about 2 hours from Xela. In contrast to Xela, Pana cultivates an international resort vibe reminiscent of Phuket and Sharm el Sheikh. We sampled a variety of international cuisines including Mexican, Malaysian, Japanese food, and sipped local coffee in an SF style that was roasted and brewed in an establishment operated by a couple of expat hippies from Korea. We haggled in the street for cheap jewelry local textiles. And of course there was plenty of rest and relaxation whether it be lakeside or reclined in the hammock hung across the balcony of our hotel room shaded by a veritable jungle of hanging plans.

From my lakeside lounging (left) it is clear that I need a dose of the fantastic local coffee (right).

On Sunday Monica and I ventured to the town of Chichicastenango, famous for its biweekly market. As we settled in to the shuttle to Chichi we joked that at least one of the teachers we met on Saturday would surely appear. As if on cue, Ian, an English teacher from Hong Kong, climbed onto the shuttle and took the vacant seat next to me. We spent the morning wandering the Chichi market, enjoying the local art (ancient pieces at the jade museum and modern murals on municipal building), and visiting the local Church (I wish I could post pictures, as it was my favorite church so far on this trip, but they did not permit photography in the sanctuary). At one point we wandered around a corner and discovered a great view of the most colorful cemetery I have ever seen.

Clockwise from top left: Panel from a mural on the main square in Chichicastenango. The front of the church on the main square in Chichicastenango (market below). View of the cemetery just on the edge of town.

Rock and Roll is Here to Stay

Now that I am on vacation standard time, and get plenty of sleep on a regular basis, I find early mornings to be almost enjoyable. On the mornings that I need to get up unusually early, for example in order to climb a volcano, I am far less cranky about the hour than I might be otherwise. However, this new found almost-morning-person in me was jolted awake at 5:30 this morning by a magnitude 6.9 earthquake. The temblor was centered in Mexico near the border with Guatemala, and caused some damage in the Guatemalan department (kind of like a state) of San Marcos. Xela, in the department adjacent to San Marcos, experienced power outages for about an hour, and schools in this part of the country remained closed for the day.

As in California, much of the natural beauty in Guatemala can be attributed to historic and on-going seismic activity. Over the weekend, Monica and I had the pleasure of taking respite at one such wonder, Lago de Atitlan. This mountainous lake formed approximately 1.5 million years ago when a massive volcanic explosion emptied the magma chamber below causing the earth to collapse inward. Three volcanos tower above the southern edge of the body of water. From our vantage in the northern lake town of Panajachel, we enjoyed spectacular views of the cones.

View of the south lake shore from Sunset Cafe in Panajachel. There are two volcanoes on the left and one on the right.

 Incidentally, this is the third magnitude 6.9 earthquake I have experienced. The first was the devastating Loma Prieta quake in 1989. The second happened in March of this year when I was exploring the giant redwoods in Humboldt county. At the end of the month I will be in Philadelphia, so watch out Pennsylvanian’s, I bring big earthquakes with increasing frequency.

An Old Man Helped Me Cross the Street

As is often the case on my adventures the traffic and patterns, and signals which dictate them, do not follow the exact conventions of those in the United States. I am accustomed to requiring an adjustment period including keen observation of the local habits in order to learn the safest manner in which to traverse the town by foot. My day to day habits in Xela included ample walking because my home stay is in zona 3 (the area just north of the main part of town), but many of the restaurants, shops, and attractions that interest me reside in zona 1 (downtown). The walk between zona 3 and zona 1 is about 20 minutes and I find myself making the trek almost daily. On one of these strolls, I timorously teetered on the curb as I evaluated to present risk of crossing the street. An aged gentleman with a shared objective noticed my hesitation, and with a toothy grin, nod of the head, and a thrust of his cane toward the other side of the street, he indicated to me that it was, indeed, the time for me to cross.

Small Churches in Small Towns: A Pictorial Blog Entry

On Tuesday we toured three churches in towns surrounding Xela.

Photos from the San Cristobal Church including the facade, nave, and alter.

Photos from the San Andres Church including the facade, and a panorama from the square out front.

Photos from Iglesia de San Jacinto including the front, nave, and chandelier.
This is the oldest church in Central America.