¡Adios Xela!

After three weeks living in Xela, taking spanish courses at ICA, and living with a host family, I´m moving on. The final week of my trip will be a whirlind of travel, first to Lago Atilan, and then on to Nicaragua by Bus, passing through El Salvador and Honduras along the way. I´m excited to be on the road again, but also a little sad. I came to really like the city of Xelaju, made some great new friends, had a wonderful time with my family, and was beginning to feel quite at home. Before I leave, some final, quite random observations and thoughts about my time in Xela:

Las Tiendas
It seems that any building or home located on any even sort-of-kind-of-major street has a small store in front of it. Some of these sell tortillas; others sell children´s clothing; some sell random knicknacks; and some seemingly sell nothing. I haven´t quite yet figured out how the economy can support this many stores (hopefully, business school will help in this department...), but what is almost even more striking than their prevelance is the relatively constant naming convention: "Tienda"/type of tienda + person´s name. It´s an amazingly efficient way to title businesses. Although, how they actually paint the names on the walls given how often it rains is still a mystery...

Two stores on cuarto calle, near my house.

Las armas
In addition to just having lots of stores, Xela also seems to have a lot of protection for it´s stores. Every fifth or sixth business seems to have someone standing out in front with a large rifle, sometimes in uniform, sometimes not. Not surprisingly, the folks with the rifles do not seem excited about having their pictures taken, and I´m a little reluctant to snap a photo of an armed person after they´ve politely said no. I was able to covertly snap this shot of an electronics store a few blocks north of my spanish school.

The armed guard at a small electronics store, about three blocks north of ICA.

Las aceras estrechas
The (very) narrow sidewalks. The sidewalks down here took some getting used. At most, they fit about two folks abreast... although, even that is generous; they seem to vary in height from between a few inches above street level, to nearly a yard above the roads; and, the flat surfaces are punctuated with frequent slopes down towards the street. All of this has the net effect of making them fairly tricky to walk along. None of this would be worth mentioning were it not for the fact that the streets themselves, after most rainstorms, begin to resemble rivers. Result: After three weeks, I have a suprisingly high degree of comfort with wet feet!

Agua caliente
Hot water for showers is handled in what strikes me as a truly brilliant way down here. Rather than heat the water in a giant tank where it could eventually grow cold, a small gas-powered device is hooked up to the outside of the shower, heating the water on it´s way to the showerhead. Hot water elsewhere in the house (I´m coming to agree) isn´t all that imporant, and the showerside heater is suprisingly efficient. Whether it would work in a New England winter remains to be seen.

Telma y Luís
These two are the family that took me and a few other students up to Momostenango to learn how some of the traditional products of the indigenous inhabitants of Guatemala are made. I bump into one of them every few days, either on the streets of Xela or in ICA, selling their goods. I can´t help but smile every time I see them: Mostly, because they´re happy, wonderful people who always remember my name, but also a little bit because, well, they´re Telma and Luís.

Luis and I on a bench in ICA.

Telma at work spinning wool in her house.

"Tenango"
I still have no idea what this means, despite it being part of the name of just about every city in the highlands. Quetzaltenango. Momostenango. Huehuetenango. Chichicastenango. The list goes on. As far as I´ve been able to discern, it´s a Qui´che phrase for something... but no one (not even my Mayan mother) seems to know what!

Guatemadre
The most important, last. My guatemalan family--Flory, my guatemom; Ibahn, one of her sons; and the extended family, consisting of three other sons, a daughter, nine grand children, and countless brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews, and grandnieces/nephews--have been wonderful. Down her, it seems fairly common to have huespeds stay with one´s family for an extended period of time, but I still find it wonderful that someone I just met (and who is getting paid, at most, $50 a week) could take me in, feed me three meals a day, and put up with my pidgin spanish through conversation after conversation, without even the smallest complaint!

Flory in the kitchen, making eggs and beans (a breakfast and dinner staple).

My casa! My room is on the left, the bathroom is straight ahead, the kitchen and living room are to the right, Ibahn is visible in the background, and--if you look very closely near the bathroom--you can see the real reason I had such a great time: A small stuffed monkey hanging from the clothesline!

Tomorrow morning, I´m off. As I leave the highlands, I´m hoping to retire the fleece vest until next winter. But rain and relative cold aside, I´m going to miss this place and all of the wonderful people I met here. ¡Adios, Xela!

Xela from the roof of ICA on one of the few clear mornings we´ve had here.