Wednesday, August 19

 

Quatemala City and Quetzaltentango (Xela).  It was up and out early this morning.  I was not unhappy to be leaving the Best Western surrounded by Applebee’s and McDonalds and Burger King.  At 6am the car I had arranged picked me up and we made the short drive to the bus station. 

 

It was early morning and there was not a lot of traffic on the roads.  I still cannot figure out the taxi situation here.   The ten minute taxi trip cost almost as much as the four hour luxury bus trip to Xela.  I think I may be getting ripped off as the taxis do not have meters and I think the drivers charge what they think they can get.  Also the fact that I don’t have my numbers down yet in Spanish is probably also a factor.  Anyway, I made it.  Taxi rides are also interesting in that here in a country where things are pretty laid back the taxi drivers all seem to have aspirations of being Nascar drivers.  I am amazed by the way they barely miss each other by inches.

The street outside the bus station. 

The bus station was stark and simple, however as everywhere else here it was clean and neat.  I bought my ticket and sat down to read my book while the other passangers sat and watched “The Birdcage” with Robin Williams with subtitles I Spanish.  The Macho culture of Guatemala probably thinks that “The Birdcage” is actually how we live in the US.  Actually, very few people I know dress as well as the drag queens in that movie. 

 Main bust station for the bus line

Anyway, I was hungry.  Despite the threat of some dreaded Central American intestinal disease I purchased a meat pie, chicken, and some coffee.  The guide books all say to NOT drink the water ANYWHERE, or eat salads or ice, but nobody mentions coffee.  There are some things important enough to take a chance. 

 

We boarded the bus on time.  Interestingly we had to go through a rather rudimentary metal detector and have our carry on searched.  It was not a particularly thorough search as most of the passengers were women and old people.  I was surprised that I was the only tourist.  I sat next to a delightful older lady who had been on a shopping trip to Guatemala City but spoke about as much English as I speak Spanish.  She was a delightful lady, like some friend’s mother, and seemed to be concerned for me traveling as I was with no command of the Spanish language. 

 

The highway wound up and up into the mountains, and was two lanes in places and four lanes in other places with a lot of construction.  There were a few drop offs and they have not yet here discovered the concept of the railing.  If you leave the road you have a clear shot of the drop off, as there is nothing to slow down your car. 

Road to Quetzalentango

The bus was comfortable and I kept busy watching the scenery while the rest of the passengers watched “Racing Stripes” and another American movie on the televisions. 

 

About three hours into the trip we stopped at a nice roadside restaurant where the Guatemalans on the bus all proceeded to eat a hot meal or at least a big piece of cake or other pastry.  It was 10:30am, so I guess it was time for the mid morning meal.  Personally I stuck to a cup of coffee as if I eat that kind of food too often the weight comes piling on.  Somehow I don’t think people here are too concerned about that. 

 Rest stop on road to Quetzalnentango

The arrival in Xela was absolutely beautiful.  The town is at 8000 foot, and we descended a couple of thousand feet into it, therefore I am guessing that we had climbed to a high altitude on the road to get here.  Everything is so green here.  All along the road were farms with corn eight feet high, lots of cabbages and other vegetable crops and lots of people out working in the fields.  The thing that struck me was the lack of farm equipment, almost all of the work was being done by hand by the people in the fields. 

 

We arrived in Xela and it was time for another short rip-off Nascar taxi ride to the school. 

The school itself lived up to what I had expected.  It is in what appears to have been a very nice home of some rich Guatemalan and was probably built 75 years or so ago, sort of what I would call Central American Colonial.  The administrator suggested that I could go ahead and start classes the next day, so I agreed and he told me to come back at 3pm to meet my host family. 

 

I spent the next three hours just walking around the town, found an Internet café to check my mail, and found a little local restaurant for lunch.  The price of food here is amazingly cheap.   Granted the ambiance of the restaurant was definitely not the greatest, but the food was excellent:  two pieces of chicken in a sort of tomato based sauce, rice, and diced carrots and celery with some jalapeno thrown in for good measure.  It was served with a big basked of hot blue corn tortillas and I ordered a local Gallo beer, which was nice and cold.  Total bill was about three dollars, including the beer. 

 Restaurant near the school.  Food was amazingly good.  And CHEAP.  Check prices.  There are 8 Quetzales to one US$.

Another interesting local cultural aspect, public restrooms.  Now we all know what public restrooms are like in the US.  Pretty gross.  Here they are spotless, small, simple, but spotless.  They are maintained by what appears to be wounded war veterans, sometimes in wheel chairs, who collect a couple of Quetzals in return for the use of the facilities. 

 

Shortly after 3pm my host family hostess appeared, Guisela Miranda.  She was a bright, smiling, friendly lady, in her late 30’s I would guess, and leading her Chitsui (spell?”) dog on a lease.  I grabbed my bags and we were off.  Now the school says that the host families are close to the school.  Not.  It was a hike, probably three fourths of a mile or so, and this town is in the mountains and the streets are reminiscent of San Francisco.  It was all uphill, and I was lugging my baggage.  By the time we arrived I had gotten my daily workout without the trouble of finding a gym. 

My home stay hostess, Senora Meranda.  She is always smiling and is an amazingly good cook.  I eat all three meals a day here.  

The house itself was surprisingly nice, what I think is upper middle class by Guatemalan standards.  All the construction here is concrete and block and not at all appropriate for an area that is one of the most earth quake prone areas of the world.  However the house was attractive, simple, and clean.  The owners have a small store on the ground floor that sells school supplies to the local students, they also have a shoe factory behind the house where the husband makes shoes.   From what I understand he has three workers there. 

 

The house itself is large.  The first floor is the store, the dining room, the entrance, a bathroom, and the kitchen.  The second floor is three bedrooms and two bathrooms.  There is a smaller third floor where I have not been, but I think it is a sitting room and a large terrace where one can catch the breeze and have a view.  

 

 

Life is simpler here.  The kitchen is very stark, a small gas stove and small refrigerator.  There is no running hot water, which I understand is almost non-existent here in Guatemala except in first class hotels.  The shower has this sort of electric gizmo that is connected to the shower head and has electric wires running from it to an electric switch on the wall in the shower.  Nothing appears to be grounded.  The wires are all connected with electrical tape.  It is an OSHA nightmare.  This device sounds like a coffee grinder when the water is turned on and it very very slightly heats the shower water to slightly less than freezing.  “Todo, I don’t think we are in Palm Springs anymore”. 

 

Very nice bathroom by Central American standards.  Check out the electric hot water heater that is connected directly to the shower head.  I don´t think this would meet code in Palm Springs but, hey, we ain´t in Palm Springs no more! 

I was very lucky to get this host family.  The house is new and large, there are NO children, and the couple are super friendly.  Guisela is also a very good cook, by local standards.  They are Pentecostal, another one of those lovely gifts our culture has bestowed on third world countries, and very religious.  We start each meal with a prayer.  Well, when in Rome………..

Typical lunch at my host home.  The food is excellent three times a day.  The host homes are also required to santize all produce and use only bottled water for cooking to keep us Gringoes from getting sick.