Other People’s Stories #1 Written Saturday November 7, 2009 Before I left for Guatemala, one of the ideas I had was to everyday write down the tale of someone I met that day. It wasn’t important whether the person was Guatemalan, a traveler, or a person I met in some other way. All that was important was that they had an interesting life story. Well, I had forgotten about this idea for a long while—until now. About a month ago I made a friend at my school, Jason. We had a mutual interest in motorcycles and dreams of riding down the [View Full Entry]

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I Wish I Had another Plastic Chair I wish I had another plastic chair. Eight people live in my house, and our house has a total of four chairs and I think four stools. If you do the math that means that we have enough seating for everyone in our house. But here is the problem: I don’t like sitting on the stools; they are just not comfortable. And…those chairs and stools are spread out all over the house. One of the chairs is mine—I am sitting in it right now, it is my desk chair in my room. Another chair [View Full Entry]

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Choco Crema de Maní Banano licuados con Leche de Soya y Fibra Motorcycle adventures. Cliff diving. Excursions to ancient ruins. Waterfalls, parties, hot springs, volcanoes. These are the things I feel expected to write about. But this is not my life right now. Sure, I hiked La Muela (a volcano-formed mountain with naturally-heated saunas built into the ground in the middle of no-where) twice in the last week. And Saturday and Sunday I took motorcycle rides to neighboring pueblos. Saturday I went to San Marcos, a 27 mile ride through the mountains with a beautiful valley overlook, and Sunda [View Full Entry]

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Heres my last update from Guatemala. Im in el salvador now, but will tell of that next time: 1) Last weekend in Guatemala: Carnivals, Big dinners, and Soccer Games 2) Kids Day 1) Last weekend in Guatemala: Carnivals, Big Dinners, and Soccer Games Carnivals: A few quick notes here. First, I went on upside down amusement rides that cost $1.25. My first week here included independance day (most cenral american countries celebrate it on the same day). And Xela, my town, is the hub of the celebrations for much of guatemala, so naturally the carnival was in town. And, having worked [View Full Entry]

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My New Best Friend; or The Sexuality of Loneliness; or Mom & Dad; or Sarita; or Salsa Rosa; or Adventures in San Pedro; or Volcán Santa María and the Mirador So, I have seven ideas for blogs; above are the titles. Some of them, such as “Adventures in San Pedro” “Salsa Rosa” or “Volcán Santa María and the Mirador” would mostly recount activities and events. “The Sexuality of Loneliness,” which will probably never get written, would mostly recount they ways in which I see intercultural relationships manifesting themselves and the consequences of [View Full Entry]

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So I took myself off towards the north west of Guatemela to a town called Quetzaltenango - mercifully abbreviated to Xela (pron. Shayla) by the locals - to learn spanish. It´s the second largest town here with a paltry population of 125,000 compared to the 7 million in Guatemala city! I loved Xela; it´s relaxed, not very touristy, has a strong student population and alot of music. The english speakers who go there to learn spanish tend to stay for longer in central America and be on more of a budget than in Antigua. It was kind of comforting to be [View Full Entry]

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Nach einen kurzen Abstecher in Santiago, ein weiters kleines Dorf am Lago, sind wir nach Xela aufgebrochen. Dort haben wir durch Edgardo, einem Freund den wir hier kennengelernt haben, in einem aufgelassen SOS-Kinderdorf fuer 2 Tage schlafen koennen. Edguardo arbeitet naemlich fuer SOS-Kinderdorf. Es is echt extrem fein das wir einen guatemalteken als Freund hier haben weil der hat die connections. Am Montag ist dann in Xela die Post abgegangen. Am Nachmittag sind wir zur Feria gefahren - so eine Art Jahrmarkt - und am Abend war dann grande fiesta. Zuerst waren wir noch in einem geilen Park [View Full Entry]

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Quetzaltenango is the name of the town on the map, but the locals call it Xela. This is going to be a long one guys...with lots of photos. I´ve been here for a week and I´m just now getting to the blogging. I have done so much this week, so i´ll try to just hit the highlights. I met two awesome girls (Sarah and Rachel) on the chicken bus from San Pedro to Xela. They happened already know some people who were taking spanish classes in town, so it has been really nice to have a big group of people to [View Full Entry]

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“How do I weave the ordinary into a story worth writing about; worth reading?” This was the thought that ran through my head as I rode back on a chicken bus from Las Fuentes Georginas. Fuentes Georginas is a natural hot springs about forty-five minutes outside of Xela. The water is heated by the volcano and a few pools of stone have been constructed around the fountainhead. To get there we need to take a 25 minute chicken bus to the pueblo of Zunil. (For those of you who don’t know, a chicken bus is a decommissioned American school bus. The [View Full Entry]

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The official name of the town I live in is Quetzaltenango. The quetzal is the state bird of Guatemala, and tenango simply means, “the place of”. Now, none of the locals call this city, dubbed the place of the Quetzal, Quetzaltenango. No, instead they call it Xela (pronounced Shay-la). Maybe this is because the town is 60% indigenous and Xela is the traditional Mayan name. Or maybe it is simply because Quetzaltenango is just too long of a word to say. Or, my favorite reason, maybe the human population in “the place of the Quetzal” has gotten so large that the [View Full Entry]

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