Blogs from Quetzaltenango, Western Highlands, Guatemala, Central America Caribbean - page 44

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Ola, weer even een update vanuit Guatemala! Ik had afgelopen een uitgebreid verslag geschreven en verstuurd, maar schijnbaar is deze niet aangekomen. Ach ja techniek erg handig als het werkt! Mijn eerste indruk van Quetzeltanango(Xela), de plaats waar ik nu ben, was vrij duister en vaag. Ik zal proberen te omschrijven hoe het er hier uitziet. De huizen en winkels zijn allemaal identiek. Betonnen muren voorzien van een verfje, wat er gedeeltelijk afvalt! De ramen van de panden zijn allemaal voorzien van tralies en dedeuren zijn over het algemeen van metaal. Je kunt dus aan de buitenzijde niet zien, wat er binnenin zit. Mocht er een winkeltje binnenin zitten dan is het vaak zo dat een vrouwtje achter een balie zit, voorzien van tralies, om haar waar te verkopen. Het lijkt wel een beetje op een ... read more
De markt in Xela


Hallo daar ben ik weer! Gisterenmiddag(zondag) ben ik gearriveerd in Guatzeltanango. Nu ik hier ben besef ik pas hoe mooi Antigua was. Pitoreske straatjes, schone straten en een vriendelijke omgeving. Het enige wat me erg opviel was dat alle ramen waren voorzien van tralies en dat de meeste winkels die duurdere goederen verkochten een beveiligings beambte voor de deur hadden staan. Dat is dan niet zoals in Nederland, nee ze staan hier met grote geweren om hun nek of in hun handen, heel bizar. Zag er wel indrukwekkend uit. Zaterdag vertrok Nina(Younzuk), was wel jammer konden het wel goed vinden. ´s Middags zijn Joyce en ik op zoek gegaan naar vrijwilligersinstanties in Antigua. Ik wil zo graag weten hoe ze te werk gaan en hoe het eruit ziet. Ik weet dat ik eerst spaans moet leren ... read more


Hola amigos, Ik ben in Guatamala, heel apart idee, maar wel leuk. Woensdagochtend vroeg op en vertrokken we om 05:30 uur naar Schiphol. Mijn zus en mams hebben me weggebracht. Het was wel even een dubbel gevoel. Aan de ene kant was ik erg blij aangezien ik nu eindelijk kon gaan doen wat ik wilde, maar aan de andere kant vond ik het ook moeilijk om afscheid te nemen. Dus bij het afscheid nemen bij de douane had ik het wel even zwaar. Kon het niet echt droog houden. Het ene moment was ik nog aan het janken en het volgende moment werd ik heftig gefouilleerd. Men ik moest zelfs mijn schoenen uittrekken, moet toch niet gekker worden. Schijnbaar heb ik een smokkelface want de laatste tijd word ik er altijd uitgepikt. Vervolgens werd ik overal ... read more


I have arrived without incident in Quetzaltenango up in the mountains if Guatemala. I am here with my friend Mia from the nurse midwifery program and Carrie, from the geriatric nurse program. We are here attending Casa Xelaju language school for two weeks before travelling during the third. With Casa Xelaju we do five hours a day of one-on-one instruction and they also provide us with a family homestay. The family I am staying with has 7, 10, and 13 year old boys, the parents and then four other students. Usually there are maximum of two students but the school is currently accomodating a large group of high school students from minnesota and thus, there are three very teenage fifteen years old girls here as well. in all there are ten of us in this smallish ... read more
Church/Plaza at Xela
School recess in Zunil
Outside the city


I had decided to return to Guatemala after 10 days in Utila. The diving had been a fantastic experience but I was starting to run out of hard cash. A Limpera, the currency in Honduras is worth 1/2 a Quetzal, the currency in Guatemala, a Quetzal at this time is worth about 8 pence (12c). I had 500 Limperas left, on this I had to leave the country, pay for accommodation for a night and eat. 500 Limperas is worth £20. The ferry from Utila to La Ceiba was 195 Limperas. Ok, 305 limperas left. 51 Limperas to San Pedro on the bus, 254 Limperas remain. On the ferry to La Cieba I met up with Jules from England, Helena and Pamela from France, they were all wanting to travel to Copan, Helena and Pamela then ... read more
Saint Simon
Party Time


Here in Xela there is a Spanish School with a print of my arse on the wall. Sakribal has been really good fun, and I’ve learnt lots of Spanish, if only I could put more of into practice. My teacher for the third and fourth weeks of school was Carolina, she spoke only a few words of English, which meant that the lessons were much harder work for me – exactly what I needed. I bought the most horrible item in Xela as a thank you present, a Hello Kitty lamp/alarm clock combo, she really loved it so that was great. Ok… so the arse prints, paint on paper on a chair, arse on the chair on the paper, reverse arse towards wall and the print is made. Sharon, Lizette and Christian (the crazy Danes of ... read more
Pompis
Sandra, Jeron and Jeremy
Hot Springs


My second (and now third) week in Xela has been a lot of fun. The friendships I had made in the first week carried on into the second and I now have a new brother, Patrick, from Dallas, Texas. Patrick has been living in Xela for around 6 months volunteering at a local school, teaching English, the first English teacher that they have ever had at the school - and travelling around central America. He's a few years older than me, I guess that makes him my big brother. Having Patrick around has helped with my Spanish as he is "mas o menos" - more or less, fluent it means that an instant translation of the difficult words is available. The amount of conversation at the table has increased, my limited vocabulary was holding things back ... read more
En La Escuela
Baja La Luna
Salsa en la cosina


For $125 US a number of Spanish schools in Xela will give you 5 hours of one on one tuition, a home-stay with a Guatemalan family and arranges activities for the afternoon. I booked into Sakribal a Spanish school which I had been recommended by some girls in Mexico city. Returning from Sanajchel on Sunday afternoon I was to meet my new family. For the next 2 weeks maybe one month I would stay with them. At the school I waited to meet one of my new family. Francisco, the father of the family came to meet me on his bicycle. "Hola" followed by a lot of words in Spanish that I don't understand yet, but he was extremely friendly gave me a huge hug and welcomed me to his family. Fransico is a primary school ... read more
Ali and Eddy
My Guatlemalan Familia


Quezaltenango, it's a nice city. I spent some time wandering around, visited yet more markets, looked for somewhere to eat. Walking down one rode we spotted Carina, the Dutch anthropologist that we had met pony trekking a few days before. She was with a American Brad and a French Canadian Murialania. Brad was staying at the same hotel as us. Finally I went to a Spanish school and booked my course to start on Monday. Olga the director of Sakribal booked me in, she spoke to us solely in Spanish, but slowly and clearly, using vocabulary that I understood. Where I didn't know the word or phrase in Spanish I offered it in English, and received the Spanish translation, Reena was really impressed and spoke with Olga even more than I, her years Spanish course started ... read more


A first class bus took us from San Cristobal to the Guatemalan border. No signs in English, Spanish and no indication of what to do. Taking a wild guess Reena and I wandered over to the Mexican migration office. I tried to ask the stern, and blatantly bored official behind the counter what I needed to do. One word was uttered, "passporte". Handed over the passport, lost my tourist card and received another stamp. After this a taxi was needed to get to the Guatemalan border. Walked through a gate, and over to the Guatemalan migration office, the guys in the this office were much more friendly, when I said that I was to learn Spanish in Quezaltenango and needed 60 days, they very kindly gave me ninety. Only 30 pesos in "fees". The buses in ... read more
Parque Central Xela




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