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Published: December 23rd 2007
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Xela - the Cathedral
This is the facade of the Cathedral - very ornate. Gorgeous. We are now in the lovely city of Quetzaltenango, which is called by Xela (pronounced shay-la) by everyone. Which is handy, as it´s also a lot easier than saying Quetzaltenango!
I thought we were lucky to arrive, as we decided to take the infamous chicken bus, which was as perilous as promised. The first section was from Chichi to Los Encuentros, where we had to change bus. As we hurtled through the narrow mountainous roads, with a wannabe Michael Schumacher at the wheel, I was genuinely terrified. I still have no idea how the bus managed to stay on the road. There may have been some beautiful scenery but I couldn´t open my eyes to see it!
When we changed buses at Los Encuentros the driving style didn´t change much, however the roads were flatter, so it didn´t have such a precarious feel to it. This time the bus was jammed tight, three people on the benches and let me assure you, the benches weren´t big. I was grateful to be sharing the seat with some locals - smaller bums than us gringos! In the seat next to me were four boys, possibly brothers, ranging in age fom about
In the market
A girl selling dyes in the market. 14 - 7. As we screamed round the corners, the outside boy and I served as back stops and saved each other from flying out altogether. Packed in tight, I felt like a sheep on a truck to the works.
By some miracle, we eventually made it here to Xela and found a nice little hotel, which is cheap and plain, but very clean and with friendly proprieters. We´re staying in the Parque Centro area, which has a beautiful cathedral on on side. To be precise, the facade of the cathedral is spectacular - all ornately carved, quite gorgeous. The city itself hasn´t a lot to see and do, but we´ve spent a bit of time wandering around the narrow cobbled streets and I like it as it has a nice feel to it. There are lots of Spanish schools around as it is a popular destination to learn Spanish.
Today we went on a hike, supposedly to Los Vahos, some sauna/steam baths close enough to the city that we could hike from our hotel. It was a gorgeous day, and not too taxing, although there were some very steep bits. I don´t quite know how, but we
Hiking in Xela
Jack and Lucy on the hike. Volcan Santa Maria in the background. never found los vahos, however we had such a lovely hike it didn´t really matter. The view from the hills over the city and towards Santa Maria, the volcano, were stunning. We had previously been to the markets and the shops and bought some bread rolls, cheese, ham and fruit, so we found ourselves a nice sunny spot and had a picnic looking over the city. Gorgeous.
You can definitely tell that we are up in the hills, as the days are cooler and the nights are very cold. Despite beautiful sunshine I have been wearing my sweatshirt out of the sun, as there´s a cool breeze. Much like a Wellington summer as I recall!
Signs of Christmas are absolutely everywhere. In the unlikely event that you couldn´t hear the Christmas music and Christmas carols (in Spanish) blaring from giant speakers at every turn, many shops have also laid out pine needles in their store and on the pavement in front of their shops. There are also loads of Christmas trees and most of them have lights that play tinny-sounding Christmas carols continuously. I saw them in the market and was strangely tempted to buy some. I think
View of the city
From our hike, we got a great view of the city. my nieces and nephews would love them. So far I have resisted, but I remain very tempted!
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Campbell g
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Rach - keep up the good work, your journal is great. I have a couple of questions - what is the food like? and have you become hooked on spanish language daytime soap operas? (telenovas I think they are called)