Xelaju (pronounced Sheyla-who)

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Xelaju is the full Maya name for Quetzaltenango which, as mentioned before is usually shortened to Xela.
The minibus to take us there turned up on time and there were only 4 of us so it looked like we would be quite comfortable. However, after half an hour we both realised that the seats were badly designed and there were no head rests so when you start dropping off it´s very uncomfortable. For most of the way we were on the main highway in Guatemala but had not got our hopes up. It turns out that one day it will be a pretty good road, dual carriageway in most places, but at the moment they are unpgrading it.....almost all of it.....in what seems a random and erratic way. There are therefore some very good parts that are finished, some very bad parts where the road is pretty much unmade and places where they are working... At some of these points they just stop the traffic when they feel like it so we sat for around 45 minutes at one place with no indication at any stage of how long we might be there though some vehicles seemed to push their way through anyway. Our driver had queue jumped quite a way when we arrived by driving on the wrong side of the road towards oncoming traffic to get into spaces further up. That was not the only scary moment as the driver was a little aggressive though not as bad as some of the ´chicken buses´(to be explained at some later date) that overtook us on blind bends, horns blaring.

After a couple of hours we stopped at a petrol station, it turned out we were picking up more people who would fill the minibus but luckily a couple of them didn´t turn up. More bad roads and roadworks (another 15 minute stop) before we arrived into Xela around 7pm. The minibus dropped us at the hostel we had booked only to find that they had given the room away, despite the fact that we had paid a deposit. They guy working there was pretty useless, just kept saying that he could see the booking but somebody working earlier in the day had given the room away! Someone else there recommended a hotel across the road so we went to have a look. It seemed fine if a little dark so we took the room as it was about the same price as we had expected to pay.

We had passed a little restaurant on the way into town which looked warm and cosy so went up there for dinner. Jon has asked for more food details so I had chiles rellenos - stuffed peppers with salad and tamales. These are the made from the local staple which, like many other developing countries, is maize and, unfortunately, to me, taste like soggy cardboard. The other local favourite is frijoles (pretty much refried beans you get in Mexican restaurants) which are a little better....generally I prefer them as real beans than mushed up. Hugh had some kind of chicken with the same though had to send it back because they had put cheese on the salad (for those of you that don´t know, he absolutely hates it) despite the fact we had checked it didn´t have cheese! More interestingly Hugh has found a local beer, Mazo, which is a dark beer and much better than the Gallo (translates as cockerel!) we´d heard about.

Being at over 2000m it was pretty cold back in the room and we weren´t sure there were enough blankets but the beds were comfortable and it was a good night´s sleep. It was pretty chilly getting out of bed the following morning and the tepid shower didn´t help. We had been warned that electricity and water are in short supply here but had hoped for better......what have we done agreeing to stay here for a few weeks?!

So, after breakfast in the hotel (pancakes with cheesy potatoes! (H: so just pancakes for me)) we had to go in search of a phone to get hold of the bank again while the right department was open. Won´t bore you with the details but an over 30 minute call with someone who just kept saying that they were introducing the system and it would apply to us was pretty frustrating (Hugh remained very calm - probably a good job it wasn´t me!) though he did eventually get through to someone who could understand the problem and agreed to look into it.

Next we called Alex, the international co-ordinator at the language school where we are going to be studying and arranged to meet him. He took us out to the school where we will be studying, about a 20 minute walk from the centre of Xela (beyond the paved roads!) which is in a small house they rent from a local family. It´s pretty basic but has all that is needed to host a few language students and the local children that go there for lessons in the afternoon. On a Friday they have a communal lunch cooked in the school kitchen so we were invited to join in and meet the people. Everyone was very friendly and welcoming which was lovely and, luckily, most spoke English though we were thrown in the deep end when we met Jaime, the director of the project, and had to speak Spanish. We also met Kate, the volunteer co-ordinator who had already got us lined up to work a couple of afternoons the following week.

Back in the town there was a band playing in the Parque Centro Americano - the main square - which we watched for a little while before heading back to the room when it started to rain a little and get pretty cold. All round it had been a grey day and the room got little light so it was pretty cold in there when we got back. Dinner was an uninspired affair so I won´t describe it and it was a chilly night with thermals required despite the 2 blankets.....what have we done?!!

The next morning started bright and sunny and we were up before the large group of American students so had hot showers - yippee! Some people from the language school were taking some of the children they teach up a nearby hill so we had arranged to go along. There were 8 or 9 children between 12 and 18 years old who ran around chattering away in, to us, unintelligable Spanish along with a similar number of volunteers. It wasn't too much of a hike up the hill but it took a while which gave us a good opportunity to talk to a few of the other volunteers. They are all really friendly, mostly younger than us of course, and from all over - a few from the US but also Scandinavia, Germany, Singapore. Some have been there for a number of weeks or months, some doing Spanish lessons with a bit of volunteering like us but others volunteering full time (usually those who speak better Spanish). At the top is a small park with playground and a pretty scary slide (see Hugh's pictures!) and we played football with the kids for a while. It was pretty hot by the time we reached the top and it became clear that on a good day it is a beautiful place to be as the views all around were wonderful.

We walked back down and left the children in the central Parque and went off for some lunch and a quiet afternoon and evening as we knew things were going to get pretty hectic!

Sadly on Sunday we were up a bit late for the hot shower so went out for breakfast first. Once we'd showered and packed we called Alex again and arranged to meet him to go to our homestay house.
The house is about half way between the town centre and the school so it's possible to walk to most places (though we took a cab with our bags!). The family are: Angela, her husband Manuel and their daughter Annamaria who is 18. Sadly Manuel has Parkinsons Disease which can be quite bad and he cannot work much now as he is a musician. Annamaria is studying at a bilingual secretarial college and is out most of the time. There is already one student in the house, Mercedes who is originally from Colombia but has lived in the US most of her adult life. She has just decided to retire early, sell her apartment and become a nomad. She has been with the family for nearly 2 months.

Our room is next to Mercedes above the main house and is reached through the yard and up the stairs. We share a bathroom in the downstairs courtyard with Mercedes. Being up high the room gets lots of sun during the day (when it is sunny!) which heats it up enough to keep it reasonably warm at night as it can get chilly - the other day there was frost on the grass when we walked to school! However, all facilities are pretty basic with a pretty bare room except for beds (one a little, and the other very, soft!), a table, chair and chest of drawers. To get hot water the shower can only be a dribble which is a bit uncomfortable in an unheated room first thing in the morning. But, we get 3 meals a day along with the room and all for $40 each a week.

After lunch which Mercedes had already prepared for us we went out to explore the area including visiting the nearby ´shopping mall´which has a reasonable supermarket then checking that we knew how to get to school the next morning.

At dinner Mercedes was back from her weekend away and was able to help us when the Spanish got a bit complicated. We turned in pretty early that night after talking to Mercedes for a while and slept reasonably well though that first night we only had one bed which was just about ok.

The alarm went off before 6.30am and Hugh braved the shower first. Even though we have to go outside to get there, which is pretty chilly, the room itself retains some heat (only some!) so is not icy. The shower is just heated by a few electric wires in the shower head so is only hot if there is very little water but both electricity and water are precious commodities here.

After breakfast (plantain and beans) we set off for school......but more of that another day. We thought there´d be less to say once we started school but so much has happened and so little time to blog! Still, will try to keep up.

Hope everybody survived the bad weather and are all well.

Lots of love S + H xx

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