Xela * 14 - 18.11.2016

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In Xela (short for Quetzaltenango) I stayed with couchsurfer Irving.
The first night we went for a drink with 3 other couchsurfers, that stayed with a friend of his. We drank a Guatemalan sort of aguardiente called "Quezalteca". There are different flavours. I liked the one with tamarinda.

The following day, Irving borrowed a pick-up and we went to "las Fuentes Georginas". This is a beautiful place in the mountains, about 45 minutes from Xela. Hot water, coming from the Zunil volcano, flows into the pools. It's cold at that altitude so you can see the steam coming from the pools. Everywhere you look there is green around and it seems like a secret place, although it is frequently visited by touists. It was absolutely beautiful.
When we left, we found the car with a flat tire! There was nobody who could help us because we left very late. The nightguards didn't have any tools to change the tires and there weren't any in the car either. We thought we had to sleep in the car because it was getting later and later (and colder!). Eventually, one of the nightguards found someone from the village down the mountain who could drive up with tools. We did have to pay for it but we were already glad we didn't have to sleep in the car.

On wednesday, Irving had to go to the graduation of his brother. When it finished the family invited me to come and eat with them in a restaurant. We shared pizza's and wine and had a great time.

The next day he had to work at a bar where he organized a salsa evening. I went to the bar as well and danced salsa and bachatta. I really enjoyed it. Afterwards we had some streetfood because we were both starving. In Mexico I started to like spicy food. There, the people put spice on everything. Surprisingly, here in Guatemala, the people don't like their food too spicy. When I put a fair ammount of "salsa picante" on my food, Irving and even the lady from the stand looked at me with big eyes as if I was crazy. haha!

On friday I wanted to book a 3-day trekking tour from Xela to San Pedro. It was very expensive, so I tried to find a cheaper option. I seemed that "Quetzaltrekkers" took all the clients from all the other agencies. It was the only one who had groups leaving almost every day. I think that the reccommendation from Lonely Planet has a lot to do with that.
I was about to book the tour with them, although I didn't really want to pay so much. I really wanted to go on that tour. Then Iving told me I was crazy for spending so much on that tour. If I wanted, he would come with me to San Pedro using the chickenbus.

So, that same day we took the bus to San Pedro.

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