Blogs from Western Highlands, Guatemala, Central America Caribbean - page 97

After getting some much needed sleep last night, I got up this morning and took some of the students to Fuentes Georginas, some hot springs located about 15 minutes from Zunil. On the way there one minibus and one pick-up got stuck (in opposite directions) and it took about 20 minutes for them to get out of the mud. Because of the affects of Hurricane Stan in Guatemala, there are still severe mudslides in the mountains when it rains. The warm water felt good, seeing that I was a bit sore from the long hike the day before. We stayed there for a while and left around 12:30 or 1 pm. There were no pick-ups at the gates like normal and we had to wait a while for a ride. After 10 minutes a group of ... read more

Not written in a while. No reason just havent (cant get inverted commas to work, so you just have to imagine cos I cant write without abreviations). Oaxaca was tranquillo to the extreme and our second week there prooved to be very comfortable. We had a really hard time leaving as our hostel had formed a little nuclear family sort of cell, but it was time to move on. Inthe last week we visited our two first archeological sites: Mitla and Monte Alban. Mitla is very small and has very little left of the Oaxaquenas civilisation, but what is shows incredible craft. The buildings were built without cement and include some highly intricate individual stone mosaics. Monte Alban is more of your classic pyramid idea, but with awesome views and a kind of historical memory akin ... read more

Today (Wednesday May 10) I gave my first tour for the school. I was a bit late arriving to meet the students at the school because today is Mother´s Day here, a VERY big deal, and lunch ran a little long. However, we went and caught a bus to Zunil, which is about 15 minutes from Quetzaltenango (or Xela, which means 'under 10' in Quiché because of the 10 mountains and volcanoes surrounding the city). Zunil is a beautiful, picturesque town except for the river of trash that you must pass over to get from the buses to the town. Zunil hosts a local saint named Maximon (ma-shee-mon), also known as San Simon and can be found in the house of a local family. Each year he changes houses/families so that various families have the chance ... read more

Hello all you people. I am here in Xela, Guatemala, just finished my first day of work. I think I´m gonna like this. I stayed at a hostel here in Xela Saturday and Sunday night, but today I moved my stuff to a host familiy´s house. However, in a week or two they will be done with the apartament that I will be living in. It´s awesome. It has one bedroom, a kitchen and big eating area, a bathroom, and a room to hang out in. Since it is located above the school it has a great view of the city and its surrounding mountains and good location. I´ll post some pictures of it when I move in there.... read more

Semana Santa! Das bedeutet hier in vielen Teilen Guatemalas den Ausnahmezustand. Plakate werden ausgehaengt, wie man Staus vermeidet oder aushaelt, das Haus sicher hinterlaesst und wie man sich im Meer zu verhalten hat (schaetz mal ist das gleiche wie hier auch, Seepferdchen nur bis zur Markierung, danach muss man mindestens den Freischwimmer haben.... und natuerlich nicht direkt nach dem Essen ins Wasser!). An solchen Aktivitaeten nimmt allerdings nur der un- oder geringglaeubige Teil der Bevoelkerung teil, ansonsten hat die Kirche- bzw. eher haben die Kirchen- Hochsaison. Am schlimmsten ists wohl in Antigua, aber nachdem schon in Xela in der Woche vorher staendig Weihrauch geschwenkt und wahlweise Jesus, Maria oder jemand anders durch die Gegend gezogen wurden, haben wir uns in der Osterwoche fuer das Bergland und dort Todos Santos Cuchmantin entschieden. Ein rotweissgestre... read more