Quetzaltenango

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We miscalculated the bus schedules and ended up stranded in the Guatemalan border town of La Mesilla with no first or second class buses available until the next day. Luckily, we met some fellow travellers who were in the same situation, and who could speak spanish; we discovered a chicken bus headed to the city of Quetzaltenango (more succinctly known as Xela). Rather than stay the night in the town and go to Antigua in the morning, we hopped on the chicken bus.

It was quite a journey - four hours on a city-type bus, our bags on the roof, racing at breakneck speeds along winding mountain roads in the darkness. The seats were two seaters, but three people sat on each, and the aisle was jammed with people standing. For a while, there were a bunch of tiny girls sitting with their mom next to Blair. Laura handed them crackers, which they took with tiny paws and huge eyes, disappearing behind a seat (or their mom) to eat. They didn't smile until Jude and Blair entertained them (and much of the bus) with dancing (well, head bobbing) to the music playing over the bus speakers.

Xela used to be the country's capital city, and you can kind of tell, since it is built very grandly, but not much goes on now. It had a good economy based largely on coffee until 1902, when a volcano/earthquake partially destroyed the area. There is still amazing coffee though, and it is overall a safe and friendly city. A lot of foreigners come here to study spanish.

In our hostel, we got a room with two double beds in some sort of converted mansion. Our bathroom was he size of some dorm rooms we have had previously. We spent two nights in Xela - the first day we explored and read in the sun in the parque centrale.

On the second day before we left the city, we visited some hotsprings an hour outside the city. We went early in the morning so there weren't many other visitors, which was definitely worth getting up at 6am. The hotsprings are fed by water coming out of the mountain, which goes directly into pools that you swim in. In the first pool, the water closest to the mountain was so hot that we could barely stand in it. There were two other pools into which the water flowed before entering a stream further down the hill. The second and third pools were cooler, as the water had more exposure to the cool air. After spending a few hours in the water, we got used to the heat, and could swim around the first pool with pleasure.

We left the hotsprings and got back to Xela around noon; we packed and left on another chicken bus for Panajachel.

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Photos

Cathedral
It's just a façade - behind is a normal, newer church.

Buddies
Blair, Judie bug and Laura standing in the Parque Centrale. The buildings here are really the only ones worth seeing.

Best coffee so far
This is some sort of local restaurant's special coffee - it was very strong, smooth, and almost a little moka-y. Best coffee so far!

Gate
This is a gate to an indoor walkway built to house expensive shops in the centre of town - since there are no expensive shoppers in this city, it is mostly empty. Sad.

Guatemalan countryside
The mountains are covered with all sorts of crops.

Farming on a slant
Since everywhere is a hill here, most farming is done on drastic slants. Just walking around is a workout!

Hot spring waterfall
This was the hottest pool - burning when you first get in, but perfect after an hour of acclimatizing. Ahhh, the Winnipeg winter is a distant memory.

In the least hot pool
Blair and Laura in kiddie pool, other people in upper pools.

Comments

[elbish]

alo0.
bellas.... try to translate hahaha wii wii you look like having fun ... jij aiii :/ I ho0pe to see iu so0n.. :/ is not possible but I like to dream..________ElbiZzh lo0ves iu....2.... waaa iu know?? the mesilla is the place where Santa Anna sold a big part of mexico0 to the United States... :/ oh.. oh Fu-.. bla bla Snta Anna... jij sorry see iu so0n... bye with lo0ve you´re corazona and sister Elba