Xela. Life. Travel? Maybe not.

So, I had originally planned on spending around a month in Xela, maybe a little more. Well, somehow I don´t see that month ending in a week, as your average 4-week month would. I´m thinking instead that I would rather my month in Xela take the form of maybe a 6- or 7- week month. Good thing I am the only one to whom the length of my months holds any relevance.

I´m sorry it has been so long since I have posted... I´d blame it on my busy schedule, but let´s face it... Anyone who has been to Guate will tell you that a busy schedule consists of accomplishing all of one, possibly two things in any given day. Take today, for example. I came home around 6, exhausted, and happy to have cancelled plans to go out, so I could come home and rest. What did my day consist of, you might ask? Was I perhaps exhausted because I woke up early to go to my kickboxing class? Nope. Didn´t have boxing today. I woke up around 9, and hung around in bed for a while, until I finally got myself up, showered, and dressed. After breakfasting and chatting with Veronica (who cleans the hostel every day), I got my things together and went off to Casa Argentina, where Quetzaltrekkers (the volunteer-run trekking company that I almost ended up working for this summer) is located, so I could interview some of their volunteers. After our interviews, we had some lunch, which was followed by a few hours of coloring promotions with the brightest crayons we could find. Shortly after, I walked the 25 minute walk to one of the biggest markets, and wandered around there for the remainder of the afternoon, after having met a potential spanish teacher for a quick conversation. Then home. So, all-in-all, we have a day that started with chatting, followed by conversation (though this one was recorded), heavy-duty coloring, and wandering around. What a day.

Life in Xela´s pretty good. As far as routine goes, I have my super intense kickboxing class every other day, which serves to get me up in the morning, and gets me to bed by 11 the nights before. At kickboxing (at which I am, of course, the only girl and the only extranjero) I see all my friends, and get just enough time to greet everyone and have a laugh or two before getting sweaty, yelled at, and hit in the face. It´s something I look forward to every day.

I´ve also been doing pretty well as far as my research is concerned... despite the difficulties concerning motivation, punctuality, and technology here, I´ve managed to conduct my first few series of interviews with some volunteer organizations here, and might actually have things to say about the data! The other upside to working with these various organizations is getting to learn about the various volunteer opportunities that are available to me when I finish my research, depending on how long I decide to stay in Xela. There are so many different things that I could do, and I know they´ll all do good for the community here, so there doesn´t seem to be any wrong answer here.

Aside from interviews, boxing, and relaxing, my life here is a lot of hanging out with friends. Aside from a loan extranjera friend, my friends here consist of a bunch of guatemaltecos that I met through another friend. On the upside, I don´t ever have to worry about slipping back into english by accident. On the downside, though, I haven´t done much traveling around the surrounding areas near Xela, because my friends don´t seem quite as excited by the prospect fo exploring the area as I am. To give an example, we had made plans to climb a volcano last Sunday. Well, on Monday I realized that we had made such plans, and then just completely forgotten about them. I´m pretty excited to go on a hike with my friends this weekend, where we´ve planned to go picnic... Somehow, I´m a little skeptical that it´ll end up happening.

...But so is life.

Love,
Tasha

en Xela al final!!!

Last I left you, I believe I was writing from San Salvador. The next day, I took a bus from San Salvador to Guatemala City, and was lucky enough to share a bus ride with two other foreigners that were planning on going to Antigua de Guatemala, so the three of us shared a cab and ended up spending the week together. Upon arriving in Antigua ( known as the ¨Disneyland¨ of Guatemala), I wasn´t quite sure what to make of the colorful houses, clean cobblestone streets, and multitude of blonde-haired, english speaking tourists. So, of course, after deciding to only spend a day or two in this disconcertingly nice ¨city¨ I ended up spending a week there. Carla, one of the friends I met on the bus had spent 2 months living in Antigua earlier in the year, and showed me around, letting me befriend all of her friends. The first day we were there, we found out about some trips that people had organized to the neighboring city de San Miguel Escobar, that had been nearly destroyed by mudslides caused by Agatha. So, all week we worked for most of the day clearing mud and water out of houses. I´m happy to report that by the time that we started working there, most of the animals and people had already been found, so we didn´t come upon any bodies, as they did the week before. Still, though, to wade into the doorway of a bedroom filled with 6 feet of mud and see that there had been people living here less than a week earlier was hardly an easy thing to do. Needless to say, our time and energy were well-used each day when we went to help, so we stayed for a few extra days. Antigua is also quite the party city, as its two draws are rich white tourists, and rich ¨locals¨that come in from the city, so each night we went out and found dancing, music, and good company. Of course, after a week of manual labor, fiestando, and not enough sleep, I am now paying the price with a runny nose and stuffy head.
On our way to Xela, Carla and I stopped off in San Lucas to see Lago de Atitlan at an educational center where a friend works. We took a series of rides in pickup and chicken bus to get there, which I found pretty fun, and more like an overstuffed roller coaster, than a bus ride. On the downside, my first experience with a chicken bus was also my first one with getting robbed, as there was no room to put my backpack on my lap, and someone managed to find their way into my purse in my backpack right in front of me without me noticing. Luckily, the only things I had in my purse were two nearly empty wallets... I really liked the wallets, though. So now, someone out there has access to my Kaiser health record numbers ( both the Colorado and California ones... oh no!) aaaaandd all the scripps dorms.
Since being in Xela, I have slept A LOT, wandered around a bit, and looked for a place to stay for the next month or two. So far I´ve found two places with very reasonable prices that both seem really nice, are in safe areas, and seem to be good options. One of them ( of course the more expensive one) has two adorable kittens, which might just end up being the reason I stay there.
So, at this point, I´m getting ready to have some assemblance of a life here... I´m finding a place to unpack my gigantic backpack, buying a cellphone, making friends, and finding out where all the good bakeries, fruit markets, and dance clubs are. And that´s all that´s important in life, right? Tomorrow: cell phone, sleep, indian food, market, and 5 -year-old theme party. ...That is, if I´m feeling up to it.

Week 1: Houston, TX, EEUU; San Salvador, El Salvador

A week ago, I was prepped to go to Guatemala. I had flights, contacts, living situations and transportation all in place, and even managed to find a hotel at Logan airport that had comfortable couches to sleep on and free computers/internet that I ended up using the night before my disgustingly early flight out of Boston. Around 3:30 that morning, I got an email from a friend living in Guate that I would likely not be able to come becuase the volcano Pacaya had just errupted... And so began the first leg of my trip to Guate: half a week stranded in Houston, TX, hours on hold with Continental, and my first time experiencing life as a Texan.
4 days, 1 tropical storm, 1 more possible volcano erruption, and 10 flight cancellations later, I arrived in San Salvador, El Salvador, more than ready for culture shock, difficulties with communication, and the beginning of my summer in Central America.
So far, I´ve had a great time in San Salvador. I´ve been getting used to the mix of humidity/sweat that comes with the rainy season, though I can´t say I enjoy being perpetually sticky. A true gringa, I attract far more attention that I would like from both the general public, and the mosquitos, but it´s nothing I can´t handle at this point.
I´ve been to the top of the volcan San Salvador (which thankfully, did not errupt like Pacaya, Arenal, and Tungurahua recently did), a few museums, markets, churches, and universities. Yesterday I went to the beach near La Libertad but couldn´t go surfing as I had hoped, because the waves were quite a bit larger than anything I would be able to handle.
So, after a week, I still have my documents, my health, and am happy to report that I am quite content. I´ve met a ton of really friendly and helpful people, and apparently have good energy that shines from me (three different people have told me this so far).
Though I haven´t decided exactly which city I want to visit, I am going to try to go to Guate some time in the next few days. I will likely end up visiting friends in Antigua for afew days before moving onto Xela, where I will set up camp for the coming month or two.