Life's an Adventure!: Quetalzenango

I realize that it has been a week since I last updated. The almost 50 pictures and their captions below will give you a peek into why. My new friends at the police station were all going home to rest, and I was going to be left alone there. So, I went with Eri while she took her rest. She lives in San Marcos, but often stays with her nephew in Quetalzenango, about 3 1/2 hours away from the capital. We left Wednesday afternoon, and I will be here until Monday.

Also, for those of you who were wondering, all bodily systems are back to normal. I am no longer sick. I have learned my lesson. You REALLY shouldn't eat raw foods here or anything made without purified water. My case wasn't awful, but three days of eating only bread and bananas and drinking Gatorade was.

Dona Vida owns a "comedor". She made a special tea that helped my stomach to get better. I will forever remember her as the lady who dances to Michael Jackson's "Thriller" as she cooks.

I gave them a "cheat sheet" on how to give each other directions in English. It says, "Do you have the letter ____?" "No, I don't have the letter ___. Draw a card." Eventually, I took it away.

My white boards: Card-stock inside sheet protectors, held up by books. My students were learning how to greet someone in the street, as well as various ways of saying goodbye.

After class on Wednesday morning, Eri and I left for Xela (pronounced Shay-la, another name for Quetalzenango). After a 3 1/2 hour twisting and turning bus ride through the mountains, we arrived in the city.

I was a little tired of buses after being jolted for so long. So, we walked an hour and a half through the rain to Eri's nephew's house. Probably not the best idea, but I absolutely loved it! =)

Luis is Eri's nephew and the owner of the house. The follow pictures are just a few snapshots of his house. It has 2 bedrooms, one bathroom, and a large study room.

The Santa Maria Volcano can be seen from the roof of the house.

Another view from the roof of the house

Llano del Pinal Mountain (Seen from the roof)

Balconies of the neighborhood I'm staying in: Colonia Minerva

Luis' cat, Agusto, liked the umbrella. :-)

The day after we arrived, Eri and I went to downtown Quetalzenango. We took a chicken bus to get there. A chicken bus is a "retired" school bus that has been repainted in bright colors. As I learned on a later bus ride, they really do transport chickens (I'm a visual learner).

This is a view of Central Park as we descended a hill.

The city's municipal building behind me

This is the main entrance to a Catholic Cathedral. The people were transporting an image of a saint. They were dressed in ceremonial clothes and played special music as they carried it into the building. To me, the image of the saint was a doll standing up in fancy clothes, being carried on a pyre.

The original entrance to the cathedral. We ended up going inside. It was absolutely beautiful!!

A little kid running through the pigeons at Central Park.

I kind of joined him...

Natural History Museum... We went in later. It was filled with pretty random exhibits: botany; taxidermy; Mayan relics; old type-writers and computers; National documents; national sports teams' trophies, and even parts of a dinosaur.

Mountain: Cerro el Baul as seen from somewhere in the city

I couldn't take pictures of things inside the museum, but I could take pictures of Central Park from its upstairs balcony.

A funny thing about the museum: Native Guatemalans pay only Q1 ($0.07). Tourists and foreigners pay Q5 ($0.67).


These men were outside the Cathedral playing native instruments. The drum is called a "Tum" and the miniature oboe- like woodwind is called a "Chirimia".

The entrance to the municipal building's inner court. The following pictures are from once you are already inside.

Presidential Monument to Justo Rufino Barrios, one of the best presidents of Guatemala

We came home after about 5 1/2 hours. I cooked dinner. :-)

Luis' mom came in town for the night. She helped. :-)

I'm like a giant next to her!! Hahaha!

This is THE steepest road I've EVER seen! It leads to Q' Anill College, where Luis works as an English teacher. I got to go there for the day to be a judge for their spelling bee and debate contests.

This is the view down the hill from only half-way up it. Seriously...ridiculously steep!

The only picture I took while at the school. I was busy judging the contests the rest of the time. The school has less than 150 students, 1st grade-10th.