Beard Update - Week IV and IV.5

The beard just keeps on gowing and growing. Haven't taken a picture today, so you will have to accept a Week IV.5 teaser, from the top of the Altiplano during my hike.

Week IV

Week IV.5

Meet the Fam.

I really had no idea what to expect when I booked my Spanish school and host family. I had read stories about host families being hit and miss. After almost 6 weeks in Xela, a home that I have been told is my own whenever I want to return, and a bunch of new additions to those I consider true family, I can safely say that I hit a home run.

Before I left on my hike, we threw an impromptu family party.

There were closeups...


... family photo ops...


... photo creepers...


... wrestling ...


... lots of smiles...


... lots of laughs...


... unknowing gang signs...


... hallway horse races...


... MJ-esque butt-grabbing dances...


... and lots of funny faces.


Needless to say, although I leave Xela tomorrow morning, I will definitely leave behind a little piece of my heart...

Beverly Hills Meets Montreal's Old Port

After our surprise lunch, I packed up my stuff and jumped in the car with Luis and his wife Marivel, and we were off towards Antigua. The trip there was an adventure unto itself, as the effects of Agatha are still strongly felt on the major highways throughout the country. Large sections of road are covered in mud and stones the size of small houses, and opposing traffic has to merge into a two lane section of the road weaving in and out of the parts of the road that are still driveable. When we were about an hour away from Antigua, we heard a strange noise imminating from the underbody of the car, and soon realized that we had a flat. Perfection. Guatemala isn't the kind of place where you want to be stranded at nightime, let alone with a flat tire, an hour away from your destination, without a spare. I knew that we were in trouble when the closest group of people that we could ask about a mechanic were riding donkeys. However, there was a a stroke of good luck to our flat tire situation, as we happened to be only a short ways from a nearby garage, and although it was almost 10pm on a Friday, someone answered the door after we knocked for long enough. One hour, three coffees, and a few hundred quetzales later, we had a replacement tire on the car, and we were back on our way to Antigua. We pulled into town at around 10:30pm, and made our way to the restaurant were Luis and his wife were married at, owned by their friend Pablo.


El Sereno was simply stunning, and surpasses anything that I've seen in the Old Port in terms of beauty and being flat-out ballin'. I didn't take too many pictures inside, because there were couples snuggled up in various corners and I felt like my papparazzi flashes would not be highly appreciated. However, we did get a tour of the restaurant from Pablo, including the upstairs balcony bar overlooking the city, which you reach by climbing up cobblestone stairs burried under jungle-esque plants and surroundings.


The highlight of the restaurant is by far the grotto. Nestled in the far corner of the restaurant's courtyard lies a small opening to what would appear to be a wine cellar. With rock walls, dangling lights, a floor covered rose petals, and a candle-lit table for two, this even surpasses the time I made reservations at Newtown for the private table overlooking Crescent.

Myself with Luis and Pablo, the owner of El Sereno

After a glass of wine, we headed up and tried to find a hotel, no small feat at almost midnight in a town were its not especially safe to walk around after dark. With a lot of door-knocking and a little luck, we found a triple room, although a little more expensive than we had hoped. We took a walk around town, and although Antigua is by law a 'quiet town', where you actually aren't allowed to honk when you are in your car, there was a whole block of drunken foreigners partying hard. I must have seen more white people in 15 minutes of walking through Antigua than I have in four weeks of living in Xela, which was a little strange.

In the morning, we walked around some more, and explored a few of the beautiful churches and ruins that the town has to offer. The town itself is beautiful, with cobblestone roads, and buildings that look like they have been there forever, as well as some that obviously have been, based on their structural deterioration. At the same time, it really felt like I could have been walking through Old Montreal. The restaurants, people, and buildings were quite similar. Only the architecture was somewhat different, and being nowhere near educated enough to describe architectural traits, even that seemed close enough to pass.





Of all the buildings that I saw in my short time in Antigua, this one was by far my favorite. I have no idea what the name of this church is, or when it was built, by its facade was stunning. White lace details run across then entire building, and the level of the detail itself was amazing. Even the inside of the church was beautiful, although I couldn't go camera crazy out of respect to those inside.


We headed out shortly after lunchtime, and took the coastal highway back towards Xela, stopping for Chinese food along the way (which apparently is big in this country - chow mein is considered a 'typical' Guatemalan food from what I understand). Overall, I was glad to have visited Antigua, but also glad that I only spent a day there. It was beautiful, but in a plastic kind of way. Although I don't consider myself a local by any means, its nice to be able to walk around and completely immerse yourself in local culture. In Antigua, I just felt like I could have been in any metropolis in North America with an antique flair. I guess the clubs full of non-local drunks didn't help, nor did the lack of Spanish when you walk down the streets, but there was just something about it that felt fake. In the end, it made me happy to have chosen to study Spanish in Xela, where there are still foreigners, but fewer and further between. Nonetheless, Antigua still proved to be a cultural experience, albeit of a different variety than I have experienced so far here in Guatemala. Sort of like hard liquor, a little was nice, but too much would have made me sick. Here's to moderation...

My favorite picture from Antigua, with an underlying representation of the town itself.

El Baúl

On my last day of Spanish school, we were treated to a surprise lunch trip when we got home. To bid farewell to Karen (who was leaving the next day), Noah and I (who were leaving this week), Gloria and Angelica put together an insane menu and brought us up to one of Xela's best vantage points, El Baul. To get there, we rode in the back of Helen's pickup. This is how its done in Guatemala. Too hype.

I wish this were legal in Canada.

El Baul is at the top of a nearby mountain, and is essentially a local park. There are a bunch of picnic areas up there, including grills where people can barbecue to their hearts' content. Also, there is a really ballin' statue of Xela's Mayan warrior, who I believe is named Tecun (although I can't be sure this statue is indeed supposed to be portraying him).


Aside from the beautiful picnic areas and the big stone monument to former warriors, there is also an amazing view of the city. Perfection.


However, the highlight of the park is by far the slides, known as resbaladeros. Unlike normal park slides, these are made of concrete, which means that if you faceplant, its bad news. To go down them, most people slides on pieces of paper, or newspapers, but the experts use flattened plastic soda bottles. As you can imagine, you can pick up some serious speed on one of those things, although I only had a small bottle to try, and apparently the best ones are the 3L puppies (yes, soft drinks come in a remarkable 3L size here).



After the slides, we made our way back to the picnic area to sample our wonderful lunch menu. Carne asada, sebollas, tortillas, elote, papas, friollos, you name it - we had it.

Culinary delight.

We made our way back to the house as the dark clouds began to roll in, and after a full day, I threw my stuff together to get ready for Antigua, which I left for the same night. Never a dull moment in Xela.

The fam.

Ferris Bueller's Day Off

Today the school organized an outing which took up most of the day, and although I still had to pay for classes, I was quite happy to get out of the classroom.

We headed to the town of Salcaja, about 15 minutes outside of Xela. The main attractions of this town include the oldest church in Central America, and a small house that makes a local liquor from fermented fruits. Quite the combination. The church itself was quite interesting, although we didn't get much of a history behind it, but for those interested please refer to Google.







Next, we made our way to a house in the middle of town which had aboslutely no indication of being a distillery. It soon became obvious that this is a fly-by-night operation, as the liquor, known as Caldo de Fruta and only produced in Salcaja, is bottled in various recycled liquor bottles, from Johnny Walker to no-name tequila. The drink itself is made from a mix of fruits that ferment for 5 months before they are ready to be drained from the juice, leaving behind a ruby-colored liquid of almost syruppy consistency. It's about the same strength as vodka, in the low-to-mid 20% range, but it tastes so sweet and goes down so smooth that it's easy to get wasted off of. To make things even better, a small bottle of this stuff goes for 20Q, or the equivalent of $2.50. Boys, when I get home we will hold a tasting session. Jared, get your pirate face ready.


Aside from getting to taste the liquor (as they obviously wanted us to buy it), we also got to taste the fruit that they take out of the vats after fermenting for 5 months. Believe it or not, they were quite tasty, albeit quite strong as well. A few handfuls of these things and your head would certainly be spinning.




After our tasting session and subsequent purchase of bottles, we headed upstairs. Apparently, whoever runs this place is quite the entrepreneur, because its pretty much a conglomerate. In the upper-levels is a weaving workshop where this man makes traditional material used for indigneous skirts and dresses throughout Guatemala.



About 1500 individual threads run through this machine, on a roll that will last for 6 months, and take 12 hours to replace once it is finished, since each thread runs through a specific part of the machine. It takes about a day to complete 6 meters of this stuff, so if you consider its price of 200Q (under $30 - more expensive in other parts of the country), it's quite affordable. These guys start working in the family business at 5 years old (child labor laws anyone?) and usually do it for the rest of their lives, according to what we were told. It's really quite the art, as the weaver uses both his hands to thread the twine back and forth, while also operating mechanisms with his feet, and keeping track of his thread count at the same time. Needless to say, he generally doesn't drink Caldo de Fruta as he works, although I sure would.


Tomorrow is my last day of Spanish classes, and this weekend I will probably visit Antigua. Tuesday, I leave for my 5-day trek to Todos Santos, hiking about 7 hours everyday. That should be interesting. After that it's back to Xela, only to sleep for a night and leave early that Monday for Livingston, home to rastas and reggae, so I am told. Next up are the ruins of Tikal, and off into Belize followed by Mexico. As school is now finished, I should have more adventures and blog entries to post, so I'll try to keep things updated as often as possible. Until then, as my little friend Carlitos would say, suave

Beard Update - Week III

Week III may appear the same as Week II, I'm not all that sure. My facial hair isn't really sure of what to do after three weeks of not seeing a razor, so I'm pretty sure it's just gone on strike...

Week III

More Local Hospitality & Laguna Chicabal

This week I went out on a limb and called up my friend from the chicken bus. The first attempt was a disaster, as I was hung up on. Dejected, I left the payphone at the corner and went home. An hour later, I decided to give it one more try, and after a very confusing first 30 seconds, Luis figured out who was on the phone. We managed to make plans for dinner, and it was decided we would meet Friday at 6pm at a local tavern.

I showed up on Friday and met Luis, who explained that he wanted to go back to his place to change, and that we would meet his wife shortly thereafter. I obligingly jumped into his pickup, and we raced off towards the outer limits of Xela, to a small pueblo where he lives. During a break in our conversation, I started to think about the fact I was in the car of someone who I had met only a week ago, and only for an hour, trustingly believing that we were in fact heading to his house and not to a dark alley where he would take all of my posessions. Potential horror stories came to mind, but in the moment, I figured that my luck had served me well so far in Guatemala, and that it would not let me down this time either. Sure enough, I ended up at Luis' house, sitting on a hillside just outside Xela, with a stunning view of the city night lights that could (almost) put Montreal to shame. Shortly after, we stopped by his work where he had to pick up some papers, and finally made it to the bar for a beer, before meeting his wife for dinner at a Mediterranean restaurant nearby. By the end of the night, I had been invited to travel to Antigua with them this coming weekend. Once again, local hospitality trumps guidebook warnings. Needless to say, I plan on visiting Antigua this weekend.

Saturday morning came bright and early, as I headed out with a school-organized tour to see Laguna Chicabal, a crater lake considered sacred hereby the local people. A 30-minute ride outside the city brought us to the base of the unactive volcano, where we hiked up a steep and slippery road to the




Another hour or so of hiking brought us to the top of the volcano, with a stunning view of the crater and, on the opposite side, of Santa Maria and the still-active Santiaguito.



Next, we had to actually make our way down into the crater itself, which involved a set of 600 stairs running through the jungle-like foliage. Interestingly enough, our guide explained that the volcano is one of the first mountains to be hit by the warm air flowing inland from the Pacific Ocean, and because it mixes with the cold mountain air, a rainforest-like climate is created but without the humidity and heat normally associated to it.


Once we got down to the lake itself, we started the tour around it, and stopped at various Mayan prayer sites clearly indicated by really cool signs (more to warn ignorant tourists not to mess things up than to indicate to the locals where they should be praying). Because the lake is considered sacred, people are not allowed to swim in it or used the water to ash their clothes, but nonetheless you could still see junk around the shores, once again more likely from tourists than locals.


Although pretty much everything is off-limits at this place when it comes to using the water, we came across a fishing boat and net that not even our guide could explain. It hardly made sense that people were allowed to fish here considering its significance to the locals. However, we found the guys who seemed to be running the show, and they explained that they are granted access to the lake for one or two days every month (or every few months - this was not clear) where they could catch carp. The lake is really clean because of the fact nobody can use it, and its basically just a crater full of natural rainwater filtered by the ecosystem, so the fish aren't full of wonderful things like mercury either. Finally, the fish are smoked and then sold in the markets, but the money goes into the surrounding mountain cooperative of locals, so it benefits them to take advantage of their natural resources, but it a responsible manner. Responsible use of natural resources, what a novel concept...



When we got to the case of the lake it was a crystal clear day, but by the time we were ready to leave, the mist slowly started pouring into the crater, almost like the smoke from dry-ice boiling over a pot. It was actually really neat to see, and within minutes fog was streaming across the lake to the point where you couldn't see across the water. All in all it made for a truly eerie experience, multiplied by the rugged crosses and charred piles of burnt sacrifices strewn throughout the path.



We made our way back down in good time, and jumped in the vans as the mist engulfed the volcano and poor souls who were just beginning their ascent. Not ten minutes later, the heavens opened up, and the rain came down. I would not have wanted to be the group who had just started the trek.

Saturday evening I went out for dinner with my host mother, to a restaurant overlooking all of Xela and owned by a Swiss guy. The view was stunning, and the menu included, get this Dad, racelette. Later that evening we watched a B-grade Hollywood horror called The Wailer, based on a Guatemalan (and Mexican) legend about a crazy woman who drowns her kids in the river because she thinks her husband doesn't want them anymore, kills herself when he freaks out, and now walks the river every night crying for her children (hence "La Llorona"). The river the legend is based on is two blocks away from my house. True story.

3.2 stars out of 10 on IMBD - Pat, I think you can safely skip this one

Vanessa came to Xela on Sunday to see what the town had to offer, and more importantly, pick up her French-Spanish grammar books that I brought along with me. Apparently learning Spanish has ruined my French, and I was made fun of for most of the day because our conversations in French were strewn full of Spanish words, and I'm pretty sure I forgot what common words like "mais" and "avec" were. Perfect. Needless to say, Vanessa managed only a few words of English when she met Noah at our house. Figures. Sorry Vaness, I still think my shoddy French is better than your English, even after studying Spanish for a month.

New travel plans, as my itinerary has changed! Next Tuesday I leave Xela for a 6-day hike through the mountains to Todos Santos. Then back to Xela for one night before leaving again, this time for Livingston (land garifuna and reggae) and then Tikal. Belize is next on the list, and then into Mexico!

Other than that, all is well here in Xela, and tomorrow I think I'll call Luis to see what the deal is for Antigua...