Goodbye Xela...hello 21
After a 4am bus ride through mountains, sara and I are back in Guatemala City.
What a week! I can´t believe how fast this vacation is going, but if i look back on everything that happened in the last 7 days since the last time i was in the City, its pretty unbelievable. I´ve gone into detail already alittle about how beautiful of a city Xela is, but I feel as though I could go on forever!
In the past week we were able to visit a weaving co-op formed by local indigenous women and their back strap weaving masterpieces, take some crazy pick up truck (standing int he back of pick up!) rides up the mountain to San Andres Xecul where we saw some of the most interesting churches in Guatemala as well as witnessed mayan religious ceremonies, soak ourselves in sulfur volcanic hot springs high up in the mountains surounded by high cliffs and dense lush vegetation, and push our way through Sanfransico El Alto- the largest animal market in central america. Each day we found our selves saying, today is the best day yet! And with 400plus pictures so far- i hope to never forget them.
An interesting thing i found out about Xela, is that the indigenous population there is one of a kind in Guatemala. When many people associate indigenous with poverty and lower class, in Xela, it is the indigenous who have the higher status and own large parts of the city.
Driving into the city with a fellow AIESECer from Xela, she pointed out all of the cultivation on the mountain sides and told us that many people pity the indigenous that cultivate the land in Xela, but little do they know, some of those families are millionares. Literally.
Later in the week, after hanging out with this aiesecer some more, she took us to meet her grandmother, who turns out to be the Indigenous Queen of Xela in 1952. She was one of the nicest women I´ve ever meet, and ofered us her driver to take us anywhere we´d like to go (we respectfully declined) as well as sent us off with 8 homemade typcial guatemalan chuchitos. mmm.
When I told my day and how i got the chuchitos to my host mom, and to my teachers at the spanish school, they couldn´t believe i was friends with that family, and it turns out they are one of the most well known families in Xela.
It was hard to leave Xela, and one week was not enough time to soak it all in. The school we were at, Sakribal, was an amazing place and we really felt at home there. I recommend it to anyone who wants to learn spanish, and really learn a ton about Quetzaltenango, and about la cultura guatemalteca.
Well next stop, in a couple of hours, is Antigua Guatemala to ring in the big 21 at midnight...
What a week! I can´t believe how fast this vacation is going, but if i look back on everything that happened in the last 7 days since the last time i was in the City, its pretty unbelievable. I´ve gone into detail already alittle about how beautiful of a city Xela is, but I feel as though I could go on forever!
In the past week we were able to visit a weaving co-op formed by local indigenous women and their back strap weaving masterpieces, take some crazy pick up truck (standing int he back of pick up!) rides up the mountain to San Andres Xecul where we saw some of the most interesting churches in Guatemala as well as witnessed mayan religious ceremonies, soak ourselves in sulfur volcanic hot springs high up in the mountains surounded by high cliffs and dense lush vegetation, and push our way through Sanfransico El Alto- the largest animal market in central america. Each day we found our selves saying, today is the best day yet! And with 400plus pictures so far- i hope to never forget them.
An interesting thing i found out about Xela, is that the indigenous population there is one of a kind in Guatemala. When many people associate indigenous with poverty and lower class, in Xela, it is the indigenous who have the higher status and own large parts of the city.
Driving into the city with a fellow AIESECer from Xela, she pointed out all of the cultivation on the mountain sides and told us that many people pity the indigenous that cultivate the land in Xela, but little do they know, some of those families are millionares. Literally.
Later in the week, after hanging out with this aiesecer some more, she took us to meet her grandmother, who turns out to be the Indigenous Queen of Xela in 1952. She was one of the nicest women I´ve ever meet, and ofered us her driver to take us anywhere we´d like to go (we respectfully declined) as well as sent us off with 8 homemade typcial guatemalan chuchitos. mmm.
When I told my day and how i got the chuchitos to my host mom, and to my teachers at the spanish school, they couldn´t believe i was friends with that family, and it turns out they are one of the most well known families in Xela.
It was hard to leave Xela, and one week was not enough time to soak it all in. The school we were at, Sakribal, was an amazing place and we really felt at home there. I recommend it to anyone who wants to learn spanish, and really learn a ton about Quetzaltenango, and about la cultura guatemalteca.
Well next stop, in a couple of hours, is Antigua Guatemala to ring in the big 21 at midnight...
posted by Katy @ 5:59 PM
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