Quetzaltenango (Xela)

The minibus arrived in Xela and after finding a dorm at the Black Cat I tried to figure out what I was going to do about finding a spanish school to start the next day. Not the best planning ever. After some research it turned out the one I had been set on was in Zone 5 or something, not even on my map and not a walkable distance. So I tried to phone. 3 coins later I had been answered once, but zero comprehension at either end had cut that conversation pretty short. Hanging up, I was close to booking a bus straight back to San Pedro, but I decided I´d have to cut my losses and try one of the closest schools. The Danish girls had actually been dropped off at their school - Proyecto Linguistico, and apparently it had had strong personal reccomendations, so lacking any other real clue about which schools were good, I decided to try that one first.

They turned out to have a space and could put me up with a family if I studied in the afternoon, so I settled on that, but decided to stay put in the dorm for tonight.
I got up early and had the most amazing hot powerful shower I´d had in ages, then headed down for my first day at school. It started with an induction for the new students, taken by Carry, an American who was the english speaking correspondant for the school, who told us everything we needed to know about living and studing in Xela, and then gave a very good summary of the modern history of Guatemala. Turns out this school is very socially and politically minded, they pay the best to their teaches and so maintain a high standard of teaching, and offer lots of activities based around educating students on the problems and reality of life in Guatemala. It turns out that pretty much every other school is empty at the moment as well which would be lame, so I seemed to have stumbled on the right one!

I met my family that afternoon, the house-owner, Aldina, and her Guatemalan lodger Rodolfo - 20, who had lived with her for three years through school and was now looking for a job. It turned out to be pretty good having quite a small family unit, it meant I wasn´t embarrassing myself in front of many people as I stumbled over the language. The first couple of days were pretty tough though, and we hit a good few brick walls. I had Aldina in stitches on the first dinner though when she asked me if I cook, I responded with my only fully comprehendable spanish phrase I´d muttered all evening- "only in order to live".
It occurred to me though that it might have been worth getting a bit more spanish under my belt before I immersed myself in a language I couldn´t speak or comprehend. Hey ho. However, by the Friday the ease of communication was considerably improved and I felt right at home.

My teacher, Mildred, is a friendly, easy-going woman and we got on great, whilst a lot of other students spanish conversation practise would start with the teacher saying "What do you want to talk about", we would always end up just talking and asking questions because we were curious and interested rather than being forced, sometimes for an hour or so. So I got to learn quite a lot about normal Guatemalan life that way too. I´ve had her in tears of laughter a few times as well. It makes learning spanish much more fun!

There are plenty of students here including a group of 6 Americans are here from Washington D.C. for about 8 weeks as part of their schooling (thats a pretty wicked school trip) who are good fun and entertaining with their American ways. There´s also another two pairs of Danish girls who are good fun.

I´m getting on well with the typical Guatemalan food, a lot of rice, beans, tortillas and the odd bit of meat. Although, beans, beans.. good for the heart, the only problem is, when you have five hours of spanish lessons afterwards.

Xela has a beautiful central park that although, small, has much more character than any in London. There´s lots of places to sit and you´re always looking at some exotic looking bit of greenery of sculpture, so it´s a great place to sit and study for a while, and even better for people watching.

After talking to Mildred about Semana Santa, it sounds like the traditional aspect with the processions etc is going to be just as good here as Antigua (almost), and so given that I can study in that week and stay with my family I have decided to stay here a full month, that way I can see the processions whilst still having class in the morning, and I don´t have to faff about trying to find a place in Antigua and have other stuff to do other than just see a full week of processions.

I managed to book a place at the school for a second week, but they only had afternoon lessons again, but at least I have managed to continue studying the Mildred. Friday was graduation day and as part of it they do an International Dinner, where the students all have to bring food - preferably a national dish from their homeland. I chose... tuna sandwiches. I ran around the supermarket and other markets in search of cucumber - pretty much a necessity for a good English tuna sandwich - being directed by many a stranger. I ended up with bell peppers and celery on recommendation of Aldina, partly because my description of a long green vegetable meant she gave me the spanish name of celery not cucumber. But I finally found the cucumber, despite the shop-keepers defiance that cucumber went with tuna. Pah.
Back at the house Aldina helped me prepare the sandwiches - with a Guatemalan twist. She fried the chopped peppers and celery... a little weird I thought, but it ended being damn good. She´d also never put cucumber and tuna in the same meal and went on about it for the whole of the next week. So, in the end the Guatemalan/English fusion created THE perfect tuna sandwich. Can´t wait to get home and make them for myself!

Now that I was settled, it was nice knowing I had another three weeks here, I already felt very comfortable with the routine and life. It´s tempting to stay longer... I can´t though.. I can´t!

Good times in Xela!