Travels of the Bay family and the Yoda Van

We were quite nervous about the border crossing from Mexico into Guatemala.  We’ve heard from many sources that border crossings are quite an ordeal and can be an all-day affair.  Luckily we have been in contact with a pioneer couple who have gone this same road in a similar vehicle.  (The account of their border crossing will give you an idea of why they can be a bit daunting.)  Miles before the actual border we were swarmed with people trying to flag us down who will help you cross the border (for a fee of course).  If you know what is required to cross into the country you can do it all yourself without using any helpers.  All in all we paid 81 Quetzales to cross (about 11 US dollars in official fees), but we know people who have paid up to US $100.00.  We paid much less than some, but you also have to count the time and energy I put into researching the border crossing.  Our motto in the end was “Only stop for people with a weapon or a uniform,” and it worked pretty well.  The swindling and the uncertainty that accompany are a border crossing are paid for, one way or another.  With kids in the car we chose this option: expensive in preparation, cheap on-site.

Before we left Seattle we stopped by our old hangout Targy’s Tavern.  A regular, Charlie, told us of a friend of his, Bill, who lived in Quezaltenango (aka Xela).  We started communicating over e-mail and he helped us a lot.  He pointed us to a good hotel for our first couple of nights.  We met him at a local pub in the center of town right as we pulled into town and he has been a great help getting us settled.  Plus we now have our own Guatemalen version of Targy’s right here in Xela.
When we first got here we wanted to find a language school and a place to live for an extended period of time.  We ran into a German woman in the tourist information and we asked her if she had taken language classes and if she could recommend a place.  Lucie told us about the place she had been staying.  They offered rooms and language classes in a very central location.  The next day we stopped by to check it out.  The biggest advantage to this school was Mary – the 8 year old daughter of a couple of traveling nurses taking the summer off to learn Spanish. Some time ago the husband Paul had a dream about a Columbian boy they were supposed to adopt.  They decided to start touring the Columbian orphanages and what do you know, the first boy they ran into in the first orphanage they visited was THE boy from Paul’s dream.  The boy said he also had dreamed of Paul (the overweight traveling nurse in levis and white tennis shoes who smokes Marlboro Reds) and how he would come to adopt him and they would move into a blue house in the United States.  What a coincidence that is!  Now they are learning Spanish so they can move to Columbia and adopt this boy sometime in the next 5 years.  He´ll be close to 15 by then if he hasn´t run away by then, but this is their fate in life and that´s the direction they are following.  They have been kind of showing us the ropes here in Guatemala.  They know how to catch busses, and they know their way around town.  And most importantly William and their daughter Mary have had a blast playing together.   On top of that Paul is a wicked barterer.  On our first trip to the market in Xela with them he gave us some good advice “If you aren’t careful these people will rip you off.”  So when I way buying my first pineapple I gave it my best shot to talk a Mayan women from one dollar to 95 cents.  The woman won, and I gave in.  I’m just not a haggler by nature.  I have to get better at that here since it just the way things are done.
The elevation of Xela is quite astounding.  Just to give you an idea how high it is – the roller ball on my deodorant almost took out Matthias’ right eye when I opened it for the first time since our journey up from the coast.  We’re at 7,655 feet (2,334 meters).  The combination of my deodorant and the cool nights at this altitude could prove to be deadly.  One plus – we’ve finally escaped the humidity.  It is nothing but warm days and cool nights here up in the mountains.
The place we moved into is like moving back into a dorm.  We share a bathroom, a kitchen and we have deep spiritual/soul-searching/idealistic conversations until 2 in the morning where we use the word “like” a lot.  We buy wine in cartons and let it breathe all night in case we get too drunk and pass out before we finish it.  What has been cool about living here is meeting people.  If you think we were adventurous for quitting our jobs and hitting the road you should take a look at this guy’s blog.  Rene is a German guy we met here that has been hitch hiking around the world for the last 21/2 years.  (More to come about him later.)  It’s been neat to find a lot of like-minded people.

On Fridays the school has a potluck, which was a great way to meet a lot of people living and working here.  On our second night everyone except us took a trip to the hot springs (powered by a volcano) so we pretty much had the place to ourselves.  We spent the early evening at the festival in town.  There was a large market with food and rides for the kids.

What is really interesting is watching the indigenous people here in Xela.  I’m just of average height in the US, but many of the full-grown women in this town don’t even come up to my shoulders.  They are also adorned in headdresses and textiles of vibrant colors.  I can’t even begin to describe all the impressions we’ve had since being in Guatemala.  I think we could write more about the last 3 days that we could about the entire month in Mexico.  On Monday we start our Spanish lessons.