Jess and Stacey’s Travels

Xela-click for more photos

We are in Quezaltenango, Guatemala now, commonly referred to as Xela.  It is a big town in the mountains on the ‘Gringo trail’.  It is much, much cooler here.  I bought another sweater to wear here and broke out the blue fleece again.  We were told that Xela is at about 8,500ft altitude. It took us 4 hours by bus to get here from Guatemala city.  It was a winding road through the moutains of Guat.  I wouldn’t want to do it with stomach issues.  We met two other women from Washington also going to Xela.  They are also going to the same Spanish school, ICA, as we are.  We also moved in with our new family, the Lopez’s- Mario and Monica (parents), Javiar (15), Daniel (10), Alejandra (7).  They seem to be a really nice family in a nice house about a 20 minute walk from the school.  There is also another American woman, Helen, living here.  She has lived with the family for 7 years and works as a special ed teacher.  We don’t see much of her.  The family just built this house about 4 years ago.

The woman, Gilda Arroyo, that we stayed with in Guatemala city had told Jess and I that women are expected to do most everything in this society.  Gilda was frustrated at times because although she is a single mom with 2 teenage daughters and her own bed and breakfast business, her mom still expects her to wait on her brothers when they come to her [read on]