North Into the Highlands
Day 44
We were up and out of our guesthouse by 7am on our way to find a bus north to the highland city of Quetzeltenango. Getting around guatemala may not be luxurious but its very easy. On our way to the station a bus was driving down the street with the drivers helper hanging out the door yelling “Chimaltenango!” at us. We had to catch a bus to Chimaltenago, a transit town on the Interamerican highway where we could then find onward transport north. We boarded the old school bus and it was an easy 1 hour trip to the bustling town of Chimaltenango. We weren’t sure where to get off so we just waited until they told us to get off since it was the final stop. I approached a man as soon as we exited the bus and broke into my finest Espanol, “Autobus por Xela?” (Quetzaltenango is known as Xela for short, pronounced Shay-la) He broke into Spanish and I was lost, but I did understand the long sweeping and pointing of his hand and something about 8. We assumed he meant 8 blocks and we should have gotten off earlier. So we walked with our packs through the very narrow and extremely un-pedistrian friendly streets of Chimaltenango. On the way we were rewarded by finding a fabulous bakery where we bought some sweets for the ride and a gatorade next door.
Finally we found the highway, we had passes by it on the bus on our way into town. We joined several others gathered on the dusty, garbage strewn roadside as we waited for a bus with Xela across the front. No more than 20 seconds later we were offered a ride in a microbus, a Toyota Hiace minivan. These things are supposedly slowing replacing chicken buses on some routes, you see tons of them around the country. The guy said he was going directly to Xela. I doubted that but the price was the same as a bus and he also said he was ready to leave right now. That I really doubted. Sure enough 5 minutes later we were off with 5 other passengers, one man had two large bins of flowers. I assume he paid extra for those seats and this is what helped us leave so quickly. The drive was direct, we stopped to let people off and pick up new passengers but we only followed the Interamerican highway so it was a quick trip. Turns out our Edgar, our driver spent some time working in the states and spoke fluent English.
Like I previously mentioned I have can’t speak spanish, well I can order beer and ask for a double room but that’s about it. So when I can converse with someone in English about life in Guatemala then I jump at the chance. I mean we didn’t exactly have an in depth conversation but we talked futbol (soccer), work and about the U.S.A. Edgar lives in Almalonga, just outside of Xela. He wakes at 2am everyday, yep 2am. Then he makes the 4 hour drive south picking up people along the way. People travel very early here to get to markets held around the country, its a huge part of the local economy and way of life. He then waits in Chimaltenango till around 8am to make the drive back, a tough life. As with most people in the highlands Edgars first language is not spanish but the mayan language of Quiche. Its remarkable that they have hung on to the language to date, through the conquest and 36 years of civil war they still cling firmly to their traditions.
We arrived later afternoon in Xela and found a great room at the Black Cat Hostel. The city looked clean, orderly and had much less tourists than Antigua. It felt more like a real city. I looked forward to our time here as we plan on spending a full week, our first Christmas away from Canada.
Tags: Guatemala, hiking, Hostels, Quetzaltenango
Michael Coroneos
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