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Articles Tagged ‘Quetzaltenango’

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Navidad Verde

Tuesday, December 25th, 2007

Day 50
Feliz Navidad, it just doesn’t sound the same as merry christmas. I realize it means the same thing but to my language challenged ears it doesn’t. The closer we got to Christmas the more I told Jordana that we should pretend it isn’t even happening. We were in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala for the holidays, it wouldn’t be that hard to pretend it was just another day. There was little decorations apart from in a few stores and even there it mostly consisted of spreading pine needles all over the floor. There was a nice nativity scene in front of the city theatre, but no town parade or christmas tree in the square. Even the carols we heard weren’t exactly what we were used to. Jingle bells was sung in Spanish, but the lyrics were completley different and too often carols had been re mixed into wacky dance versions. Dreaming of a white christmas in very green Guatemala really just didn’t do the trick. Welcome to christmas, Guatemalan style.

Christmas eve we spent missing home and when we tried for a splurge meal at an authentic French bistro we found it closed along with the rest of the city. Usually we would be gathered at my parents house with family and friends. My mom would be cooking way to much food, the beer would be flowing, sitting cold out on the back deck. It was easier to just not think about our traditional christmas’, sort of like it had been cancelled this year. We did our best for a nice meal, pasta and a bottle of wine at the hostel. Then we met with a few others in the hostel and found the only bar open. At midnight the entire sky of the city lit up with fireworks, some so powerful they set off car alarms. Seems like alcohol was the only familiar thing from home this night.

Christmas day was a quiet day. We walked around the deserted city, called home and sat in the park most of the day. While christmas seems less commercial here everything is still closed. Easter is the “big” holiday time in Guatemala. We found one restaurant besides McDonalds that was opening for dinner, Antigua Cafe. Dinner was good and almost resembled a christmas dinner back home, grilled eggplant and roasted potatoes. Once again as sunset the centre square was besieged by firecrackers. It was like a war zone. Kids, teens and even adults lighting firecrackers and tossing them at each other. I thought that after 36 years of civil war people would like to keep the explosions at a minimum. We retreated to the safety of our room to pack for our early start to the market town of Chichicastenango.

Christmas is a big deal for both our families. The ritual of it all,breakfast, lunch and dinner. Exchanging gifts at my parents place then rushing to Jordana’s parents house to do the same. With the same excitment we had as children. At night visiting friends at Joanne’s house, my friend Gareth’s mom. Drinking much too much but always the best time of the year. It was all very tough to miss our family and friends this time. It was one of the very few times we wished we were back in Canada. As we lay in bed that night we both agreed that being away for christmas is something we would avoid in the future.

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North Into the Highlands

Wednesday, December 19th, 2007

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.

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