Well, we’re finally here! After a 7-week hiatus in the US, we’ve arrived in Queztaltenango (Xela for short) in Guatemala.
Xela (Shay-la) is the second largest city in Guatemala and at 1 1/2 miles above sea level, it’s a beautiful mountain town. We choose to move over to Guatemala, instead of going back to Costa Rica, for a variety of reasons: cost of living and Spanish schools, cultural exposure, volunteer opportunities, country dynamics, less tourism, etc.
Xela is a perfect blend of past and present, with winding cobblestone streets and lots of outdoor markets. There’s not a lot of touristy stuff here, so the foreigners living here are long-term volunteers or Spanish learners – a very cool group of people so far. There’s a beautiful, huge, old cathedral in the center of town. At the same time, it has a ton of modern stuff – movie theaters, wi-fi coffee shops, bookstores, salsa clubs, gyms. Almost no one speaks English, so I’m confident my Spanish is going to get better faster.
It’s always disorienting to settle into a new place. The elevation we’re at has proved to cause some shortness of breath and fatigue (we’re operating with 40% less oxygen than you get at sea level), but your body adjusts. It’s mid-60 during the day but drops into the 50’s at night — and no, they don’t have heaters here so we’re cold pretty much all the time. It rains every single day. We’re adjusting to life without drinkable water (we boil sink water to use for drinking water), without heaters, without cars, and without as much oxygen as we’re used to having. 
But life here proves to be amazing every day. Mayan ways are still the norm here – over 50% of the population are indigenous Mayans – the women still wear traditional clothes and carry baskets of food on their heads. The customs of the culture is extremely conservative. NO ONE wears tank tops or short skirts. Relations between men and women are very formal. The Mayans believe that if a man touches a woman’s hand, she will become pregnant immediately…suffice to say there’s not as much hand shaking here as in the US! Women who live with men before they’re married are considered prostitutes, so – ahem – Miguel and I are “married” for all intensive purposes down here….
The people are incredibly friendly, saying hello as you pass by and helping in any way. The streets are filled with activity, colors, songs and community activities. Church services are blared from speakers during the day and Spanish music is blared from the clubs or radios all night. It’s a city in constant, life-affirming movement. We had our first salsa lesson Monday in a cramped studio with peeling red and pink paint, a cement floor, a very LOUD boom box, and some awesome dancers. It was a blast!
There was a festival this weekend for the patron saint of Xela, the Virgen del Rosario – and people were out by the thousands for the street fair. Cannons and fireworks have been going off around the city both in celebration and also to “announce” mass. We saw a Guatemalan feminist group play some great music on Saturday night, which was really cool. I went to mass in the cathedral on Sunday which would have broken every single component of US fire code. It’s a city where you can see a movie and then drink wine in a dimly lit cafe all night but wake up to the sound of a crowing rooster and a woman washing clothes by hand in the small square of grass near the house next door……..
Everything from handmade clothes to rent to food is incredibly cheap from my perspective. You can get 12 plantains for $2, a cucumber for $.10, a bottle of good wine for $3. However, the global food crisis, and the current financial crisis is hitting very hard here. My teacher told me that two years ago, meat was very expensive but beans and rice and veggies were very cheap. Now, she says the vegetables and beans cost the same as the meat! Families can not feed themselves. Most people make 20 Queztales a day (which is a little less than $3 a day) but a pound of beans is 15 Queztales, so you can see the problem…. Guatemala’s economy is tied very closely to the US. They are not receiving as much money sent back from family members in the states. Imports and exports are down. I hope to be learning more about all of this while we’re here. It’s a wake up call for us.
I’m currently taking 4 hours of private Spanish lessons a day and Miguel is taking one hour. The Spanish school is a blast and very personal. All the teachers are incredibly friendly and always joking. Everyone at the school takes 1-1 classes. Class starts like 20 minutes late every day – which I love. We do fun stuff too – if you want to go somewhere for class, you can just tell your teacher. Yesterday, all of us went to the bakery together where I bought the yummiest bread I’ve ever eaten and then stopped by the family’s house where one of the students is staying and saw the house and talked to the mother for a bit. Today, my teacher took me through the market. Tomorrow, Miguel, our teacher and I are going to cook rellenitos,a type of food with beans and plantain. It’s really fun!
Our apartment is actually rented through the Spanish school. We live on the 4th floor of the Spanish school and with half of our walls being glass windows, our view is incredible! It’s absolutely gigantic and we have 2 bedrooms, one of which we converted into an office for Mig. We have a microwave and TV too (a big luxury) so we hosted a presidential debate party last night for our new friends at the school. About 10 people came, which is pretty much the whole school, and we crammed into our living room, played debate bingo and ate beans, guacamole, tortillas, and oreos.
I can hardly believe my good luck.
-Sara
