Guat's Up

I had a week off for Thanksgiving, so three other teachers and I went to Guatemala. Here is how we spent our week. 

Day 1

Jacob and I at the restaurant in Guatemala City

We woke up early to catch the Pullmantur bus from San Salvador to Guatemala City. We opted for first class, and enjoyed reclining seats, breakfast, and a snack. The bus ride took about five hours, but didn't seem overly long. I used the bus ride to catch up on some podcasts. When we reached Guatemala city, we checked into our hotel. Then we met up with my friend Jacob. I taught with Jacob in Taiwan and now he teaches in Guatemala. He showed us around Cayalá, a kind of city-within-a-city in Guatemala City. We wandered for a bit around looking at the more upscale shops in Paseo Cayalá.  Then, He showed us around the more historical downtown area. We had dinner in another zone. At the restaurant, they gave you a card and you could go to different food stands within the building. It was kind of like a food court, except you paid at the end with everything on the initial card.  It was nice seeing Jacob, and comparing experiences in Central America. 

Day 2

The view from our hostel kitchen in Xela

The next day, bright and early, we caught a bus to Xela (Quetzaltenango). It was about a four hour bus ride to Xela. That meant more time to listen to podcasts! We stopped at a small village, where the bus driver announced that he was going to stop to eat for thirty minutes. When we got off the bus it was more obvious that Guatemala is at a much higher elevation than El Salvador. It was cold! We warmed up with hot chocolate/coffee and a tipico breakfast at the nearby restaurant. After arriving in Xela, we found our hostel. At the hostel we were greeted by a man named András, who checked us in. Xela is known for its language schools, so there were quite a few gringos around. András was from Hungary, and was working at the hostel while going to school to learn Spanish. We dropped off our bags, then walked to the main square a couple of blocks away. Parque Centro had some older buildings, including a church. There were many locals just hanging out at the park. There was also a smaller market with food and some things to buy. We went back to the hostel, wanting to force friendship on others staying at the hostel. On the hostel's rooftop, we forced our friendship on a couple from Holland. We invited them to go to the hot springs with us the next day, because new friends. They, then, invited us to a soccer game that night. We grabbed a pupusa from the street market on our way to the stadium. It was our first experience at a Central American soccer game (we have been told the crowd gets very rowdy and it is dangerous to go in El Salvador). The crowd cheered along with the fan band. It wasn't a great game. Neither side played very well and it ended 0-0. The fans even booed for their home team. 

Day 3

Fuentes Georginas (hot springs)

The next morning we left to go to the hot springs Fuentes Georginas with our new friends. We were able to arrange transportation and entry with the hostel for $150 Q ($20 USD). We relaxed in the various pools. There were three bigger pools. Closer to the parking lot there were three more smaller pools. We decided to go check out the smaller pools. While walking there, I ran into Silvia, one of the PE teachers at my school. She was on vacation with her family.  We left the hot springs and got back in the afternoon. We ate lunch at the hostel's restaurant, which served Asian fusion. I had dumplings the first time since Taiwan. They weren't up to Taiwan red and yellow dumpling place standards, but they were decent. We did a little more exploring, including some shopping. The next day, Leah, Michelle, and Erica were leaving on a three day hike (more info on their hike here). They stocked up on some warmer clothes. That night they went to a meeting for the hike, while I enjoyed some alone time.

Day 4

My weaving project

Leah, Michelle, and Erica left very early the next morning to go on their hike. I puttered around for a bit at the hostel. Then, I went to Trama Textiles to take a weaving class. There are many weaving cooperatives in Guatemala for women. The women will frequently live in the cooperative and get an income from what sells in the store. The cooperative also takes a cut to pay for living expenses. At Trama Textiles, they also teach classes. The classes range from one hour demonstrations to longer twenty hour projects. A woman at the cooperative had me pick out my colors and showed me the basics of weaving. She did not speak English, but I could fake my way through the Spanish enough. I just spent the next four hours working on my project. It was very relaxing for me. The people in their cooperative went on with their day. I saw people coming and going about a normal day in the cooperative.  I had arranged for a shuttle to take me to Panajachel. In my plans I had timed it, so that I would have only a short amount of time in between weaving and the arranged pick-up time. Transportation from Xela to Panajachel was the only thing  I was a little worried about with traveling solo. I was paranoid they were going to forget me. I waited outside the hostel for the 30 minute window they gave me as a pick-up time. I also didn't have internet or a way for the hotel to contact me. I was just about to go to McDonald's to use their internet when András came through the door and asked if I was waiting for a shuttle. The hotel said they were going to be late. András let me hang out and chat with him in the hostel. They were two hours late, which meant I didn't get to Panajachel until dark. I made it though. I read some of What Happened by Hillary Rodham Clinton, then went to bed very early. 

Day 5

A church in San Juan on Lake Atitlan

I have never done a solo trip. So, the three days I spent by myself on this trip were actually the longest I have traveled by myself. I enjoyed traveling with the three other women, but I really enjoyed these days to myself to do exactly what I wanted to do. Still there were some drawbacks to traveling by myself. First, accommodations are more expensive, because I was not splitting it with anyone. Also, I knew that I wanted to tour some of the towns on the lake. I didn't think it would be as fun just doing this by myself, so I looked for a tour. However, most of the tours I found were private and there was a two person minimum. I e-mailed two tour companies and explained my situation. I heard back from one of the tour companies immediately saying that I could book the tour. It was with Tours Atitlan, and they were really great. The responded very quickly to all of my messages. The day of the tour the guide, Juan Carlos, picked me up from my hotel. It ended up being just me on the tour. We went to the villages of Santa Cruz and San Juan. Juan Carlos was very friendly and knowledgeable. He also let me practice my Spanish with him. He lived in Santa Cruz, so he told me about his experiences living there. We ran into an old teacher of his. We also ran into his nephew, who had firecrackers and matches in hand. Then we took a lancha and headed to San Juan. Each little village on the town is known for something. San Juan is known as a kind of artist hub. There were lots of painting galleries and more weaving cooperatives. I watched a demonstration of the process they use to go from cotton to the string they use for weaving. The cooperative also used natural dyes, so they showed all the plants they used to make the different colors. Even though I had seen the process for weaving before, it was interesting to see the steps needed before the actual weaving even started. I also saw a chocolate making and a natural herb demonstration. I found a place to eat dinner, then went to bed. 
 
Day 6

A dock in Panajachel

Happy Thanksgiving! Since I got to Panajachel so late on Tuesday and I was gone almost all day on Wednesday, I didn't have very much time to explore the city. I was meeting up with everyone else in the afternoon, so I took the morning to explore. Panajachel is know as the main hub on the lake. There are so many little tiendas everywhere where you can buy stuff. I find that it is all pretty similar things from shop to shop. I'm not a huge shopper, but Panajachel had really good shopping. I'm not one who usually buys a souvenir from my trips. What I do like to buy is art though. So, I found an art gallery that I went to and bought two prints. I also bought a purse that looked unique from others that I had seen. I ate lunch at a pizza place next to my hotel. There a man and I started talking and he wished me a happy Thanksgiving. He was from Bend, Oregon, which I was familiar with having lived in the Northwest. He had sailed from Oregon to Guatemala on a trip, and never left. He sold his sailboat and has lived on the lake for thirteen years. I took a lancha over to San Pedro, where I was meeting Leah, Michelle, and Erica. As Juan Carlos told me, San Pedro was nicknamed "Gringolandia." As I stepped off the lancha, I noticed the large amount of gringos. I did not like San Pedro as much. I took at tuk tuk to the hotel. We stayed at Mikaso Hotel, which was pretty nice. It was a bit of a walk to the main area of San Pedro though. I met everyone else at the hotel. We exchanged stories of our time away from each other. That night we went to get burgers for Thanksgiving. We ran into the couple from Holland that we had met in Xela. Together we shared what we were thankful for.

Day 7

One of the many shops in Antigua

The  next day we had breakfast at Idea Connection, which is a great European bakery. Then we took a shuttle through Atitrans to Antigua. Originally, Antigua had been the main purpose of visiting Guatemala. Everyone always spoke so highly of it. I liked Antigua. For me though, my favorite of the trip was Lake Atitlan. The hostel we stayed in Antigua was a pretty typical hostel dorm room. However, it was decorated like a stereotypical grandma's house. There were knick knacks everywhere. It was decked out in Christmas decorations, including two Christmas trees. They decorate very early in both Guatemala and El Salvador. We enjoyed the decorations though, since it was now after Thanksgiving. We wandered around for a bit and found a very big indoor market. All the stall owners claimed to have a good deal for us. We ate lunch at a restaurant called Fridas, which had really good Mexican food. There was also a store right next to Fridas, where we did some shopping. It had all the goods from the little stands, but was much cheaper. You also didn't need to haggle or get confronted by a salesperson. We also visited a chocolate museum, which had really good chocolate tea. That night we went to a bar called Cafe No Se. It was very dimly lit with graffiti on the walls. It had a good atmosphere though. While we were sitting at a table near the door, we ran into two people that the others had met on the hike. The joined us, and a really good guitarist and harmonica player started playing music.


Day 8

The iconic clock tower in Antigua

The next day we did some more shopping. We tried to go back to the indoor market we had found on our first day. We finally had to stop and ask someone, who told us it was closed on Saturdays. That night we hung out on the rooftop of a brewery. 

Day 9
On our last day we were determined to go back to the market we had found on the first day. We didn't end up finding it. I guess it is like Brigadoon. We did find an even larger labyrinth of a market. We were able to explore only a little bit of it before we had to go. We took another shuttle through Atitrans back to Guatemala City. Then it was back on the bus. After about six hours, we made it back to El Salvador. It was a good trip, and I would definitely go back and explore more of Guatemala.