Whoo hoo!

54 days after beginning our journey through Baja, California and mainland Mexico, we have finally crossed the border into Guatemala. Whoo hoo! Check out our stats:

• 4 states, 3 countries
• 2 border crossings
• 5,587 miles
  
• 10 military checkpoints
  
• 1 ferry ride
• 1 oil change/tire rotation
• 0 flat tires
  
• 33 gas fill ups
• 0 times getting pulled over
• 1 police escort
• 0 accidents
  
• 3,426 speedbumps (just kidding - we lost count!)
  

After about an hour of jumping through the border hoops, we were on our way to where this whole thing began…..Xela, xela, xela, xela! (Oh how I wish you can hear that as the voice of the ayudante, hanging out of the bus!)

waiting to exchange our pesos for quetzales

waiting to have our car fumigated

waiting to file the paperwork for Dewey

Starving, our first stop across the border was good 'ole Pollo Campero – Guatemala’s version of KFC. After we had finished scarfing down our friend chicken and fries, we both vowed to never partake in Pollo Campero again – that is unless we are completely desperate like we were today! A few hours (and about 3 podcasts of This American Life) later, we made a brief stop in Huehuetenango, just to see what it is all about. Not much, we quickly learned and were back on the road quickly. Right outside of Xela it occurred to us that living in Antigua (several hours from Xela) we won’t have the delicious calda de frutas at our fingertips. You might recall from an earlier post that it’s a clandestino (illicit) homemade liquor made from some seriously strong fermented fruits only in Salcajá. Of course it wasn’t as easy as we had expected to stop off and buy a few bottles that can only be found at the pink house on the west side of the old church. It turns out there was a festival for the Day of the Cross right outside their door! Never fear though, we made our way out of Salcajá with a few bottles in tow. We’re saving them for our first visitors – better book your tickets soon!

This is a new one - Pollo Campero served from a trailer!

At long last we arrived in Xela where we stayed at the home of Guatemalan family, Napo & Candi Gomez. Oh how we missed them!! We had a nice dinner out at a local steakhouse and slept in our twin beds one last time. The following morning we visited our favorite café for breakfast and made a stop by ICA to visit our friends there (who we hope will come to see us in Antigua).

that's our favorite house in Xela, right under the big sign

Of course we did some people watching in Parque Central

We didn’t stay long, but our visit to Xela was just what we needed to get ourselves into the Chapín (Guatemalan) spirit!

To market, to market

A colorful walk through the market in Xela.

Colors of Xela

What a wonderful colorful world Guatemala is.

Traveling Clan

We’ll folks, this is it. We’re sad that is has come to an end, but Xela: Round 1 is coming to a close. We’ve packed up our things and are heading out this afternoon on one last adventure before returning to Colorado. We’ll be spending the next week traveling with some friends to the distant parts of Guate…..Coban, Semuc Champey, Lanquin, Tikal, and maybe even Rio Dulce and Livingston. If possible we’ll keep blogging, but if not, you’ll have to hold tight. It’s only a week long trip!

Tikal


Semuc Champey

Rio Dulce

We journey home to Colorado on December 12th, but stay tuned were not done yet! It looks like we’ll be beginning Xela: Round 2 sometime in mid-January. Yea!

There's no place like home...

Well, we're back in Xela and already settled into the swing of things! We spent the morning enjoying the sun in Parque Central (FINALLY SUN!) and doing a little studying! This afternoon Ben is in the gym and I'm at our favorite coffee shop, Cafe Baviera (it's on Calle 4, not the one near Parque Central), blogging.

We know you all are dying to hear about our trip to Honduras, but we're going to need some time! Let's just say Honduras wasn't all it was cracked up to be, but Guatemala sure was nice! I guess there's no place like home!

Stay tuned for a day-by-day update on our trip!

We missed you. Hope you missed us too!

Playing Frogger

A jay-walker for years (who isn’t?), I have always thought, “If you’re gonna go, please don’t let it be because a crappy car hits me….at least let it be something high end!” Well here it Xela it is possible that this nasty little nightmare, may actually happen one day – but hopefully not to me! If you’ve ever tried to cross through a round-about in Rome, you’re getting close to the fear that we gringo pedestrians have everyday here in Xela. It’s not that there aren’t rules of the road, it just that no one cares about following them! Laying on your horn (or more often, beeping to the rhythm of your favorite tune) is commonplace. Forget about traffic lanes, even if there were lines on the road, no one would use them. While there are traffic lights, they’re few and far between. And turn signals….who needs ‘em? It’s simple – whoever is bigger and ballsy-er – wins.

Ironically enough it appears that the city of Xela is putting forth an effort to get traffic under control – at least on Calle Rodolfo Robles. Since we live right on this street, and walk it to school everyday, we have had the opportunity to witness the construction of a traffic circle. While it doesn’t have any signs to aid in efficiency of use, it has helped slow down the traffic and make left hand turns possible. Most drivers, especially chicken bus drivers, don’t seem to be very happy about it though. Now they aren’t honking their horns to warn someone to get out of the way, they are honking because they have to use their brakes!

An “enginerd” at heart, Ben has been fascinated by the construction of this thing, commently daily on their progress or lack there of (one morning we noticed it had gotten destroyed overnight).

Life with the Roesch Familia

We arrived in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala (or Xela as most people call it) late Saturday afternoon, after a 5 hour ride on a economy bus with a seat that wouldn't recline and a rough road most of the trip. We were dropped off at the Minerva terminal with our bags, among a plethora of "chicken buses" (old US school buses, painted wild colors) and stray dogs. Dragging our suitcases along, we look and look for a terminal building and soon find out that no actual building exists. Ben spotted a payphone and with a little help we call our contact from ICA (our language school), who speaks very little English. He directs us to meet him at a Pizza Hut that turns out to be quite an uphill hike from the terminal. We must have been quite a site - 2 gringos, 4 suitcases, and 1 guide book among 20 or so chicken buses!

After a few phone calls to find out where to take us, our driver drops us off at the home of Lillian, Elvira & Isabel Roesch, 3 sisters who live in their family home with a teenage boy, Eric, the son of Elvira. The Roesch home is small, but has a room for students in the back with 2 beds....and that's about it. While the accommodations aren't really very pleasing to us (we're sleeping in a saggy double bed and have a cold shower), the family is great. Lillian seems to spend the entire day in the kitchen preparing meals. Ben absolutely loves the Guatemalan cuisine. I don't think it is all that bad either, but I seem to have gotten a stomach bug, so eating isn't all that pleasant for me.

A lot of other extended family members come and go, including an older son, grandson, other sisters, cousins and neighbors. One night this week we (like 10 of us) were all sitting around the table for cena (dinner around 8pm) when Jose (the older son) jumps up and flicks off the lights. Apparently he saw the overhead light short out. So we found a candle and a flashlight and dined in the dark. It was kind of nice. After dinner Jose crawled up into the ceiling and wearing my headlamp (that I brought just in case of an electricity outage) repaired the short. It was a funny family bonding experience.

So far these are our only photos of the family, but stay tuned for more.