Hot Water

So as I might have mentioned before Xela and the highlands of Guatemala is much colder than Nicaragua. I was sort of expecting a much warmer average temperature. It can be really hot here during the day when the sun is out but when the sun goes down the temperature can drop significantly. It is actually quite pleasant warm during the day but a little chilly at night maybe like fall weather in the northern United States. However, this does mean that hot water is a necessity. It was not something that I remember ever encountering in Nicaragua. It was just so hot that the water was luke warm anyway and you did not want to take a hot shower. But the way to heat up water is what is really fun in Guatemala. Although some people do have gas powered heaters most rely on the electric kind that are attached to the shower head. Not really the best system in the world in my opinion. First of all the obvious problem of electricity coming in close contact with water. As you can see from the picture the wiring is not really up to the best standards and can cause some problems if you happen to reach up with wet hands. The shock is not to bad but it is a little surprising. Second there is the problem of water temperatures. The water is heated as it comes through the little device there. So the less water that is going through the hotter it will be. Depending on the shower head you can have either a very hot shower that drips out or a not so hot shower that flows pretty good. Good thing I do not really like hot showers anyway.

Super Chivos!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So I am sure that this did not make big news in the United States or most of the rest of the world for that matter the but yesterday Xela´s soccer team won the Guatemalan finals and turned the whole town into a huge party. Guatemala only has one national sport so it would be like taking the Super Bowl, the World Series, the Stanley cup and whatever the basketball championship is called and putting them into one. They had a two game final one here in Xela and one in San Marcos. I went to the game here in Xela on Thursday night. My friend Andrew and I waited in line for over two hours to get tickets on Wednesday and than went to the stadium two hours before the game and still did not get seats. That is Andrew in the fore ground of the picture and Ruth (a teacher from the school) and Maryanne (a student) in the background and some random lady blowing a whistle with her eyes closed.We were standing behind the goal all the way at the bottom of the stadium. But it was still pretty fun. The atmosphere was great. Everyone was singing and yelling and cheering. Until they started losing that is They only lost one zero but the Xela fans are passionate but once they start losing they give up on their team pretty quick. Even the mascot and his grandson the chivito could not get the crowds energy up. A disappointing loss but there was still another game to go. I did not make it to the game on Saturday but went to a bar to watch it. It was a really good time. The Super Chivos won 4 to 1 and the whole bar went nuts every time they scored. And the owners gave everyone a free shot of tequila when they one. After that everyone took to the streets in the Central Square or a little further out where they had set up a huge stage and there was live music while folks waited for the team to arrive. The pouring rain did not even stop people. From right to left Victor Carrie Angel and I are standing waiting for the team to arrive.

Moving On

So it has been a really busy past two weeks or so. Last week was the last of my eight weeks at language school here in Xela. But no worries I am not leaving. I did have to graduate though. It was pretty fun I had been thinking about it for a while. The school encourages students to do something that they learned at the school or that they really like to do. People have read poetry, played instruments, played games, just talked, or done nothing. I read a little thank note to folks in the school than told a joke in Spanish and than read my grandpa´s poem "Lightly" which I had translated into Spanish. I think that it went pretty well. The two folks in the foreground of the picture are Nancy who knows a bunch of folks from Philly because she worked at Pendle Hill and Celina another student who was there with her dad. They were both also graduating this week.

Also last week I was looking for a place to live since I had to move out of my family. There are a lot of hostels and other places that rent rooms for the month but I got lucky and found a furnished apartment for a pretty decent price. There are two other women that I share the apartment with one from Chile and one from Guatemala. I have been there almost a week now and I really like it. It is nice to be able to chose what I eat and come and go with out thinking that I am bother the family I was living with or anything.

This week was mostly taken up by settling into my new living situation and trying to find a volunteer job. I checked out quite a few different places. And found one that seems to fit well. It is actually another Spanish Language school but they have a lot of volunteer projects going on one of which is a bicycle repair class. The class has actually been dormant for a while because they did not have any volunteers to do it so I will have to start out by doing some advertising and such but I think it should be fun. They also have an organic garden which I might help out in. And I will continue teaching English to the kids at the cultural center next to the school were I had been taking Spanish lessons.

But I do manage to have a little fun in between all that. After graduation I went out dancing then on Saturday was Carrie the International Coordinators birthday. Check out me holding up the pinata just after she busted it open.

People of Xela

This one is going to be pretty picture heavy so if you have a slow connection it would be a good time to go get a drink rest your eyes or whatever.

Ok so I am having a little trouble with the formatting but here goes from left to right. Look who showed up in Xela!!! None other than Hannah Hoover a friends from Earlham. Neither of us knew that the other one was going to be there. Next me and Xiu after Xelaju the local soccer team scored. Next Carrie the international coordinator and Carlos the director of my school.

The boys are in the house. Shazad me and Andrew all started school the same week. Miriam and Jake who both know Kate from Lexington Ma.

The two ladies on the ends are teachers at the Salsa school that I go to and the woman in green comes to help even out the male female ratio. Ted the guy in the middle was at the school but just left for the states. On the right is Anna one of my teachers at school. Probably marking up my home work.

Adventures in renewing my visa

When I entered Guatemala on February 1 I got a 90 day tourist visa. This visa actually was not only for Guatemala but also for Nicaragua, El Salvador and Honduras. May 1 would have been my 90 day limit so last weekend I headed off for Mexico to renew my visa. Now legally you have to leave Guatemala for 72 hours in order to get a new 90 day visa. However, I had been told by most of the people in Xela that it could be done for a small bribe in one day. Just head over to Mexico Grab some lunch and head back with small tip, or just bat your eyes a few times, for the border guard and everything should go smoothly. However, it did not quite work that easily for me. Getting out of Guatemala and in and out of Mexico was easy enough. I had some tacos for lunch and I was all ready for my new 90 day visa. I have never bribed anyone before I do not think and so I was not really sure how to do it. I tried everything I could think of though and I really felt like the guy was not taking the bait. I mean I had my wallet out, I took some money out and laid it on my passport, I tried asking if there was any other way to pay or to pay a fine or something. I really started to think that maybe I had gotten an honest border agent. And I started to get a little worried. I had not brought things with me to stay for three days in Mexico and I had already gotten an exit stamp from Mexico but Guatemala would not give me the entrance stamp so I was feeling country less. Finally I came back in and was offering a little more money and and there was no one else in line and the border agent came around the counter and told me that if I left him a tip in my passport and filled out the normal form he would give me the stamp.
So that over I now just needed to get home. It was almost4:30 and the last direct bus back to Xela left at 2. I asked around at the bus station and was told that I would be able to catch a bus from Coatepeque to Xela (Quetzaltenango). See the link to the map at right if you want to know where things are. Quetzaltenango, Coatepeque, and Tecun Uman (the border town) are all in the western part of the country. I was not sure that I really believed that I could catch a bus but any town is better than on the border so I gave it a try. I made it to Coatepeque just before 5:30 and quickly got of the bus and started asking around if there were any more buses for Xela. After a couple of wrong directions some one said "Yeah see that bus leaving right now that is the last bus for Xela." Luckily Guatemalan buses are always looking for late coming passengers and they spotted me running towards them waving my arms yelling Xela. All in all it was a long day but I got my new 90 days and back to Xela in one piece.