Xela Trip

            On Tuesday, Brooks and I left for our much-anticipated Xela trip. We marched out of the house with our backpacks full, and went down to the bus terminal to quickly catch a bus on its way to Xela. After a two-hour, very curvy, ride, we found ourselves in the bustling “bus terminal” of Xela. Of course, this is Guatemala, and what I mean by bus terminal is a busy place where lots of buses were parked, lots of people we’re shouting, and lots of random little stands were set up selling goodies. Brooks and I wandered a bit trying to find a mirco bus, and settled on taking a taxi to the office of our trekking group. The plan was to hike the volcano Santa Maria by the light of the full of moon that night, and after chatting with the trekking office and signing some papers, we started pumping ourselves up for the trip, trying to ignore the falling rain. We left the office around 7pm and began our search for a specific Indian restaurant in Xela. It was a difficult and wet experience, but after wandering a couple of streets and asking a couple of time for directions, we finally found the restaurant. And we were so glad we found it; it was completely worth all the trouble. Brooks and I both miss the variety of food available in the States, and this beginning to our Xela trip was exactly what we were hoping for – good food from around the world. It was amazing. After a good dinner, we walked to a café near the office to boost ourselves with some caffeine to get ready for our adventure. The rain had stopped, so we hoped that meant the trek was on. After dawdling as long as we could at the café, we headed back to the trek office around 10pm only to find out they had decided to cancel the hike because of the terribly muddy conditions we would find on the trail. Luckily, the office was located in the back of a very cheap hostel (35Q a night, or about $4.75), so we talked to the owner and got ourselves a room. We were both bummed, but given how quickly we fell asleep that night, it may have been for the best that the trek didn’t happen that evening. The next morning we got up early and set out with all of our gear to look for the in-town office of the Fuentes Georginas, a natural hot springs 30 minutes outside of Xela. We had the address and were already somewhat orientated to the streets, so we were surprised when we came upon the correct street and address only to find a café where the office was supposed to be located. We wandered up and down the street, checked and doubled checked the map, asked for directions, and finally we asked a man standing outside of the café where the office was located, and he pointed to the café and said, “Aquí”. Of course. TIG. it would be too much trouble to but a sign in the café window saying, “This is both a café and the Fuentes Georginas office”, and of course all of the neighboring stores had no idea where it was, even though they see buses with “Fuentes Georginas” written on them pulling up twice a day to this location. Relieved that we had found it, we got a quick breakfast nearby and came back to the office to wait for a shuttle bus. It was fiesta time in Xela all week because of the Guatemalan Independence Day on Thursday, so the streets were crowed and difficult to navigate. When the shuttle bus randomly parked somewhere and our driver ran out, Brooks and I were only mildly surprised. Luckily, we were only parked to pick up more passengers, who ended up being from Hillsboro, Oregon! It was a mother and her two children, ages 10 and 12, and after chatting for a bit we found out the kids go to the same middle school Brooks went to. What a small world. They were great people to talk to, and Brooks and I both agreed this woman deserves a medal of some sort for taking her two small and very talkative children all the way to Guatemala. After a 30-minute and curvy ride (just like every ride in Guatemala), we ended up at the Fuentes. Stepping out of the van and walking towards the Fuentes, the smiles on Brooks’ and my face grew wider and wider. It was beautiful. Three hot spring pools and a small restaurant placed right in the middle of a cascading jungle setting. Brooks and I talked to the front desk employee, and got the key to our bungalow for the night. Stepping into the bungalow, we were even happier with our decision to come here and stay the night in one of the seven cabins. It included a small bathroom, a large hot-tub sized tube that you could fill with water from the hot springs for a private bath, two well-furnished beds, a fireplace and firewood. It was honestly one of the nicest places Brooks and I have stayed in yet, and we were slowly realizing what a relaxing and luxurious experience this was going to be. We spent the morning in the hot springs, chatting with local Guatemalan kids. At one point Brooks was surrounded by a pose of about 15 Guatemalan schoolboys, crowding in to watch the gringo speak Spanish, and randomly shouting and cheering when he said something they liked. After our morning soak, we grabbed some lunch at the restaurant, and ran into our shuttle bus friends again. They told us about the “secret hot springs”, located down a winding path deeper into the jungle. After lunch Brooks and I ventured down there, and were blown away by the beauty we had stumbled into. It was two hot spring pools with a waterfall up above, all surrounded by lush greenery. After getting our fill of the hot water and watching our hands prune, we decided to head back to our bungalow for a quick nap. After our nap it was back in the hot springs, dinner, in the hot springs again, and then bed with a slightly successful fire going in our fireplace to keep our room warm. The next morning we awoke at 4am, and got ourselves ready for a small hike from the hot springs up to a mirador point. We thought it was going to be a simple walk up, only 30 minutes and direct according to one of the restaurant workers. But it was neither simple nor direct. We walked about 20 minutes up on a steep and muddy trail, and found ourselves at a point that had a mirador sign, but was surrounded by trees. We both could not believe that this would be the mirador, because it was the worst mirador we had ever seen with a terrible view. So we wandered around a bit more and found what we thought resembled the rest of the path up to the mirador. We still don’t know if that was the continuation of the trail though, because we ended up walking about 20 minutes with shoulder-high greenery surrounding us, saturating our pants with dew and scratching our arms. At one point Brooks asked me if I was okay, because I was sick that morning and struggling with the hike. I simply replied, “I’m okay, I’m just unhappy”. I was not enjoying our adventure. It was all completely worth it though once we reached a better mirador point and watched an incredible sunrise over volcanoes and the looming Volcano Santa Maria. It was gorgeous. Our way back down to the hot springs was a bit easier with sunlight, and with the promise that we were on our way to luxurious hot springs made the time go quickly. We soaked a bit longer, accompanied by 10 Asian tourists that didn’t speak any Spanish and were downing beers at 8 in the morning. We grabbed another breakfast at the hotel, and went back to our room to regain some of the sleep we had lost getting up at 4am. After our morning nap, we bathed in our giant room bathtub, and gathered our stuff to head back down to Xela.

            As I said before, Thursday was Independence Day in Guatemala, and Brooks and I were both hoping to experience some great festivities on this day. After walking to a potential hostel and realizing it was not for us, we went back to Casa Argentina, our 35Q hostel, and set down our stuff. We got lunch at a great American style restaurant, Café Baviera, and went back to our hostel for another nap (can you tell that we both really like to take naps?). After resting up, we went back into the city center looking for the celebration, but were informed that all of the Independence Day festivities had actually taken place the day before. That night we went to a nice balcony café for a view of a few small festivities in the city center, mostly loud fireworks and something happening on a stage set up by the local phone company. We got dinner at a nice Middle Eastern restaurant, and went back to the city center for a last attempt at seeing some Independence Day celebrations. There we found groups of people trying to send small paper hot air balloons into the sky, most failing and setting their paper hot air balloon on fire. We chatted with a nice woman in the park, and then headed back to our hostel for the night.

            Friday we woke up around 7am, and went back to Café Baviera for a delicious breakfast. From there we caught a micro to a “bus terminal”, and found a bus to take us to Xocomil, a water park about an hour from Xela. The bus ride was, of course, terrible; Guatemalans like to pack their buses, and it was so crowded Brooks and I were essentially sitting in the middle isle, each with a part of our butt on a seat and using the other sides of our butts to balance each other in place. Luckily, the terrible bus ride was completely validated when we got off at Xocomil. The entrance was reminiscent of Disney World, and the air was warmer than in Xela because we were an hour south. Brooks and I became giddy children as we walked closer and closer to the entrance of the water park. We quickly changed into our swimming suits, and headed out to the epic water rides. There were about six bigger water slides, and probably within the first hour we had done them all. It was an incredible place; so clean, so well put together, and not very crowded at all. We never had to wait very long in lines, and although many things in Guatemala are a bit dirty and sketchy, this was neither. It was such a fun day. The only hitch came when Brooks and I decided to be impatient and do a closed tube ride instead of waiting in line for the open tube rides. Bad idea; there was a reason why this ride had no line. It was pitch black the entire way through, and we ended up hitting a curve wrong and getting popped out of our inner tube. I’m a bit claustrophobic as it is, and I was freaking out even before we got popped out of our inner tube. Once that happened though, I was inconsolably freaking out. Our tube got stuck and for some reason I kept trying to pull it down with me. I couldn’t see anything around me, I had hit my head pretty bad when we fell out of the tube, and I was screaming trying to propel myself and the tube downward in the dark. Luckily it wasn’t long before the end of the ride, and I swam out half laughing and crying, vowing never to do a closed tube ride again. We finished off our day sun tanning, getting lunch, lounging in pools, doing every ride (except for the closed tube one) again, and packed up our stuff right after the afternoon rains had begun. The return bus ride was just as terrible, with three to a seat and I was in the very back of the bus meaning every bounce was that much more exaggerated. But it was all worth it for such an incredibly fun and joyful experience. We went back to our hostel that evening and I took a small nap before getting ready for dinner. Brooks had discovered through talking to some other hostel guests that one shower had hot water, so we each took indulgent, long hot showers that were – behind the shower I took at the five star hotel in Guatemala City – the best showers we had had since arriving in Guatemala. Brooks and I both got dressed up, and headed out to find an Italian restaurant near the city center. From the street, it looked like a small and unassuming place, but as we walked further in both Brooks and I were flooded with memories from being in Italy. The décor was sweet, and we ordered a ½ liter of house wine, gnocchi, and pesto pasta that were to die for. It was an incredible dinner, just absolutely incredible. We wandered back to our hostel after dinner, fat and happy and so content with the wonderful birthday I had had.

            The next day we slept in a bit, and met Cony and her niece in the city center to grab breakfast. Cony was in town to visit her niece and a good friend, and we were so excited to get to spend time with her. We had a delicious Guatemalan breakfast at a café, and Cony gave me a beautiful huipil, a traditional Mayan blouse, for my birthday. From breakfast we caught a micro over to where her friend lives, and navigated our way through her neighborhood. Brooks and I had no idea what our day had in store, but we were excited to meet Cony’s best friend and spend time with her. What we didn’t realize was that Cony’s friend is a rich Guatemalan housewife, with a maid, a beautiful house with walls covered in artwork, and four cars in their driveway. This kind of riches is unheard of in Guatemala, and Brooks and I were blown away by how different this lifestyle was compared to the Guatemalan life we had seen before. We went with her friend and got ice cream at a giant mall by her house, and headed back to her neighborhood to watch her son play in a chess tournament. Of all of the things I thought I would be doing on a Saturday in Guatemala, watching a chess tournament with a rich suburban family was not something I thought of. We found out later that the father of the family even has three personal bodyguards, because his wealth is so well known in the city that attempts on his life have been made. After the tournament we headed back to their house, where we were served a delicious meal accompanied by shots of expensive tequila and rum the husband continued to pour for us. Brooks and I were exhausted at this point and ready for a nap, but unfortunately no such relief was going to be a part of our day. After lunch we returned to the chess tournament, and back to the house so the family could get ready for their evening out at the fair. We all piled into one of their family cars, and headed out to the Xela fair with our bodyguards following close behind. The fair was definitely an interesting experience…. It consisted of many outdoor booths, all selling essentially the same thing – sweets from Mexico, toys, pirated movies, belts, clothes, and churros. Brooks and I both felt we were at a downgraded version of the Washington County Fair. After weaving through the booths outside, we ended up paying 3Q each to enter a covered portion of the fair that was called “Exhibit of the Americas”. Again, it was similar to what one would find inside at a county fair – men trying to sell blenders, printers, different foods, and vacation spots. We wound through the aisles and aisles of random booths, enjoying being jokingly introduced to friends of the family as their gringo kids. After the exhibit, we all sat down at an outdoor restaurant, and enjoyed food and drinks. Everyone else ate a delicious looking mole (a Mexican sauce) and little tortilla and meat tapas, but as the sad vegetarian I was left to enjoy a cheese popusa and more churros. After chatting and eating for probably a couple of hours, it was 10:30pm and past mine and Brooks’ normal Guatemalan bedtime. The family drove us back to our hostel and we said our goodbyes, thanking them for their hospitality and cataloging this day as one of our more interesting and intriguing days in Guatemala. We had an idea to go get up early the next morning and go a lake an hour away, but both Brooks and I were overcome with exhaustion and decided it would be best for us to sleep in and enjoy our last day in Xela.

            On Sunday we both awoke around 8:30am, got ready, packed up our stuff, and jumped on a micro to head over to where Cony was staying with her niece. Cony came and found us near the giant mall, and after ditching our stuff at her niece’s house we walked over to a delicious breakfast joint called XelaPan. My breakfast was unbelievable – fresh rosemary focaccia bread with a fried egg inside, drizzled with a hollandaise sauce and accompanied by fried plantains and fresh papaya juice. Amazing. After breakfast we ended up watching a parade go down the street, still in celebration of the Independence Day. I think I have seen more parades in the past two months in Guatemala then I have seen in the past two years in the States. They love their parades here. After the parade we walked over to the giant mall, and ended up shopping with Cony for a couple of hours, because Cony loves to shop. After shopping we got lunch in the mall food court. Again, going to giant malls is not something I thought I would be doing during my time here in Guatemala, and it has been so interesting for us to see how the other half of Guatemalans live when we had grown so accustomed to the daily poverty we see in Huehue. After lunch we got some delicious frozen yogurt from a place called Yogen Fruz that blends fruit and yogurt together right in front of you. Eating our frozen yogurt, looking around ourselves and at Cony, we were very content with the quality time we were able to spend with her this weekend. She’s a joy, and any time spent with her is time well spent. After finishing our froyo we went back to her niece’s house, said our goodbyes, and walked over to the “bus terminal” to catch a bus back to Huehue. I finally, for the first time in my travels, took a motion sickness pill, and slept beautifully and without sickness the whole ride back. Brooks and I both loved our trip and would agree it was much needed break, but coming back to Huehue always feels so comfortable, and we were so excited to see the kids again on Monday. Basically, life is good. : )