Jugo de naranja

This is one of my favorite day-to-day things in Guatemala - drink bags! Often, if you buy a coke from a street vendor it someone in a small tienda (store), they will pour it into a plastic bag and hand it to you with a straw. This is because the cans and bottles can be turned back in for a deposit.

This is also how juices from street vendors are distributed. Generally you will see a lady on the street with a little table, a huge juicer, and a big bag of oranges. She makes juice and when you want some, she measures it out in a tall cup then pours it into a plastic bag. She then sticks a straw in it and hands it to you to hold on tight. I took a sip of Holland's and it was delicious. Here's hoping all that acidity killed any amoebas!

First Sunday

There is a large market in Xela in the first Sunday of every month. The best part is the delicious street food! Here are some pictures. In the background you can see some of the beautiful buildings of Xela's Parque Central.

We also went to a natural hot spring yesterday that was amazing(ly warm!) and beautiful! I didn't have my phone on me so I don't have pictures to upload here. If I can manage to get some photos off Holland's camera I'll post them later!

Chicabal townspeople

These are some people from the small neighboring town that we saw along the way. They are mostly potato farmers. During the hike, we saw a group of small boys wielding machetes, which was pretty creepy. I figured out what those machetes were for on the way back, when I saw them carrying these big bundles of firewood back up the steep climb. People in many of the villages here use the firewood for their cooking stoves. The boys are carrying the wood in typical Guatemalan fashion, in a bundle strapped to their backs with another strap over their forehead to help with the weight (remember that the head helps to carry heavy things). If you look closely at picture #1, you can see that the boy's machete is stuck in the bundle of wood. The second picture is a man with two sheep following behind. There were also some people walking cows. The third picture is the group of boys from behind, walking into the mist.

Chicabal hike

So I thought I got a picture of the climb up but apparently I only have pictures of the extremely steep stairs on part of the descent down to the lake. We did NOT have to take the stairs back up, thank goodness. Notice on the entrance sign (first picture) that gringos ("Internacionales") pay more to enter than people in Guatemala. This is standard at almost all tourist attractions in Guatemala, including the convents and churches we saw in Antigua. The last picture is another view of the Santa Maria volcano, which can also be seen easily from Xela.

Chicabal

This weekend, Holland and I decided to stay in Xela. This morning we went with a group from the school to hike part of a mountain to see Chicabal, a volcanic crater lagoon that is very sacred to the Mayan culture and is an important part of their creation myths. The hike was VERY hard (pics of the steep ascent and descent later). We were lucky - Chicabal is in a cloud forest and is usually covered in clouds but today we got a clear view from above. We got the best of both worlds though because we got to see clouds moving in before we left. There were groups of Mayans there singing and clapping but you are not allowed to take pictures of them. Swimming is also not allowed due to Chicabal being a sacred site.

Gallo!

Guatemala's native beer, brewed here is Xela!

La Democracia Mercado

In Xela