Vivir en el momento: Xela

This weekend, Carrie and I took a trip to Quetzaltenango, more commonly referred to here as Xela (pronounced SHAY-la). I didn’t really know what to expect from the weekend except for a lot of sleeping and relaxing. While there was a LOT of that, our weekend also consisted of: running into two former volunteers who we had just said goodbye to at NPH, meeting lots of locals, the most delicious sugar cookies I think I’ve ever eaten (thank you XelaPan!), breakfast burritos, the cutest puppy EVER, an impromptu parade by local marching bands (HECK YES – pictures below!) and lots of Cabro (aka local beer.)

If you aren’t really into hiking, there isn’t much to do in Xela, or at least…Carrie and I didn’t do anything in Xela haha. It’s the second biggest city in Guatemala (although that isn’t saying much) and it used to be known for its hot springs. Unfortunately, all of the hot springs were destroyed when Tormenta Agatha (Tropical Storm Agatha) wreaked its havoc on the country. BUMMER. Regardless, we were able to have a relaxing, while also fun and interesting weekend...

So! After about a 3 ½ hour trip on SEVERAL chicken buses, we arrived at our hostel where we would be sharing a room with 6 other people. Little did we know, but 2 of those people turned out to be Sarah and Jenny, two former volunteers who had JUST left NPH this past week :). The two had left with the intention of ending up in Nicaragua, only to be stopped by various visa issues. So instead, we ended up together in Xela as they were trekking their way BACK across Guatemala to get to Mexico.

Now Sarah and Jenny, being the wonderful, friendly people that they are, were able to introduce us to a lot of people they had met in their year and a half in Guatemala. As a result, we spent a lot of the weekend hanging out with their friends, partying, drinking tea in the park (ok so I had a mint McFlurry and they had teas – whatever…), AND were even fortunate enough to get a free ride back to NPH with one of our new friends :). SO! On Sunday, instead of riding back to NPH in an overcrowded chicken bus for about 4 hours, we arrived back at NPH in style in only 2 ½ hours :). What a great way to end a wonderful, relaxing weekend :).