The School: CELAS Maya

So finally, I´m going to take a few minutes to talk about the school I attend (not counting yesterday´s passing offering).

For anyone who doesn´t know, CELAS Maya is one of probably about 20 schools in Xela that cater to foreigners who wish to learn Spanish.  The program is pretty sweet; for the incredibly low price of $165/week, you are housed with a host family, who provides three meals a day, Monday through Saturday, as well as one-on-one instruction with your own maestro.  It is a pretty good deal for anyone, but it is perfect for me, as so much of what I want to do is just to re-learn everything I forgot from four semesters of Spanish in college.  So I´m here for four weeks, to attempt to recover my lost Spanish (I´ve been describing it as though my head is a big box into which someone just threw all the Spanish rules and grammar and vocabulary, and now we are taking four weeks to reorganize the trunk!).

Don´t let the outside of the school fool you.  It is pretty incredible inside.  The center of the school is a beautiful open-air courtyard with lots of trees and flowers.  Around the edges are the tables where the students and teachers study.  I´ve found that this indoor-outdoor combination is pretty common here, which is very interesting, considering all the rain that we have here.

Right now, there are about 40 students studying in the morning, and another 8 or so in the afternoon.  But this changes every week, as everyone comes here on their own schedules, and for their own periods of time.  There are adjoining rooms for conferences and other students.  As much as I like the main yard, I think I prefer these other areas, because they are less crowded and there are fewer interruptions.  Fortunately, I´ve been studying in one of them for the last week.

My instructor for this week (the school recommends changing instructors each week, to learn different accents and to get experience with different styles of learning) is Loyola.  She is a very nice and thoughtful instructor.  Her first language is actually Q´uiche, which is a Mayan language, but she is fluent in Spanish, and she knows English as well (which is not a requirement).  She is very religious (one of her nephews is also studying to be a priest), and we have discussed Catholicism and Christianity, the ancient Mayan religion, some philosophy, ecumenism, and a host of other topics that appear to be of mutual interest to us.  I have requested her again for next week, because personally I think that one week is too short for a bounded period (right, Jason? Dave? Maria?).

Abb, if you ever get tired of Milford, now you´ve got another option.

The school is attached to an internet cafe.  The cafe serves coffee, cappuccino, sodas, and snacks, and currently is playing Jason Mraz, which just seems like the ultimate appropriate music for any sort of pseudo-hip coffee bar.  This is where I have done my blogging, and my few emails.  As a student, you are given five free hours from Monday-Friday, but the cost on the weekends and overage during the week is negligable (I´m never sure about the exchange rate, but I think it works out to something like 12 cents an hour).  Really, my computer time is limited more by the homework.  (Of course, when Loyola asked me if I wanted a little or a lot of homework, I did tell her I wanted a lot, so I suppose that means I asked for it.)  But the cafe is handy for us all.  (You can also connect via WiFi for free.. I love my iPhone!)

The school also has loads of activities planned for students.  This week, there was a tour of the historical part of the city, an afternoon trip to some local natural hot springs, a trip to a local cooperative where local women sell their wares, salsa lessons (dancing, not the kind of salsa I´d be most interested in learning about), a trip to tour a chocoleria, a night-time movie, and a graduation party.  The hardest thing to do is to distinguish between the events you really want to go to (because of course, you want to go to them all.. maybe not the salsa one), because the purpose of being down here is, after all, to study.  I passed on a multi-day trip this weekend to Semuq Champey, which is supposed to be the most beautiful place in all of Guatemala, first because it would have required missing class on Friday and next Monday, and second, because I am planning on going on the midnight hike up the Santa Maria volcano tonight.  So as you can see, you will not be bored when coming here.

One last note.  As you can see, I have now purchased an SD-card reader to transfer photos from the camera, so hopefully now there´ll be better images to look at (no improvement on the commentary, I´m afraid).  I think I spent about $7 on the device.  Either that or $700.  It´s difficult to figure out.  But now I find that I do have another problem... apparently, Dad, I take after you in my ability (or lack thereof) to take a straight photo without leaning.  Ah well!

Today´s Presentation

I can´t believe I´m done with one whole week of school!  It has flown by.  And I think it´s working.  We had a presentation today for about 10 minutes, and although the slides were in English, the presenter spoke only in Spanish, and I understood most of it.  And since the purpose of this blog is to share my experiences, I thought I´d communicate the gist of the presentation.  Now, be aware, it was a serious subject, and a little delicate.  You have been warned.

To prepare you for Guatemala, CELAS Maya sends out lots of information before you arrive, and one of the most important pieces of information are the warnings not to eat food from street vendors, to ensure that restaurants had running water before choosing to eat in them, and to always drink purified water, either from bottles or from reputable sources (such as your host family).  Well, today, our presentation was from a local doctor regarding a possible treatment opportunity, should you not have followed these precautions, or should they not have been entirely effective.

Well, it turns out that if you happen to be having this particular problem right now, you are in luck. The University of Texas is currently conducting an experimental medication study for dealing with (un)said problem.  This (reputable, in case you were wondering) doctor´s office will examine you, and if you are a candidate for experimentation (frequency, consistency, color), you will be provided with three days of medication (or placebo, of course) to help with the problem.  Luckily, Xela is one of six places in the world involved in the study, and apparently the foreign students in the language schools provide great raw material for participation.  Now, when I participated in another medical study during my wisdom tooth extraction, they paid me as well, so the deal is not as good as that one, but beggars cannot be choosers!  When life hands you lemons...

Now, it is true that there are a couple of downsides.  You do have to be in-country for at least six days, because you need to be examined again on the sixth day.  There are a few unlikely side effects, such as stomach distention and cramping, but you are probably dealing with those effects anyway.  Perhaps worst of all, you do indeed have to collect your stool at times, but the clinic will pay for the shipment to Texas, so you don´t have to make an extra trip to the post office!

Part of me actually wants to take advantage of this trial; what a story to share later on!  Plus there´s the freedom to know that I can now eat from *any* place in Xela, rather than having to live by all of those pesky rules (once you recover, you are apparently immune).  I don´t know though, not sure I want to have to explain it to Red Cross next time I give blood.  But I´d be helping science... what a pickle!

Well gotta get to my homework now.  Til next time.

A Quick Thought

Just a quick update from my iPhone. I realize that I haven't explicitly stated it, and perhaps it has not been totally obvious from my posts thus far. I LOVE it here!

El Tiempo

Gotcha.. I´m talking about the weather today, not the time.  Truly, I wanted to describe my school a bit today, but I´ve got so much homework that I do not want to take too much time uploading pictures and writing interesting things.. I´ll stick with the boring old weather.

First off, it´s actually somewhat cold here.  I´ve had to wear my windbreaker just about everyday.  Today was the first day it climbed above 80.  I´ve only seen the Americans in shorts; even *I* am not wearing them most of the time (although I put them on today, since it finally got warm!).  You can get around without a sweater or jacket, but it certainly helps.

This is the rainy season, which lasts from May through October, I think.  So it does rain just about every day, sometimes for long periods at a time.  However, unlike the rainy days back home, the rain, though consistent, doesn´t really soak you.  Instead, it just kind-of freshens you a little bit.  Hard to describe, but it does not at all get you down like east coast soaking rain.  (Actually, I´m guessing it is due to the regular rain, but I noticed on my way here that maize was planted on hills along the highway that were almost vertical.. I have no idea how people can plant and harvest on hills that steep.. but anyway, I cannot imagine that there´s enough rain in New England or DC to water crops on such hills.. I would imagine all the rainwater washes away.. but here, that is apparently not the case.)

So I´m sure you are all baking in the heat; I´m not saying you all should be jealous of me, but I gotta believe the milder weather here is an improvement!

Las Iglesias

Sunday morning being my first morning in Xela, I had asked Patricia, the mother in my host family, if there was a Catholic Church in the area.. she pointed across the park. When I asked at what time there was a Mass there, she checked with her son, Carlos (who happens to want to be a priest as well when he grows up!), and indicated that they thought that there were Masses at 6 AM, 8:30, 10:00, and basically all day. I decided to sleep in, and go to the 8:30 Mass.

I got there about 8:00, just in case, and the previous Mass, whenever it had started, was just letting out. I think that there are only about twenty rows of pews, one on each side of the Church, but it was like clowns getting out of a small clown car, there were so many people! They kept coming and coming. And this was an early Mass!

I imagine I got a small chance to know what Jan feels like during Mass.. I swear that I was at least half a head taller than anyone else in the Church.  I am exaggerating slightly, perhaps, but I was definitely the odd-man-out.  It was a nice Mass, and I could follow it, since Mass is Mass is Mass, no matter what language.  But as for understanding it.. well, I had not begun my studies yet, so I guess I could be excused.

Later, as I was walking to my school (to make sure I knew the way.. it´s about a five minute walk from my host family), I saw that the school was about three blocks from the Cathedral of the Archdiocese of Los Altos Quetzaltenango-Totanicapán.  Sheer coincidence.


The original cathedral was built in the 1500s, and was the second Church built in Latin America.  Only the front of it survives (as in the above picture). 

Behind-and-to-the-right is the front of the modern cathedral.  The doors appear to always be open, even during Mass.

The cathedral is probably comparable to St. Patrick´s in Norwich in terms of size, although I always have trouble with these types of comparisons.  There are many side alters, and a side chapel where daytime Mass is sometimes held.

I went to Mass last night, and there happened to be a special feast day.  I´m not sure I totally understood the feast, but it seemed to be the feast of the child Jesus.  Something special in Guatemala, evidently.  Mass was packed with people, and there was a large procession afterward.The procession was led by a banner and a group of ladies dressed in veils and carrying candles.  My instructor later told me that these are the oldest women parishioners in the town.




The main "float" was carried by several men.  There seemed to be at least a dozen men carrying it, like one carries a coffin.  Outside, there were fireworks and firecrackers, and a band was playing.  The whole procession continued down the road into the dark.

It was really fantastic to get to experience this.  I have heard of old processions that used to occur, like on the feast of Corpus Christi, and it was fun to get to experience this special devotion.  It was really fortuitous; I did not have any idea that it was going to happen, but I enjoyed it.

However, I must admit that the best part of the Mass was not the procession, but the fact that I pretty much understood the Gospel and the homily without much difficulty.  Now, it was a Gospel with very simple words (lots of "hermano" and "madre"), but nevertheless, I felt that I am now making some progress!  The only thing that marred the evening was that I got lost on the way home.  But I did get there eventually!

The pictures are not great, I know.  Elizabeth lent me her camera, so I can take better ones that the above (which have been with my iPhone).  But right now, it is easier to get the photos to the internet cafe computer through my iPhone´s WiFi, thus I´m putting up smaller, less-clear images.  I´ll work on that.

One last picture to put up here.  Not that it has anything to do with the subject matter, but because it is amusing to me.  It was a sign posted on the bulletin board at the school.

First impressions of Xela

Because I arrived on Saturday, and class didn´t begin until Monday, I had a day to explore on my own. Still speaking very little Spanish, of course, I trudged around the city, getting a first uninformed impression of the city. I´m still a little shy to use a camera (thanks for that worry, Mom!), but I´ve included a few photos here to give a general feel of some of the city.. although, these pictures mostly deal with backroads.. I´ll get some pictures of more major centers soon. Remember, I´m no Peter or Jan with the camera, so you get what you get.


My very first thought was that the city seems very old. And not necessarily "good" old, but run-down old. But as I began to explore the city, I started to get the impression that there is a completely different mindset here. I´m currently of the belief that how buildings look on the outside is not at all important to the Guatemalan people. In many cases, it looks like these buildings have been built and painted once, and never kept-up. Lots of chipped paint, a lot of cracks and dings. But I´ve since noticed this in rather rich areas of the city, as well as poor, so now I´m wondering if it´s just unimportant in the culture to have a good-looking edifice.


I immediately felt very safe, wherever I walked. You always want to be safe overseas, of course, especially when you do not speak the language, but I really did not feel that any area was threatening at all. I think that they are probably more cautious of me. Though I don´t think that Americans would generally call the area ¨clean¨, due to the impression from the state of the buildings, but the roads and sidewalks were relatively free of debris and nastiness. The colorful paint used for the buildings adds some cheer to the relatively gray sky. Probably the scariest part of the city is that all windows and doors are barred, similar to the more crime-ridden parts of D.C. That was somewhat scary at first, but I saw that that is just the custom around here. And when you learn that the civilian police force was first instituted in Guatemala in 1997, and is still pretty low-grade, it somewhat makes sense that people protect their own property however they can.

The roads are made of.. well, it looks like whatever they could get their hands on at the time.. cobblestone, brick, pavement, concrete, paving stones, etc. The sidewalks, when they exist, range from about 6 inches wide to about 4 feet; simliarly, the sidewalks might be 6 inches high off the road to maybe 4 feet. It has a very just-in-time feel to the whole thing. I mentioned yesterday how small the roads can be.. cars just zoom all through them. If you happen to be stuck walking on a road with a really small or no sidewalk, you´d better hope that the car gives you a little bit of room as it speeds by. And since everyone walks in Xela (well except for the car-zoomers), people are used to taking their life in their hands.


The houses are really interesting. A whole block will consist of one long stucco wall, and from the outside, you cannot tell where the houses and/or businesses start or end. There is obviously no zoning here, as houses and businesses are regularly interspersed throughout the ¨neighborhood¨ (and I am usually woken in the morning by neighbor roosters). Lots of small tiendas that sell various products; more on that another time. Most of the time, you cannot tell what exists behind the wall, unless the door is open. It´s very unusual from an American viewpoint.


Maybe ¨functional chaos¨would be the best way to describe what I´ve seen so far in Xela. I was startled at one point by this huge noise up on the roof.. turned out it was this huge dog glaring down at me.. I thought it was going to pounce. As it turns out, without leash laws, dogs and cats regularly make their way up to the rooftops to stalk and intimidate. Another chaotic moment occurred last night as I was walking home and suddenly these kids lit off like 100 firecrackers in a chain reaction. But even these punks didn´t seem threatening.. more like just teenagers having a little bit of fun.

Well anyway, that´s enough for now. I´ve already got so much to say that it could take me weeks to type it all in, but my internet time is limited. These first few impressions are likely to be refined in the succeeding weeks, but they are what they are for now.

Welcome to Xela

So I am going to try to blog a bit about my experience in Guatemala.. it beats sending out lots of emails. It´s certainly no Appalachian Trail, but this way, only people actually interested in my time here have to put up with me.

I arrived here on Saturday, 7/17 (it is now Monday). Let me briefly recount that first day. We landed in Guatemala City, and I was met at the airport by agents of Celas Maya, my language school, who drove me to the bus station. All very easy. But I could NEVER have done it on my own. It´s a huge city, and the people at Celas Maya say that it is not too safe. I didn´t spend much time in Guatemala City, but it seemed very large and chaotic and dirty. Carrie, you might like it, since they are apparently huge U of I fans (signs for Orange Crush everywhere! ;) ). Steg, you´d appreciate it for the Pollo Campero in every neighborhood. Otherwise, I was not impressed. I´ll be interested to experience it again after my time in Xela.


Celas Maya is in Quetzaltenango, or Xela (pronounced Shay-la), which is four hours away from Guatemala City. To get there, you need to take the first-class bus or the ¨chicken bus¨. To the eternal disappointment of several people I´m sure, I did not take the chicken bus (which, for those interested, is really just a school bus with a fenced-in pen on top where you throw your luggage.. that´s right, it´s just sitting on top of the bus, exposed to the rain and weather.. nothing special.. sorry to disappoint, Elizabeth). I took instead the first-class bus, which is like a Greyhound bus, without a bathroom. But, the similarity ends there.

When we left the station, I wondered why it took two workers on the bus.. a driver, and the guy who loaded the luggage into the lower compartments.. it seemed inefficient. I soon understood.. the station was an optional place to pick up the bus. Instead, every few blocks, the bus would slow down when it passed by a group of people on the side of the road. The extra guy would open the door, take one foot off the bus, and shout ¨Xela! Xela! Xela! Xela! Xela!¨ about twenty times, hoping that people in the crowd wanted to get on board. Note that I said, ¨slow down¨.. if you did want to get onboard, you better be swift of foot, since with all the honking from the traffic behind the bus, not to mention other busses vying for the same business, the bus was not likely to stop for you. Mothers were almost tossing kids on-board the bus to ensure that they got onboard.. fortunately the doorman was there to help. At larger intersections, the doorman might get off the bus, run through the crowd, and re-board the bus several hundred yards later.
Pretty crazy!

And what if you got hungry while on the bus.. no problem! At various points, vendors would climb aboard the bus, walk up and down the aisle trying to sell their wares, and then just get off the bus whereever it happened to be.. the bus of course, still moving the whole time. It did actually stop at one point about halfway on the trip, but that was only because a lot of people were trying to get off there (otherwise, the bus might slow to a crawl when people tried to get off in the middle of the trip).

As far as I can make out, traffic lanes are really heuristics or suggestions, and posted signs, such as an arrow pointing in one direction labelled "UNA VIA", are optional. Without fail, however, the scariest part of the trip consisted of about ten points in the route where the road was blocked or washed out or under water. I do not know if this is all from the recent weather, but in Guatemala´s defense, there were signs at every point indicating that traffic should cross the median and use a lane from the other direction (each side of the median, fortunately having two lanes). I didn´t get any pictures on the way here, but I´ll try to snap some on the way back. It was pretty wild.

And parts of the trip were on super steep cliffs. These drivers obviously drive all the time, and are very proficient at their jobs, but they were taking the turns might fast. My housemate, who is a bus driver in Seattle, said that was somewhat frightened by the speed with which they rounded those curves!

After four hours, mas o menos, we arrived in Xela. Took a cab to the school. Interestingly, the cars are really the same cars we all drive, not smaller versions like in Europe, but the roads are much smaller. In fact, today I actually saw a car that was stamped with Ourisman Fairfax as the dealership.. it made me smile. But drivers around here seem different in that (1) if you are walking in the road when they come, well, that´s your problem, isn´t it? and (2) they seem to be much more patient for problems with other cars in the road, such as when the road isn´t large enough for two cars to pass at the same time. But if there´s a pedestrian in the way.. well, let´s just say that there´s NEVER a pedestrian in the way.

Anyway, enough for today. The trip here really was safe, but quite an eye-opener. I´ll talk about my first impressions of Xela next time!