So, after exploring the market of Chichicastenango and exploring the surrounding area, Itay and I made our way to Quetzaltenango (aka Xela) this morning. He's a good guy, but I'm feeling fairly quickly dropped at the moment. We arrived in Xela, made our way to the Parque Central together, sat for a quick snack, and then he just kind of said "Okay, bye then!" once we walked down the street and he got to the Spanish school he wanted to check out. As we both intend to be in the same city for at least a couple of days, I figured we might plan to meet up again... Oh well! My fault for not chiming in.
I'm now staying at a nice hostel a few blocks from the city centre. I'm paying slightly more than I'd like to ($5 is my current ideal maximum and this is almost $7), but it happens to have free internet and breakfast is included. Not such a bad deal. Internet here is about as cheap as it comes in Guatemala, but since it turns out I have free access at the hostel, I'm now a bit lost as to what to do for the afternoon. I was going to go take my time on the net, wander town, see about volunteer options, and try to figure out what I want to do in the surrounding area in the next few days.
One of the main attractions of Xela for most people is Spanish lessons. People come here, take a week of private lessons with a Spanish teacher, and beef up their knowledge of Spanish. I, however, can't see the point of spending money on Spanish school considering my background in languages. I spent three years studying Spanish (albeit spread out and long ago), so I have a good grammatical base (French helps with that too). All I need is more volcabulary, and chatting with locals and sticking my nose in my dictionary is taking care of that. This leaves me feeling slightly left out in Xela because nearly all the travellers here are doing something I'm not. I definitely need to arrange some activities today.
From here, I expect I'll head to Lago de Atitlan. I'm [naturally] not fully decided on this yet, but it seems like a good plan. I also don't know how long I'll stay here depending on what I want to do. The highest point in Central America is right here next to me. It's Tajumulco Volcano, 4220 metres high according to my guidebook, and while I'd love to climb it, I don't know if I really can. It's steep, and I'm fairly terrified of the altitude sickness that I began to feel on my way up Mount Kinabalu last year. I'll have to talk to some more people and give it good consideration.
I'm out now. I hope you're all well (it wouldn't hurt to tell me)! Take care!
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I think I'm going to have to get a good map to follow along. The names are quite confusing. Nothing like Joe Batts Arm or Blow Me Down.
ReplyDeleteDon't get lost and don't forget to bring back pictures. What are volunteer options?
Still haven´t managed to find out about volunteer options, and I get less interested by the day. I realize that´s a bad thing, but it´s not my fault the office is never open!
ReplyDeleteSiobhan, you're over two kilometers above sea level! How is the air? I checked out the place online but I'm still lost. Lots of mountains and volcanoes and Mayan ruins.
ReplyDeleteHope all is going well for you.
The air here is quite fresh, and I don't notice the altitude at all (except for the coldness of the air). I'm hoping that means it won't be such a big deal when I climb Tajumulco and reach over 4200 metres.
ReplyDeleteI thought you were going to give Tajumulco a pass because of altitude sickness (and because of Johanna's sad history with mountains). Be careful. That sounds like quite a climb and I think coming down is even more difficult.
ReplyDeleteIt's actually rated as quite easy, and is a much shorter climb than what I did last year. I figure I can't spend my life fearing altitude sickness. Worst case scenario: I can't summit. Also, I'm starting from a point much closer in altitude, so maybe that will make it easier.
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