Studying in Xela

Quetzaltenango, or Xela (Shay-la), as it's known by nearly everyone, including buses, is Guatemala's second-biggest city and home to over 100,000 people. Less "gringo-fied" than Antigua and safer and more managable than Guatemala City, it is many travelers' favorite spot. Though it has all the conveniences (and inconveniences) of a major city, Xela feels more like a big town - the kind of town where locals complain that their mothers always hear through the grapevine about their latest bar exploits.

Xela doesn't have any great museums or famous monuments. Rather than a check-box on a tourist's list, Xela is a liveable place, despite the traffic and smog. Its excellent hotels and tour companies make it a great base from which to explore the nearby volcanoes, hot springs, and lakes. (See separate entry for tour company recommendations.)

The center of the Quiche Maya people, Xela is also close to many indigenous villages with colorful markets and unique culture. Check out San Francisco's colorful Friday market, said to be one of the largest and most authentic in the country. With fewer craft stalls that more tourist-oriented markets, this is a place where locals go to do their shopping. Be ready for intense crowds and keep your hands over your pockets.

Xela is also a popular place to study Spanish, and since there are fewer travelers than there are in Antigua, you might actually speak some Spanish after school. (See separate entry for school recommendations.)

Quick Tips:

Xela is rainy from June until October, starting off with short afternoon showers in the spring and building to steady, all-day rain in the fall.

SAFETY:

Bands of civilian vigilantes recently took to the streets, armed with sticks, pipes, and fists, hoping to make Xela a safer place. These vigilantes act as neighborhood watch groups, helping an overworked police force combat increasing theft and gang activity. So when you see throngs of masked locals troming down the street swinging sticks, don't be alarmed - they are there to help.

Best Way To Get Around:

Everything within the city is walkable, but the hills, smog, and altitude may take some getting used to.

To get out of Xela, take one of the minibuses to "El Terminal." It should cost 1 Quetzal per person. When you get off, walk through the market to the bus station, a chaotic yard full of school buses and vendors. Destinations are always printed on the front of buses, and someone will likely jump to your aid if you appear lost.

About a ten-minute walk from Parque Central, Casa Argentina is an excellent budget choice popular with backpackers and language school students.

ATMOSPHERE:

Casa Argentina is packed with backpackers and language students, and thus is a lively and social place. It is run by a friendly family whose rambunctious kids and their friends will gladly let you join in their soccer games. The house parrot is sure to greet you with "Hola" or "Tonto" as you pass the kitchen.

ROOMS:

Rooms are clean and spacious, and many have TVs. Most have two beds, and if not, the staff will gladly roll in an extra if you need it. We enjoyed clean sheets and plenty of blankets for chilly nights. Rooms on the lower level are farther removed from gathering areas and therefore quieter at night.

BATHROOMS:

All bathrooms are shared, and we occasionally had to wait to use one or seek out toilet paper. They are clean, however, and have hot water (usually).

COMMOM SPACES AND AMENITIES:

The spacious and sunny rooftop patio is a great place to relax and meet other travelers. The kitchens, one just for guests and one shared with the family, are a bit lacking in supplies but usable. Other conveniences include free coffee, tea, and filtered drinking water, a pila (big sink) for doing laundry, and lines for drying.

Casa Argentina is also home to Quetzaltrekkers, a non-profit adventure tour company whose proceeds fund a school and boarding house for street kids, among other projects. (See separate entry on tour companies.)

SAFETY:

The outside door is always closed and locked, and rooms lock as well. The area is lively during the day, and we felt safe coming and going. Some travelers reported small items disappearing from dorm rooms.

PRICES:

Private rooms cost 50Q (about 7 USD) per night, and a dorm bed is 25Q (about 3.50 USD). These prices are from summer 2005, with exchange rate at about 7.5Q to a US dollar.

LOCATION:

Casa Argentina can be tricky to find. Follow 7a or 8a Calle west from the park, and turn left onto Diagonal 12. It's a big white door on the left at an intersection. Ring the bell to get in.

This small hostel is quieter than Casa Argentina and a bit pricier.

ROOMS:

Clean rooms are centered around a sunny courtyard with a large eating area. The dorms feature single beds instead of bunks, but are a bit cramped. Private rooms are more spacious, and all have comfortable beds piled with plenty of blankets for chilly nights.

BATHROOMS:

There are only three shared bathrooms for the hostel, so we sometimes had to wait to use them. All were clean and had hot water.

AMENITIES:

Rates include breakfast and 30 minutes of Internet next door OR use of a small but well-equipped kitchen. You can use the washing machine for 10Q. Just talk to Olimpia. As well as keeping Hostel Don Diego clean and its travelers well-fed, Olimpia is becoming somewhat of a local hero in the indigenous civil rights movement for filing a complaint against a bar that refused her entry because of her indigenous dress.

SAFETY:

The outside door was only sometimes locked, but rooms lock and we felt safe coming and going. The walk from town is shorter and better-lit than that to Casa Argentina.

PRICES:

Private rooms cost 45Q per person per night, and a spot in a four-bed dorm is 35Q. Slightly reduced weekly and monthly rates, with or without kitchen use, are also available.

LOCATION:

Take 7a Calle west from the park. Don Diego is on the right, just past an arch over the street and across from Blue Angel Video Cafe.

Blue Angel Video Cafe is across the street from Hostal Don Diego. Popular with language students, the cafe offers cheap vegetarian food, tons of teas, and beer and cocktails. Expect crowds of gringos studying and pretending to do so at night. They show a movie in the comfortable back room each night - a schedule is posted outside. If you show up with some friends in the afternoon, they will probably let you watch whatever you want.

Delicious Guatemalan and indigenous food in a quiet, comfortable atmosphere. The indoor thatched roof was interesting, as was the racy movie on TV and the dog that kept wandering in from the street.

The menu includes huge, cheap breakfasts, salads made with ingredients from the owners' garden, and soups that can be a meal in themselves (try the potato leek or tomato). If you want a slight variation on the menu's offerings, they'll be happy to oblige. This place is strictly a restaurant, not a bar. They have a three-beer-per-person maximum.

This little street stall run by a friendly Taiwanese couple makes the best empanadas I've ever had. For vegetarians weary of meat-heavy menus, travelers needing a quick bite, and locals alike, the restaurant, known as "that empanada place," is an excellent choice. Relax on a plastic stool and watch your TVP (that's soy protein) filled empanadas fried right before your eyes. The homemade soy milk is excellent, as are the granizadas, icy, fruity concoctions. Everything is 2Q (about $0.25) each. Yum!

Volunteering is a great way to step off the gringo trail, really get to really know the places you visit, and contribute a bit more than your tourist dollar.

Xela and the surrounding area offer countless ways to get involved, whether your interests lie with education, kids, addiction recovery, farming, micro-business, hiking... the list goes on and on.

HOW TO FIND OPPORTUNITIES:

The opportunities posted on message boards at hostels and restaurants are only a small sampling of ways to volunteer. For more extensive information, pick up Entremundos, a free newsletter available at many hostels, language schools, and bookstores. EntreMundos is a networking organization started by volunteers who wanted to maximize the potential of Xela's volunteers by helping people and organizations find one another. The newsletter includes English and Spanish articles on local culture and politics as well as a classified section packed full of volunteer opportunities. EntreMundos also has a website - www.entremundos.org - with updated information. You can also stop by the office at 6a Calle 7-31 and talk to Julie, who speaks both English and Spanish. She knows a lot about available opportunities and can help get you started. Hours are a bit erratic.

A couple of good opportunities:

Quetzaltrekkers is an adventure tour company run entirely by volunteers. Proceeds fund a school and boarding house for at-risk children who would not otherwise be able to get an education. If you have three months to spare, some Spanish skills, and a desire to get out and dirty, stop by Casa Argentina and ask the kids at Quetzaltrekkers about volunteer opportunities. Volunteers organize and lead hikes, take care of promotions and fund raising, and get involved with the kids at the Quetzaltrekkers-funded school too.

Finca Nueva Lianza is about an hour away from Xela and an excellent option for anyone with an interest in agriculture or fair trade. The 40 families that grow coffee and macadamia nuts here have worked the land for generations. Following plummetting coffee prices in 1998, the owner of the land stopped paying, but the people kept working. After a long struggle, the workers have finally gained legal control of the land and are starting a small eco-tourism project. Since the owner stopped providing chemicals along with wages, Nueva Lianze is organic by default and are looking into certification options. Quetzaltrekkers and many language schools can take you there for a day or two, but if you want to help out, you can stay at the hotel for a week or more. For a small contribution (125Q or about 17 USD per week), you get housing, hot water, food, a great experience, and the knowledge that you are contributing to a great project and helping people make a living sustainably. For information, stop by Quetzaltrekkers and see if Mike is around.

Sure, you don't NEED to know Spanish to travel in Latin America. Charades and a few words will get you by. Like a drunk tourist told me on the beach, "you don't need grammar. They get it. Dos cervezas. Two." His wife countered that learned grammar had to do with self-respect - you feel better about yourself when you can communicate effectively. For me, though, learning Spanish was a matter of respect for the countries and people I visited. If I hoped to step into someone else's world and be welcomed, I should make an effort to be able to speak their language. Ethics and responsibility aside, you will have a richer and more fulfilling trip if you can speak some Spanish. It will also be infinitely easier to decode menus, find your bus, and find your way around Xela's steep and almost-on-a-grid streets.

Xela is quickly turning into one of the most popular places in Guatemala to study Spanish. (Antigua and San Pedro are also popular but more "gringofied.")

There are so many choices that trying to choose a school can be overwhelming. If you visit schools, they will show you around and all tell you much the same thing. Private or small group instruction, activities included, volunteer placements, free coffee, homestays... Ask around town and see where travelers are happiest, or check out the options below.

Eureka: Eureka is a popular and affordable school run by a couple of young goofballs. All instruction is one-on-one, and if your teacher isn't right for you, you can switch, even mid-lesson. Afternoons and weekends offer time for activities like movies, salsa dancing, and excursions to hot springs or other attractions. Every Friday the whole school gathers at a local home for a dinner party. Eureka also offers free coffee, tea, cookies, and water, and five hours of free internet. Start any day, $100 USD (including homestay) for four hours per day. Located on 12 Ave - walk uphill from the park and it will be on your right half a block before Calle 3a.

Proyecto Linguistico: This politically-minded school gets rave reviews. Private instruction laced with progressive politics is available for about 130 USD per week, including homestay. They also run a school on an organic coffee finca in the mountains, where students live together in a house and share meals with local families. This will cost you 180 USD per week, but everyone who does it loves it. It's often full, so plan ahead. 5a Calle 2-42.

I have been volunteering during my trip through Latin America in order to experience daily life in the places I visit and to give something back to the communities that welcome me and other travelers. I share my experience here as an example of how interesting and fulfilling volunteering during travel can be.

My time in San Marcos has been not just a window into real life, but a chance to participate. While the project I came to help with still hasn't started, I've learned so much and continue to be amazed by how happy people are to teach me about their lives and share their homes.

Eager to learn more about sustainable agriculture and local culture, I arranged a 2-week volunteer opportunity through Entremundos. A women’s community group was setting up a bread company to supplement their husbands’ slim earnings. Twenty quetzals ($2.50) is not enough to eat, let alone pay bills and send kids to school. The 36 women in this association bought an oven on credit and planned to sell bread door-to-door in rural communities far from the markets. The business was to get started on a Monday, and we would arrive that Thursday.

My only directions were to take a bus to San Marcos, get in a cab that said "EFA" on the window, and ask for Maria (name changed) when the cab stopped. I was skeptical, but of course, here, those kind of directions are all you need.

The village is gorgeous. Ringed by green, mist-shrouded mountains, chickens peck around the edges of corn fields and horses clomp down the cobbled street. The air felt thin and fresh after Xela's smog.

Maria, the initiative of the women's organization and my host, met me at her house. She is a strong and engaging woman. She attended school only through the sixth grade and then started working as a cook. She met her husband when she was 15 and now has three children of her own. Her husband worked as a landscaper in the United States for three years, missing his children’s school years in order to pay tuition. One of the boys moved to the US, and after 2 years, saved enough money to set up a small Internet business here in his parents’ house. Maria also provides rooms and meals to nine teenagers who attend the local agriculture school. Since there are only a few such schools in the country, students have to leave home, and there are no dormitories. The students think that my friend and I and our accents are a riot. They also think we are useful when it comes to doing their English homework.

I quickly settled into Maria's home, munching on enchiladas while she explained why the bread business still hadn't started. They needed to install the shelves, and then they needed a regulator for the gas oven. By then it was Friday, and they couldn't start on the weekend. They also had to plant broccoli plants, but first they needed chicken manure, and they can't plant in the afternoon because it pours, and they needed pans for the bread, but the local store didn't have enough, so they had to go to Xela, but they wouldn't be in until Wednesday... and so, maybe, we'll start making bread on Thursday, a week after my arrival.

We went into the association office while waiting for the advent of the bread business (the group we are with is part of an association of 15 groups and thousands of people who get training - capacity building mainly - from this umbrella association). Louis, who set us up here, wanted to double and triple check that we were happy. He also explained more about the micro-finance they do and was going to help us arrange to visit some organic coffee farms and a peach farm.

One lazy morning, we went for a walk, and a neighbor called to us on the dirt road, saying she heard we wanted to work to learn about their lives and whether we like to chop wood. She armed us with machetes, and we chopped kindling from a giant brush pile in the shade of the corn plants. She offered us a Coke and bread, which we ate in the shade with the chickens pecking at the crumbs around our feet. I commented that they had lots of rabbits - 35 in fact - and she promptly invited us for lunch the next day to taste a rabbit. She also told me that her daughter lives in Boston, where I am from. "Can you bring me? I need to visit her. She works in a restaurant. She says it is cold and lots of snow."

We arrived early for lunch the next day, and her husband decided to take us to see where the cow grazed. We wandered through corn fields, the leaves and fuzzy stalks brushing our faces, to a small clearing with an animal shelter. We talked about agriculture - that I want to study it when I got home and that he thought that was a great idea, because agriculture is the base of development for every country and the basis of life as well. He told me about their composting and manure projects, about how good the cow’s milk tastes when she gets a certain kind of grass, and about his son’s dreams to earn enough money in the US to come back and finish agriculture school and start a small potato business. The people of Guatemala are always friendly, reserved and yet open at the same time.

Back at the house, rabbit was ready, cooking over a fire built with the wood we had cut the day before. We ate in a wood-walled kitchen, the smoke only adding to the rich flavor of the rabbit, a dog, cat, and chicken watching as our host stirred the coffee on the stove and we shared stories about ourselves and our lives.

Back at Maria’s, the old woman that takes care of the family's corn plants was making tortillas over a wood stove, expertly flipping the pancakes from one hand to another and slapping them onto the stove. She tried to teach us, and we produced some lopsided cakes. We were amusing of course, and she said that tomorrow ours will be round like hers.

Maria's family - and in fact the whole neighborhood - has been incredibly welcoming, interested in learning about our lives and sharing their own as well. I strongly recommend volunteering in local communities to anyone tired of the gringo trail.