It seams that the rainy season finally kicked in while I have arrived to Quetzaltenango - otherwise known as Xela. In fact nobody really calls this city its official long name. Old Mayans called the city Xelayu - so today's Xela is the modern version used both by locals and travelers.
Who follows my journey might notice that I do take planning of my trip quite spontaneously. With the reliability of local transportation one is actually almost forced to do it that way. Buses depart from their stations only somehow accordingly to their timetable, so some level of flexibility is needed.
Departing from lake Atitlan - we actually had to cross quite a mountain range first. It was almost scary experience seeing the driver honking every curve to alert vehicles coming the other way. He was definitely the craziest of them so far. A strong looking guy who was not taking any excuses to push the gas pedal hard. Adventure yet again - and I was just taking the public transport. Believe me it felt like a roller coaster on which you can actually die.
Luckily we have made it to Xela mostly on time and in one piece. The bus station was traditionally a big market and my mission was to find some breakfast or should I say brunch as it was already one o'clock in the afternoon. The best looking thing was bananas and some sort of corn bread freshly baked on small grill. I have had a chance to eat it first after another short ride in Japanese minibus. Doors never closed and I felt like a garbage man surfing on the side of a truck.
Checked into a place called Kasa Kiwi - a hostel run by a Californian man who is eager to give advice on hiking trails and activities to do around the town. However he wasn't there and I got the whole introduction in Spanish - provided by a local girl which seemed not understanding a single word in other language. Entertaining moment for sure.
At this point it didn't started raining just yet, but I felt it in the rain already. Armed with my rain jacked I went out hunting for food and local historical monuments.
Being just a stone throw from a Parque a Centro America it was an obvious target. It can be considered the center of the city. For a place of hardly 200k inhabitants it feels like from slightly bigger city. Even though it was raining people were still going about their daily businesses and the street full with old "american" cars was as atmospheric as it can get.
I had absolutely no idea what should I expect here. I knew it is probably a mountainous region and the city will have a nice historical center. Quetzaltenango surprised me with it's charm and welcoming feel. It is however slightly off the beaten path destination. Do not expect anybody speaking English. That ads on the atmosphere actually and I like it that way.
Locals kept greeting me and I felt like I have finally found a place with slow pace and decent size. I like these middle sized cities where you have the best of both worlds. Both walkability and anonymity are well balanced here.
I have wandered around in the rain and I felt like the wet and yet shiny roads are looking awesome on the pictures. Now seeing them on my laptop I am quite happy with the results. Street photography is definitely something that interests me and I am still learning. Go out there when it is raining to get that "grayness" imprinted into your photos.
The last picture was taken after my walk - from the hostel's terrace. They have almost zero competition around and it is generally quite a nice place. It is definitely lacking very little every journeymen - or woman might need. And it has the views! Rooftop terrace with a bar can keep you entertained during the never ending rainy afternoons.
Than I have finally met Tom. The owner of the hostel. He connected me with bunch of other people that were planning to go on a hike. There are many volcanoes one can visit during the stay in Xelo. We have introduced to each other with the rest of the crew and the next day kicked it off at 5 AM. But about that in my next blog.
All the best,
Global Local