Xela is the shortened name of the place I am staying (quetzaltanango). And for brevity and time, I am going to describe it with the 5 senses plus etc...
1. Sight: Colors. many many colors. guatemala is a place of brilliant color. More than half the population of the Xela is indigenous and most of the woman wear ropa tipica, with consists of skirts, shirts, and aprons, scarves in the all of intricate patterns and designs. The handmade blouses are very very expensive becaues the flowers are all hand stitched.
2. Touch: Bumby. The part of Xela where i live and go to school is old xela, so the streets are bumby, made of cobblestone, the sidewalks are uneven. Today I rode in a bus and car in on these bumby streets. I twas kind of exciting to be in my maestros car rather than walking and always dodging these honking cars. (we went to a picnic at the zoo, where there were about 3 animals...two of them were juguars pacing pensively in a patheticlaly small cage and staring at the cow tied to a treeoutside the cage)
3. Sounds: Turkey and Roosters howling, fire works going off all night (my family told me this was because its a way to celebrate and every day has a patron saint that someone may be celebrating. This morning really early, i thought i heard more fireworks REALLY loud bangs, but no, it was ahouse exploding. their gas stove anyways. I also hear a lot of spanish that I can not understand and sometimes this is frustrating. I also here a lot of english, because there are an amazing amount of extranjeros aqui. there is also a french guy who speaks spanish with a french accent... thats pretty cool.
4. Smell: besides the standard smells of most foriegn countries there is the smell of beans and tortillas served at just about every meal. and of couse the small of Xelapan. This a chain store, a panadaria, that every time i walk by is sending intoxicating fresh bread frangrances into the air. Hard to resist.
5. Whats the 5th sense.. oh yeah, taste... cafe con leche. ´nough said.
6. Como Estoy, yo? you ask... I am great and greatful to be here. The other day I was feeling fairly lonely and unknown. and rather without a backbone... these other gringos invited me out but i didnt go because i wanted to stay home and read harry potter (yes, i found a used copy here in english for a very good price of the harry potter 4 that i had been wanting to read before i left the states) and because i heard from this group of estudiantes from minnesota that they often dont get home til 5 in morning, ... and it was wednesday and i would have to come to spanish class on 2 hours sleep. i`ve never been very good at that... i´d rather hang out with gringos in the us than when i am here... anyways the next day i regretted not going out and and then i was feeling sad about feeling sad, and then i was feeling sad about caring about what other people think of me and then i was praying, God i just want to make a friend, and then like 5 minutes later this girl i know for ucsc who also happens to be in xela studying spanish called me on my cellphone (i am so high tech).... we met up and it was fun to just talk in english and spanish... that night i also invited the other students (they are guatemalan) and live in the same house where i live they study at various of the schools in xela and i eat with them most days) to come iwth me to the movie that there were showing at my spnaish school that night... All to say, after hanging otu the friend from ucsc and Lucas and Selvin, the guatamaltecos who came the movie with me, i didnt feel sad anymore,i felt more human afterwards... that may be a wierd discribtion of how i felt, but i think its fits.
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