I got a bit sick and miserable in San Jose and left the afternoon after my last class. I got into Flores, had a wander round, retrieved the second set of stuff I'd left in the Internet cafe (including my guidebook, duh!) and wrote some emails. I tried to have a meal but couldn't get through it, so I killed some time for an hour or too talking to some Dutch guys before my bus was supposed to leave at 10pm. Figuring I may need the loo I'd paid for a second-class bus knowing that I had a 9-hour ride ahead (the third and subsequent classes have no loo). When I originally got on the bus there were only a handful of other people so I didn't sit in my allocated seat. A couple of stops later the guy whose seat I was apparently in got in a huff so I moved. I think that was one of the best moves I ever made. At the final stop before the last 7-hour leg to the capital a huge woman got on the bus and assumed her place next to the grumpy bloke who can't have had more than half a seat left to himself. I on the other hand was left with two seats to myself and even managed to get some sleep.
One the occasions I woke up and peered through the curtains there wasn't much to see, looking on the map now I don't even know which way we went. What I do know is we went up a long way; the last couple of hours seemed to be entirely up hill or a curvy road with many large trucks barrelling at us in the other direction.
When we arrived in Guatemala City it was just getting light. There was hardly anybody on the street and those people I did see were either there because I don't think they had a choice or because they were conducting business that didn't look in the least bit legal. All the houses had either no ground level windows or huge shutters. They were mostly dull concrete colours and many looked like they were liable to fall down at any stage. I abandoned my previous intention to walk to the other bus stop and instead spent (what I believe to be) a wise couple of dollars on a cab, which literally dropped me to the door of the bus that I wanted. Once again it made frequent stops on the way out of the city and quickly filled. And once again we kept climbing, bend after bend we climbed.
Every now and then I caught glimpses of volcanoes over the next range, their perfect symmetry is most appealing to the eye. After another 5 hours on the bus and some 14 hours after leaving Flores I get dropped in some obscure back street, apparently the closest the bus stops to the centre of town. I consulted my map, but with no street names on any of the streets that was a little useless. Instead I followed signs to the "centro" and eventually found my way to the central plaza. From there I picked up my spot on the map and headed for Sakribal, I figured if it looked like a nice school it would do, I already knew they were helpful.
However, to my dismay, when I arrived at the school it was all closed up and didn't look particularly occupied. I guessed maybe with the surfeit of schools appearing in Xela they had gone bust. But not fancying walking around all the schools to find an alternative I asked in the shop across the street. They had just moved premises the woman explained and gave me directions. Judging by the number of students there were at the new much nicer looking premises I guess the case was exactly just the opposite to what I figured. When I walked in the door a woman wearing a Scottish rugby top wandered up and introduced herself as Sharron from Scotland. I introduced myself as Matt from Australia, and like lightening she said, "Oh, you're the Matt who emailed a little while back." That sold me right then, I signed up, handed over my cash and by lunchtime I had a family!!My family live on the hill above Xela about ten minutes walk from the school (as if Xela isn't high enough, by my calculations I'm living about 2400m above sea level, higher that any mountain in Australia, and Black Tusk!!). The view across the town from the hill is quite impressive, especially from the roof (where the dogs live, a German shepherd, a two month old malamute pup and something only just identifiable as a dog). Also from the town there is a view to Volcan Santa Maria, which stands nearly 4000m above sea level, looking over the city (it looks reassuringly dormant, but one near Antigua is spewing lava at the moment).
My family consists of more people than I can really get my head around. Starting with Mum, Monica, she has a husband, two young boys, her father, two sisters, two teenage nieces and two uncles all of whom live in the, thankfully rather large, house. I have a nice room to myself with a comfy bed and a small television. I get three meals a day, lunch being the main one, and quite a bit more variety that I experienced in San Jose, including beautifully marinated chicken or pork each lunch. My family are incredibly friendly and much more inclined to make conversation with me than my family in San Jose were. Each day I have around five different conversations with people as they come and go, and they are all very patient with my broken Spanish, and correct me in a most appropriate way. Talking to some of the other students at the school, and Sharron, it seems I've hit the jackpot. Sharron lived with them for about a month and she says they were some of the best she's had.
On Wednesday afternoon I visited one of the project houses belonging to Habitat for humanity who help finance and build (using volunteer labour) homes for people living in poverty. Looking at their statistics and the results they seem to do an excellent job. We were shown the new house of a lady and her family and her old house. Instead of paying rent for the tiny box they were living in she now has a new home, bigger, that will be paid off in 5 years using the money she no longer has to pay for rent. For Thursday and Friday I had classes in the afternoon with my young teacher Maibel, we play simple games and learn yet more verbs, I'm quite enjoying it. On Friday morning we had a talk from an ex-guerrilla about his time with the guerrillas from when he was 12 through to the final signing of the peace accords in 1996 and the struggle that Guatemalas poor (predominately Maya) are still undergoing. Some of the things he had to say were beyond imagination, it was most worthwhile.
In the evening we had dinner to see off old students and welcome new ones (me!). There are two other Melbournites at the school (both leaving) and two other Australians as well as people from a host of other countries. After dinner we hit a couple of bars and I had the lengthiest English conversations I've had since Mum and Dad left, it was most refreshing.
Yesterday I joined a volunteer group going to help on a Mayan agricultural project. We caught the bus about half an hour out of the city into the villages. We were put to work clearing corn stubs. I now have a new appreciation for the work these people do. I have a blister on my hand from wielding the machete, I was so covered in dust three showers later I'm still finding it and I've got a knot in my back the size of Luxembourg. Having made piles with the stalks, we bundled them and carried them a kilometre or two back to the village. Every time the wind blew we got hit by piles of dust and twice little dust devils blew straight through us. Last night I didn't go out, instead retiring early from the exhaustion of work and only 3 hours sleep the night before. This morning I did some study, then after lunch (delicious pork ribs), I wandered down here taking some photos. There is an artisans market in the plaza and I had a wander around, much of the stuff seems to look the same, but there are some nice bits and pieces, which I'll get around to buying closer to leaving. I start morning classes tomorrow and there's an assortment of activities in the afternoon to keep me busy.
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