Today is my last day in Xela...for now...I have finished taking classes at the PLQ language school and may take some more at their mountain school in April...but for now, I am packing up my big travel backpack and heading --on a chicken bus no less--to Lake Atitlan with some new travel friends and then meeting up with my sister Karen who is presently at a yoga retreat in the village of Santa Cruz, also on the lake. I spoke to her this morning and she had already watched the sunrise from the dock, participated in a 2 hr. yoga class, and swam in the lake (we spoke at oh, 9:45 AM!) I cant wait to see her. I will be staying in San Pedro, a boat ride away.
Okay, first month Xela reflections...I love it here. The way the sun dips into the city in the afternoon and lights every cobblestone street and old buildings a honey colored yellow...I love that I know what oranges and zapotes and cucumbers cost at the local market...I love La Luna Cafe where they serve real hot chocolate, like from cacao, YUM, and where I write in my journal...I love speaking Spanish all day all the time...I love, love the pace of life here...even for a city, I find that my mandados (errands) take half a day, but it is okay...going to the bank and standing in line for an hour..but the people watching makes it so worth it..and then going to one store for el yogur--the lecheria, another store for bread--la panaderia, another market for fresh fruit and veggies, and a final tiny tortilleria for fresh corn tortillas and tamalitos...
I am no longer living with my host family. Am renting an apartment style room in a local hostel, in a local neighborhood, away from the hustle and bustle of the touristy central park. I can cook! I can skip breakfast and not feel like I am slapping my host mom in the face, rejecting her triple serving of oatmeal and corn flakes...I swear, the small things in life...I can read and write for hours and not be asked and not be stared at with puzzled looks when I explain it is actually not homework...
I will try to post some pictures of my home stay, the street, the school, etc. I guess I realized that I have been living (somewhat) independently for TEN years...so living with a host family was an interesting change of environment on that level too...having to tell them when I would be coming home, if I would skip a meal, what time I would be getting up on Sunday, etc. I mean, I am so grateful to them but I couldnt help but hear George Michael singing Freedom! as I lugged my suitcase outta there...
Sorry..
So much more but I will dedicate the rest of my internet time to posting pictures now. I am not sure how much email access I will have the next few weeks..am meeting up with my parents and grandmother next weekend...SO SO SO thrilled about that...then going to Antigua for Good Friday, celebrating Semana Santa with relatives in the capital, then we are taking my parents to visit the Tikal ruins (they have never been and I think this will be a special trip for all of us)...}
The plan is to live and write in Xela for April onward. Perfect as it will be the rainy season soon.
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