Getting settled!

We are settling into our second day in the city of Xela after a gorgeous bus ride yesterday from Guatemala City. The roads here are actually brand new, better than a lot of roads at home surprisingly! No 8 hour Kenya road trip repeat here. We stopped at some Mayan ruins along the way which was pretty cool and got us all excited to be here. The city of Xela is an absolutely wonderful place so far; it´s kind of the Goldilocks city of Guatemala or so I have found...not too big, not too small, juuuust right. The city revolves around the `Parque Central´ (pictures to come soon), and our hostel is only four blocks away from it. The city is very interesting to look at as it´s kind of a mishmash of architecture; it is separated into ´Zonas´ which vary substantially both aesthetically and functionally. Our hostel and the Parque Central are both located within Zona 1, which is the colonial part of town, full of nicer restaurants, the main central banks, courthouse etc and nicer cafes. The town was destroyed by an earthquake in 1902, and was rebuilt shorty thereafterwith Gothic style buildings, there are lots of very grandiose buildings surrounding the Parque and throughout Zona 1. The other main area of our concern is Zona 3, which we found yesterday during our explorations; it is the commercial centre of town and holds a massive market where you can buy anything from mangoes to TV´s that are straight from the 70s.

The hostel itself where we are staying is a very cute little place- I lucked out and got a single bedroom on the second floor and I am in love with it. The walls are sunny yellow, the ceiling is sloping paneled wood, the walls have exposed brick and I have beautiful little carved wooden shelves to store stuff. AND, two electrical outlets (bonus!) The hostel is pretty basic- we have two showers for 26 people which could be a bit of a challenge...and one and a half fridges...so it´s going to take some adjusting but I´m sure it will work itself out. There is a ´courtyard´in the middle of the hostel, which in reality is a 20 by 20 foot hole in the roof which is fantastic when it´s sunny, but is just a big hole in the roof when it rains (the drainage system in the hostel is pretty good though and the potted plants love it!)

I successfully got a cell phone yesterday (20 bucks US for a phone and 50 international minutes...ridiculous) and have ordered at 3 restaurants in Spanish and gotten what I ordered every time. Great success! The lanaguage is definitely going to be a challenge, but mostly an issue of confidence- the locals are very willing to help and appreciate my valiant efforts to communicate (phew).

Will update soon after we start the Habitat project this Monday!

Hasta luego,

Caroline xox