Adios Xela

Saturday, Feb 5, 2011

The town of Xela is situated on a high plateau surrounded by mountains. In the mornings, the clouds hang above the city, clinging to the mountainsides and often their tips are rimmed with the rising sun. It is quite lovely to see. The school and our home are located downhill from the Parque Central, which at one time was the central hub of the city. It is ringed with impressive municipal buildings including the natural history museum, but the star of the plaza is the cathedral. Only the façade remains of the original colonial style cathedral and a new, more simple cathedral has been built behind and to the side of the façade. It stands on one of the highest points in town and early in the day, while the rest of the city is still in the shadows of the mountains, the sun hits the cathedral with a radiant white light that looks absolutely magical.

Life revolves around the Parque Central. In the evenings, there are vendors selling Mexican tacos (which, unbeknownst to me, involved hot dogs as the meat of choice), as well as elote, the hot corn soup that is so filling and delicious. There are tiny tostadas topped with ground beef and onions sizzling on grills and pupusa filled with cheese or meat. It all smells very enticing.

In the block surrounding the parque, the streets are lined with the fruit and vegetable vendors as well as the “everything else you could possibly want or need” vendors. The women selling their produce spend all day sitting on their knees on the sidewalk surrounded by their little islands of creamy avocados and bunches of onions, bright red tomatoes and bundles of spinach, carrots and green beans, baskets of tiny bananas and mangos and brilliant orange tangerines. They call out to you as you pass by offering tastes from the tip of their knives and ready to bargain if you’ll buy from them. Everything has been picked that morning and is ready to be eaten as soon as you get it home – no leaving it to ripen on the counter for days at a time.

Although we have been here for two weeks already, it feels like I’m just really getting to know my way around. We found the Parque Central our first day here, but we’ve just discovered the mercado beneath its plaza. We’ve learned how the local mini-bus system works and I can find my way to Pila’s Laundry. There have been many opportunities through the school to participate in various activities in this area, but much of our time and energy has been spent just studying and so there is much yet to see. We have walked by the museum a dozen times and never found time to actually walk through it.

We leave tomorrow for the mountain school and will bid Xela adios. It is obvious to us that we will simply have to return.