Crossing Borders!

So after the volcano, we headed out of Antigua and north to the city of Quetzaltenango, locally known as Xela, much to Tim's confusion. Cities in Guatemala have fun, but sometimes similar names - Chichicastenango, Huehuetenango, Chimaltenango. The city of Quetzaltenango having two names was a bit much for Tim to keep track of with all of those crazy names floating around in his head. I think we have him all straightened out now though! We had a short stop in Xela because our friends Meta and Uri were waiting for us to join them for a week of fun in Mexico!

Xela:

During our short time in Xela we managed to sneak in a trip to the Fuentes Georginas, which are wonderful hot springs in the middle of lush forest. We enjoyed a nice soak there for a few hours and it was a great setting. How can you NOT be happy when you are soaking in hot springs?

Xela is a pleasant city and we hope to see more of it. We should be able to afford to do so, given that our private room was Q30 ($3.75) per person per night! Nice! The Hostel, Casa Argentina even had a bilingual talking parrot. We plan to return to the area in a few weeks to visit an organic coffee farm that produces coffee for our favorite fair trade coffee roaster in Madison: Just Coffee.

Our Hostel: La Casa Argentina

After our second night in Xela, we arranged to have a shuttle transport us to San Cristobal de las Casas in Mexico. We have been LOVING Mexico!! San Cristobal de las Casas is a really pretty colonial town set in the mountains of Chiapas. It is a bit touristy but the city itself just feels so alive and colorful.The buildings are painted vibrant colors and the main plaza (zocalo) is full of energy. We are still in the heart of the Mayan world so there are many indigenous people living in the area that lend to the culture. Chiapas is also the area of Mexico that is home to the Zapatista movement.

San Cristobal de las Casas

We are staying in the same building complex as our friends Meta and Uri: La Casa de la Vista. We highly recommend it. If you are ever in the area and looking for accommodation, it is better than a hotel. Here's the link: www.casadelavista.org. Our room is very nice and clean and we have a private bathroom. The building we are in is on a hill overlooking the city. We never get sick of the views! Meta and Uri are just downstairs from us. We go down two flights of stairs and a spiral staircase to get to their bungalow. It's a fun journey and feels a bit like being in a tree house. The landlord is a really interesting man named Luis. He is a man of many trades: landlord, real estate agent, tour company operator, Spanish teacher, jewelry seller, etc. He actually lived in the states for a while, working as a professor and teaching cultural competence. We have been having a lot of fun getting to know him and his girlfriend Silvi.

Our Friends: Meta and Uri

Our View

Meta is a dear friend of mine (Laura) - we were roommates in the dorms freshman year of college - and Uri is Meta's boyfriend, who is from Israel. Meta and Uri have been traveling for 2 years (they met in China) and are at the end of a 6 month stint of living in Mexico. They have been an excellent source of both basic travel tips/recommendations and conversation/company. We have been enjoying making many meals together in their private kitchen, seeing fun sights and just hanging out. Meta and I took a nice walk by the river the other morning and also attended an "expressive movement" class together. Meta waited for us to arrive to do her marketing on Monday. We had a fun time buying mysterious fruits and observing the market culture and have been eating well from the bounty of our market finds!

Natural Market Remedies (interpreter friends, take note!)

Tim also had a great find: a smaller sized coronita for P5 (40 cents). You can see how happy this made him!

Coronita should not be confused with another beer available here. Yes, it's real.

Mexico wasn't originally on our itinerary but we are so happy we came and that it worked out to see our friends. It's not every day you can just buzz up to Mexico to see friends and we feel lucky it turned out that way.

That's all for now! We continue to be safe, healthy and happy. Tim will fill you in on our exciting excursions in Chiapas soon!