A birthday party, Karaoke, and a funeral...

My Trip to Xela: Written November 6th


SO. I'm here in my living room blogging about life. I'm listening to One Republic's song "Good Life" because for some reason it makes me chipper.


This is my blogpost about my trip to Xela (pronounced SHAY-la... "x"s make the"sh" sound here). Xela is a city about 2-3 hours away from Panajachel by bus.


I had a free weekend, and I could choose to go anywhere I wanted.


I so hoped to climb a volcano while I was here in Guatemala, but decided that given my money constrictions, and the fact that it was my friend's birthday, it would be all around better if I went to Xela to see some old friends.


[To clarify: I met the folks that I know from Xela when I was in language school in July]


The first night was awesome. I got to the language school and surprised my friend Kevin with a cupcake and a candle ( Christmas themed, because the store was out of Birthday candles)... and of course the singing of "Feliz Cumpleaños."


After sitting with Kevin a while, I went to the cafe to visit my friend Luis who told me about Kevin's surprise b-day party. I was so happy we were celebrating. There was a piñata, music, drinks, cake, guacamole, singing, a little dancing... An all around good Guatemalan B-day.


Here are some of the pictures from the party on Thursday Night:

Kevin ( The birthday boy and friend of mine) and one of the owners of the school. She was with me in the hospital the night I got stupid sick in July. 

Kevin and his BFF Luis. These are some really good guys.

Candlesssssss

Me, Aricely, and Jane

Everyone should be kissed on their birthday. At least I think so. My niece kissed me this b-day. I'm satisfied.

Gag gift. Tiny Undies :)

Anytime I'm at a party where there's cake, you should know that I almost always going to throw it... This was my icing casualty.

In zee face :D

 Thursday night I stayed in a Hostel. For those of you who have stayed in a hostel, you can sympathize with me... The next morning I woke up, grabbed some breakfast, then met my former teacher at the language school. We hopped in a mini bus and went to the market, then to her house to cook some delicious food.


We had pasta and collard greens :D
We also had this drink:

This is stewed pumpkin with sugar , ginger, and cinnamon sticks...

Then you just add water. Suddenly you find yourself drinking an iced beverage that tastes just like pumpkin pie. It was odd to say the least.

Either way, just getting to eat and catch up with Monica was wonderful. After lunch, she had to clean a bit, so I went downstairs and got her laundry off her line outside for her. I spent a good amount of time shooing away chickens from all the clean laundry... then Monica mentioned the chickens were for her mom's stew... after that I started treating them much more nicely.

Friday night I attended a funeral for the mother of a woman I knew from the school. My friend Lupe and I went to pay respects. This was totally new for me. I've never been to a Wake outside of my own culture. In the States, it seems you bring flowers and a card. In Guatemala, you bring soda and a bag of sugar... I didn't even get to ask why. I was taking the whole thing in.

After the funeral, we went to the school because they were having a karaoke night. I met some interesting new people. The gentleman I met from Liverpool was an absolute RIOT. I cannot even explain to you how interesting it was to interact with him. He used the "F" word in almost every sentence. As my ears were becoming accustomed to what seemed like normality on his part, I was loving the conversation. We discussed incest because I am from the South. We also talked about how American "Foot"ball has little to do with feet. Then we talked about bad teeth and the BBC because he's from England... Typical, I suppose. To say that it was clear our cultures clashed was an understatement, but still we had a great conversation. What a joy.

After a full day, I retired to my hostel then headed back to Panajachel Saturday morning.


This weekend is one that I definitely won't be forgetting for a while.


Love,


Cody