Charlie and I took a trip to the town of Quetzaltenango May 26 - 28, to celebrate our 24th anniversary. This town is about a four hour drive from our home. Unfortunately, Mayan protestors had blockaded the roads into town and it took us eleven hours of driving before we finally arrived at our destination.
We picked up two trekkers from Denmark at the first roadblock, and they ended up spending many hours with us in the car. We learned a lot about the Danish nation and sampled some delicious Danish chocolate. They treated us to lunch at a small chicken restaurant called Pollandria, in the town of San Lucas Toliman, shortly after we ran into our second roadblock.
After finally arriving in the town of Quetzaltenango (often referred to as Xela) we stayed at a charming bed and breakfast called Casa Manen. This is the balcony outside our room. It overlooks the town of Xela.
This is our room. It gets chilly overnight in Xela, due to the high elevation, but our room was equipped with a fireplace and an electric heater. It was quite cozy.
We ate supper the first evening at a nice little place called Albamar.
Xela is very unusual. It is certainly not the typical Guatemalan town. The older section of town consists of very narrow, one-way, cobblestone streets going in all directions with seemingly no rhyme or reason. Most of the buildings are old and dingy, and we saw several that had collapsed beyond repair.
We visited the nearby town of Zunil Thursday morning. This is the cathedral on the square.
A native Mayan woman buying meat at a butcher shop in Zunil.
Santa Maria Volcano. We caught a brief glimpse of the mountain when the clouds cleared briefly one afternoon. It was cloudy and rainy the three days we were in Xela.
Thursday afternoon we visited Fuentes Georginas, a natural hot springs. The water was very warm and the weather was cool, so it created a wonderful steamy environment. It was quite relaxing until a bus load of teenagers showed up.
Friday morning we visited the town of San Francisco el Alto to see their famous weekly market. Unfortunately, it was raining and rather miserable, so we didn't stay too long. We thought even the animals looked miserable.
We picked up two trekkers from Denmark at the first roadblock, and they ended up spending many hours with us in the car. We learned a lot about the Danish nation and sampled some delicious Danish chocolate. They treated us to lunch at a small chicken restaurant called Pollandria, in the town of San Lucas Toliman, shortly after we ran into our second roadblock.
After finally arriving in the town of Quetzaltenango (often referred to as Xela) we stayed at a charming bed and breakfast called Casa Manen. This is the balcony outside our room. It overlooks the town of Xela.
This is our room. It gets chilly overnight in Xela, due to the high elevation, but our room was equipped with a fireplace and an electric heater. It was quite cozy.
We ate supper the first evening at a nice little place called Albamar.
Xela is very unusual. It is certainly not the typical Guatemalan town. The older section of town consists of very narrow, one-way, cobblestone streets going in all directions with seemingly no rhyme or reason. Most of the buildings are old and dingy, and we saw several that had collapsed beyond repair.
We visited the nearby town of Zunil Thursday morning. This is the cathedral on the square.
A native Mayan woman buying meat at a butcher shop in Zunil.
Santa Maria Volcano. We caught a brief glimpse of the mountain when the clouds cleared briefly one afternoon. It was cloudy and rainy the three days we were in Xela.
Thursday afternoon we visited Fuentes Georginas, a natural hot springs. The water was very warm and the weather was cool, so it created a wonderful steamy environment. It was quite relaxing until a bus load of teenagers showed up.
Friday morning we visited the town of San Francisco el Alto to see their famous weekly market. Unfortunately, it was raining and rather miserable, so we didn't stay too long. We thought even the animals looked miserable.
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