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| First, let's orientate ourselves with where exactly Guatemala is and where Xela is in relation to the whole country
As you can see, I'm not too far from Mexico, which is great because I'll have to border hop there every 90 days. El Salvador, Honduras, Belize, and Guatemala have an arrangement so that travel and trade is really easy among these countries, but this also means that going into one of those other countries will not renew my visa.
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| This is the city. That top orange dot is my church, the orange dot on the left is where I live and the other orange dot is my school. My school is about a 10 minute walk from my house and church is about 15.
The city has a population of about 225,000 people and it's in the mountains so the elevation is 2,330 meters (which is about 7,600 feet)...which means it's a little harder to breathe here than in T-town. The elevation also means that in the winter it gets really cold here at night (around freezing or just below), but by the afternoon it's around 70F. Everything I go to is within walking distance and I've heard that you can walk from one end of the city to the other in about 40 minutes (but I'm not sure that's completely true). It's a great city, but it's also WAY different than anything I'm used to in the states. People drive like maniacs, and yet somehow manage to not crash into each other. The sidewalks are usually too narrow or they're all broken up, so I generally walk in the street, always watching for crazy drivers. There are tons of cafes and bars and restaurants that are really cheap, so eating out isn't really an extravagance. The buildings don't have heaters and they're all made of cement, so when it's hot out it feels really good in my room, but at night I get really cold...I usually wake up from being really cold, but I don't think it's that I need more blankets, it's just cold. Everything is in Spanish, of course, so I often feel like such a foreigner! There are tons and tons of Spanish schools here in Xela and pretty much everyone who's traveling is in a Spanish school, but there are so many that if someone tells me the name of their school I just nod. Guatemala time is a real thing...everything starts about 15 minutes after it's supposed to, which is good for me when I'm running late. Haha! Most of the people here are Catholic, so it's really common for people to talk about God, church, or the Bible...it's almost odd to me how it's not a taboo subject here. Most of the television is dubbed from English to Spanish, which is pretty comical sometimes...but I've found a channel that plays things originally in English, dubbed into French, and subtitled in Spanish. Everyone here loves soccer (fútbol) so I feel like the worst fan ever because I only brought one jersey and I don't know much about world soccer. There are tortillas or bread with every meal...even if the meal is pasta. And apparently foreigners almost always are just passing through; everyone is really surprised when I tell them I'm here (only in Xela) for at least three months, but hopefully a year. Women here carry huge things on their heads...like today on the way to church I saw a lady carrying a table on her head.......a table!! And the lady behind her had a big box on her head. I think I should learn how to do that.
Anyways, yeah, it's way different here, but I love it. There are plenty of really helpful people here for when I'm lost or confused, and I really don't think it's as dangerous as people think. I mean, yes, having caution is really important; it's not like I carry my money out in the open and wave it around or stumble home from a bar alone at 2am....but what I'm saying is that I think as long as you have some common sense and caution it's not such a dangerous city. Es la vida. (That's life)
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