A group of us left Saturday morning and travelled about an hour by chicken bus to a place a little bit closer to the coast. The assistant business manager at our school is Guatemalan and her husband had gotten free tickets to an amusement park through his work. Their family gets to go frequently, so she gave them to four teachers. And we decided to make a trip out of it.
We stayed at a nice little hotel-- the owner was a friend of our principal. (The connections here in Xela continue to grow-- this really is a small town. I'm realizing more and more that everyone know everyone) And Saturday, we literally just layed out by the hotel pool all day. The climate by the coast is a lot different than in Xela. Its much, much warmer and its more jungle-ish. Our trips so far, have been fun, but kind of rushed and jam packed, trying to fit as much in two days as possible, since our travel time is very limited. So it was nice to just get out and relax. It really did feel like a vacation.
Sunday morning we got up and went to Xetulul, which was the amusement park I mentioned earlier. I was thoroughly impressed. I mean, Disney lovers would probably disagree, but I would say it was like a scaled down version of Disney World. Minus the Disney characters. They had different "villages" you could walk through, with themes of different countries and replicas of famous monuments. Like in the Italy section, the had a Trevi fountain. In Spain, they had the Alahambra, etc. It was pretty awesome. And the rides were great too. And the best part-- no lines. Seriously, the most we had to wait was ten minutes, if that. We did that swinging ship ride, bumper cars, the carousel, a kiddie caterpillar roller coaster, another legit/AWESOME coaster, this spinny up and down fast thing that I have no idea how to describe, and took a train ride around the park. And then we saw a Spanish dance show and a magic show. Other sights of the day...a Guatemalan Charlie Chaplin, two live jaguars, and a little kid popping a squat in the middle of the park... we decided that was something you wouldn't see in Disney. The whole day was way more fun than I thought. I hadn't been to an amusement park in so long. Only down side-- it was h-o-t. Ridiculously hot. I thought I just might pass out at one point. But I survived.
We made it back to the hotel, and the owner said he was headed back to Xela and gave us a ride. Which I was beyond thankful for. I was sweaty and gross and tired and definitely not in the mood to squeeze on an over-crowded chicken bus for an hour. Plus, it was just fun to ride back with this guy. He was super nice to us the whole weekend, and had lots of fun stories. And the whole weekend, I just kept saying this guy was like someone you would pull out of a cartoon. Of course, I didn't say that to his face, but he was. I wish you could meet him-- he's a Guatemalan with a fro- if you can picture that. And a personality to match. Definitely a fun ride, although his crazy driving made us all a little carsick...haha.
We got back in just in time to shower, throw on a quick "costume" and head to our staff Halloween party. My costume was pretty lame this year, as I didn't think ahead enough to go Paca shopping for something fun. I just had to use what I had in my closet. But the party was a good time.
Today, I'm just hanging out. Its the Day of the Dead, which is a big holiday where the people here celebrate their relatives that have passed away. I'm hoping to try some fiambre, which is the traditional food everyone here makes. Apparently every house makes it differently, and it includes everything but the kitchen sink. Also, I think some of us are going to the cemetery later to see what that looks like and how the people here celebrate.
 |
| At Xetulul. |
No comments:
Post a Comment