Xela

Xela Photos (27)

The visit to Xela (pronounced Shay-la) was twofold. One, try to make my Spanish a bit better before getting back to the States, and two, to stop in one spot long enough to get a debit card sent down to me since mine was stolen in Nicaragua.





View from Edna's home.







Cathedral at night.














Xela's Cemetery


The Spanish went well. I had a good teacher who taught me quite a bit, which was no small task considering I just showed up with a random mass of knowledge in the language, and she had to figure out what I needed and what I didn’t to keep me engaged for my 5 hour daily lessons. Props to Lucy for pulling it off.















I lived with a wonderful family, which was an awesome experience. The mother and kids and roommates were all great. Edna was our host mom, incredibly nice, and a wonderful cook. I didn’t see much of her daughter, Titi, as she was studying intensely for a math final in school, but her 8-year-old son, Fernandito, grew pretty attached to us. The “us” would be the three students: myself, Miriam from Germany, and Hannah from the States. Heidi and Edna’s father also lived in the house, but I didn’t see much of them either; we all had our schedules and such. I also met Edna’s sister, Lesley, and her husband, Mike, who is from the States as well but lives in Xela with his wife and newborn son, Jeremy. That kid is to die for. Absolutely adorable. Mike has a ministry down in Central America working with groups all over helping out with their needs, mainly in Church construction. He invited me to come back down this summer. We’ll see if it will happen, and I know my parents are thrilled to hear that. =D

The fam:






















L - Los Chicos, Fernandito & Jeremy; Miriam, Fernandito, & Hannah




Jeremy showing us how to look adorable.









Chillin' with the Fernandito







Pizza dinner.





Miriam, Hannah, and I lived together for a week. In that time we hung out at the house, went to a pretty rockin’ water park, and then watched the curse of Xela wreak havoc on the lives and health of the girls. Hannah, already nursing a 2 week cough, all of sudden ended up in the hospital for a night, and was in too much pain to do much afterward. She would have occasional coughing fits that were painful enough to watch, let alone have to go through. Xela nights are cold (we were at 7,200 feet...). She and Miriam were planning to leave to go somewhere warmer, but then that curse set in and the day before the scheduled exit Miriam got some sort of stomach flu. Even the night before they left, Miriam still wasn’t eating and Hannah still had a debilitating cough and was still in lots of pain. I was getting anxious waiting for my debit card to arrive, wondering if something ominous would come to pass with my health with each passing day I stayed in Xela. Hopefully the warm weather will help them both recover quickly.

I was in Xela a total of 2 1/2 weeks, but only stayed with Edna for a week. She had family visiting from the States, so we all had to move out so there would be some room in the house. I ended up with another family, friends of Edna’s, and very friendly and accommodating. It was a blessing getting to know the kind couple and there cute children. Those three, David, Daniel, and Nicole, are a handful, let me tell you. To all you who work with kids day in and day out, and to those who raise or raised them, mad props.

After the debit card came in, I was off again, seeking out ancient Mayan ruins amongst the jungles of northern Guatemala. But that is another story, for another time…soon.