During my last 11 days in Xela, I have not taken many photos, but I would like to post a few of the ones that I did take.
As usual, these are all thumbnail images. If you want to see a more detailed high resolution image, simply click on the photo.
This is the exterior of the municipal theatre in Xela. This is one of the many places that my little Mayan friend Alejandra took me too when we did a short city tour on Monday.
A few of the many colorful buses parked at the second class bus terminal in Xela.
In this photo, I am standing in front of the oldest church in Guatemala. This little church was built in 1526. It resides in a small village about 15 minutes away from Xela. We visited this village as a school activity on Tuesday afternoon.
This is the inside of this same beautiful church.
After visiting the church, we visited with this man who showed us how he makes the type of textile fabric that is used by many of the Mayan women in Guatemala. He tells us that this particular fabric is used in certain villages in Northern Guatemala.
On Thursday, for a school activity, we visited a the small museum of indigenous clothing in Xela. The Mayan people in each region of Guatemala have their own unique way of dressing. This photo and the following two are samples of the many unique outfits that were on display.
These two outfits are worn by Mayan men and women in the “Solola” region.
These two dresses are from the regions called Cajola and San Martin Sacatepequez.
I’m not sure what part of Guatemala this interesting men’s outfit is from.
On Friday night, our school held a barbeque dinner for all students and teachers. In this photo, Hugo, the owner of the school, is preparing the barbequeue prior to lighting the fire. The other young man with his thumb up is one of the teachers.
This is Hugo and his wife Elbia. Together, they own and run the CBA Amerindia language school here in Xela. They are both really great people.
This is a photo of Elbia (co-owner of the school, on the right) and my little mayan friend Alejandra, who is one of the teachers here at the school. On Friday, my teacher was AWOL, and her student was sick, so we had the opportunity to work together.
I wanted to get a photo of my regular teacher, Vinicio, but he was missing on Friday when I was taking photos.
This is a photo of Jacqueline and her three children. Her husband Hugo was at work yesterday when I took these photos. On the far left is Jacqueline’s daughter, also named Jacqueline. The tallest young man is Hugo, named after his father Hugo. Hugo loves Boy Scouts, and was preparing to run off to a troup meeting. On the far right is Richard.
I really love this family. I lived in their home for seven days (six nights). Jacqueline fed me three meals every day.
Me, between the two Jacquelines, with Richard on the other end.
The exterior of Jacqueline and Hugo’s humble home. These exterior walls are about three feet thick.
Inside the living room. The front door is in the far right corner. My tiny bedroom is directly behind the camera.
This photo was taken from the other side of the living room, looking toward my bedroom. If you look closely, you can see that there are actually two doors in the far wall. The wall is thrown together with 1/8 inch hardboard nailed to 2″ x 3″ boards.
The darker door on the right leads to my tiny bedroom. The white door on the left leads to another tiny room rented to a 17 year old Mayan boy who is in his third and final year of high school.
Looking into my bedroom from the door. The bed has a twin-sized box springs with an old odd-sized mattress thrown on top. It was hard and lumpy, but it did the job.
The inside wall of my bedroom, as seen from my bed. I found it quite humorous to see the haphazard way in which this wall was thrown together. Notice how the two boards on the ceiling do not even come close to matching up. The 1/8 inch thick walls have many gaps, allowing light and sound to travel freely between rooms. The top of my doorway is in the bottom right of the photo.
But I loved my family, and all I needed was a place to sleep and food to eat. My humble little bedroom served its purpose.