Xela by car and an evening with our host family

We had a beautiful and clear day in Xela yesterday, perfect for our volcano climb. We hung out with out host family quit a bit yesterday evening. They took us on a tour of the city that we couldn’t walk to. Driving here is scary but we learned a ton and got to see some cool things. They took us to the local public university which has been the site of a lot of revolution demonstrations in the past. The two buildings that make up the university were covered in murals depicting people’s beliefs at the time of the revolution. During these revolutions many people were killed and there were a lot of plaques commemorating their deaths. I will only post a few of the pictures of the mural on my blog because some of them are quit explicit. If you want to see more I have a few more upload on flickr. You can access them  through our web page (www.kaplunfamily.com) under recent travels.

We also got to go out to zone 3 where all of the new malls are. Wow! They have modern malls that are just like those in the US (with different stores, of course). And every mall has a giant grocery store in it that is owned and run by Walmart.

Overview of Xela.

Alex shows off a mural.

A mural at the university.

Alex and I pose in front of the main university building.

Alfonso plays on a wall at the university.

Alex and I pose in front of a monument to people who have died in revolutionary fights at the university.

University mural.

Mural at the university.

Down with capitalism.

Sergio explains the meaning of the Mural to us and his kids.

Mural in the University - that is not a KKK member on the left! It is a person that decapitates people. Is that better?

This is a Greek monument and it sits in the middle of a traffic circle.

Last night our host family invited us to come sit and drink beer with them after the kids went to bed. They seem really excited about having people to hang out with that are their same age. Most of the students they get seem to be much younger than us (a lot of college students). They even want to go to a “disco” or to go hear a band next week with us. I am not sure if I am up for going clubbing in Guatemala but a band could be fun. They made us traditional Guatemalan drinks which consisted of beer, clamato juice, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, hot sauce, lime juice and salt. Alex loved it and I can say that it was different. They also gave us a liquor called Caldo de frutas which is like high-octane sangria made from a cherry like fruit, apples, peaches and pears and then fermented for years. It is only made in a village near Xela and is pretty tasty.

Group picture at the beginning of the festivities. (L to R - Alex, Me, Sergio, Shirley)

They have a wipe board on the wall in the main room and by the end of the night this is what was on it. We often used it to help us communicate when we couldn't find the word we needed in Spanish.