Vacations and Holidays

As an extranjera living in Guatemala, we entered the country with only a 90 day visa. Crazy to think it, but I have been here almost 90 days. Therefore the school pays for a trip to Mexico for the teachers who need to renew visas. The past two weekends were the renew-visa-trips to Mexico. I went last weekend with a van full of other teachers. The border is only about 3 hours from Xela. We go to a border town called Tapachula, spend one night, and come back to Xela the next day. It was a short, but a good trip. And when we reentered we got a new stamp for another 90 days. Being in Mexico really put the Guatemalan culture in perspective for me. I had almost forgotten what a little box I live in in Xela, and it was fascinating to be able to compare and contrast Guatemala, Urugay/Argentina, and Mexico. A few things I realized from our short trip to Mexico:
1. Quetzaltecos are really short. (even the Mexicans looked tall compared to the Xela-people)
2. Xela has a real mountain climate--Mexico was gloriously hot compared to our weather in Xela.
3. Mexicans speak an extremely more abbreviated and faster Spanish than Guatemalans. Mexicans cut words short when speaking and the pace is way faster.
4. There are a lot of gringos living in Xela--we didn't see a single gringo other than our group while in Tapachula.

While in Tapachula, one of my friends finally came up with the perfect group costume for Halloween, after many weeks of thinking--a Mariachi Band. So, six of us girls bought sombreros in Mexico to wear for Halloween.

This past week was Halloween, which although a lot of Guatemalans do not celebrate this holiday, you can still find a small section of Halloween costumes and decorations at the big grocery stores. Four teacher friends and I spent Wednesday afternoon after school making our Mariachi band costumes to wear to a friend's costume party Wednesday night. It was a hilarious night! We named ourselves "Las Flour Tortillas" For those who might miss the joke, the whole band was a bunch of gringas (white girls), the name was half english and half spanish, and here they eat corn tortillas instead of corn tortillas...get the irony? Anyways, we got looks (and laughs) everywhere we went from both Guatemalans, Gringos, friends, and strangers. While walking through the marketplace on the way to a costume party, We were getting whispers, stares, catcalls, and looks from as far as 2 blocks away...and it was even ngihttime! Several cars passed us, slowed down, stopped, waited for us to catch up, and then rolled down the windows to take pictures of us, or let their kids take pictures of us. It was funny, and a very memorable Halloween!

The day after Halloween was a holiday from school because in hispanic cultures they celebrate November 1 as el dia de los muertos...or day of the dead. It is a day for families to spend time together, eat fiambre (a mixture dish that everyone makes for their family, and everyone's mom makes the best fiambre of course), visit graves of deceased relatives, decorate the graves, etc. In the park by my house, there was a special fair/market where they sold kites for kids to fly, and plastic flowers to decorate graves. One of my favorite things that is cheaper to buy here is flowers. Flowers here are extremely cheap, and they're beautiful! Anyways, flowers were everywhere in the days leading up to el dia de los muertos and now the cemeteries are full of them. It's a sight to see.

Other than a half day of class this Tuesday for teacher "professional development", we don't have another vacation until Thanksgiving. Time is flying here, Christmas will be here soon!