¡Me encanta Jacal!
It was quite the experience! I'll start with the bus ride there. We caught a chicken bus (which is basically a repainted school bus) from Xela to Huehuetenango. They PACK people on these buses. I'm talking- six to seven people to a row, people squished together, people standing up. When we got on the bus, we were all sitting near each other, but as people got on and off, we got separated. To my right was a middle-aged man, who I really liked, because he never said a single word. But to my left... *shakes head* to my left sat another middle-aged man who as soon as he sat down, he was trying to converse in English: "You speak Eng-lish?" "Yes, but I also speak Spanish."
Some people here try to talk to you in English, and you have to tell them, "Puedo hablar español." But some of them, like this guy, just won't give it up and continue talking in English. I tried to express my disinterest in talking, but he was not getting the picture. He was also a little inebriated, you guys. His friend, who was also in a similar state, was at least cognizant enough to tell him to be quiet and leave me alone about fifteen minutes in the ride. He was finally quiet because he felt asleep, but he kept falling asleep on me. I was elbowing him off of me continuously for like an hour. Amberly could not see me and Ángel had fallen asleep, so I was on my own. The guy kept drooling and I was jerking my legs out of the way, trying to make sure he didn't drool on me. Finally, Ángel woke up and I was shooting him "help me right now" eyes. He asked the other inebriated pal to mind his friend, so he put his arm in between us, grabbing the bar in front of our seats, using his arm to keep his friend from touching me. Due to his state though, he kept dozing off and his arm would fall in between us. Needless to say, I was kind of tense for a few hours.
FINALLY, we switched buses and then arrived in Huehuetenango! We walked around a bit, ate at a delicious taco place, and waited for the next bus to San Antonio.
Tired, but relieved to be off that bus.
Wendy, another student who lives in Jacal, came to get me on her moto, and we went back to her house to drop my things off. After a little rest, we went around the pueblo and met a lot of her family members. We went to a house of some family members of our director here at the school, and they welcomed us so warmly and played the marimba for us! It was amazing! Afterwards, we rode the moto around Jacal and stayed up too late watching videos ;)
On Saturday, we had a busy day! We woke up early and met up at Sucely's house where I ate zompopos for the first time.
They're giants ants. And they were good.
Then we headed for the río azul, which was not so azul, because of all the rain recently.
Afterwards, we stopped at a restaurant to eat lunch. We waited so long for our food I thought I might hurt someone, there was definitely some hanger (enhambre) going on. Some guy tried to hit on me and Amberly's big sister instincts came out real fast. So we got out of there. There wasn't a taxi so we walked in the rain for a little until one came. After going home and resting for a bit, Wendy and I went to a nearby spring to bathe because the water in the house was effected by all the rain. It was so freezing, but just another experience I can add to my portfolio! We had some real good quesadillas for dinner to top off our night, rode around the pueblo listening to music, and stopped at Wendy's boyfriend's house to play ping-pong for a bit.
It was a great, but tiring trip! We woke up around 5:30 this morning to catch our bus back to Xela. As soon as we got back, we went to a sauna super last minute, which was amazing and beautiful!
When we got back, I took a long, serious, much-needed nap! And now sweet (sometimes) Mia is curled up
in my lap. I miss my kitty!
This coming Tuesday makes three weeks and I just cannot believe it! Here's to another wonderful week in Xela.
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