A Trip to Xela

I got to go to Xela for an overnight this past weekend. Super fun but also tiring. My feet hurt!
Xela (shay-lah) is the second largest city in Guatemala. It's real name is Quetzaltenango but no one calls it that! Xela is its Mayan name and it's much easier to say. 😊
I hopped on a chicken bus at around 9:20 in the morning on Saturday and eventually arrived in Xela at around 12:30. But of course, there are always adventures along the way!

My bus from Los Encuentros to Xela was a real bus, like a Greyhound!

Me, so happy to be traveling.
(Me on the way back, stuffed in a chicken bus, was not so cheerful.)

The real bus with nice seats and no crowding was a treat! They charged me Q25, which is Q5 more than normal but I didn't care. I asked if it was direct to Xela, and the guy said yes. But there was a catch! (Of course.) The bust stopped at some random gas station in Xela and let everyone out. Umm... where am I?

There goes my fancy bus....

I paused for a moment to get my bearings and noticed that all the chicken buses were zooming along the same road in the same direction. So I just walked up that way...in the rain! I didn't mind. It hasn't rained in months so it was refreshing. After several blocks, I arrived at the terminal, which is where I was expecting to be deposited anyway. So yay, success!

The main Xela "terminal" is a madhouse. I'll put a video on my YouTube page for you all to experience.

First destination? The mall and a delicious lunch of McDonald's! Yup, I said McD's. You know why? It tastes like home. Something to be said for franchises being consistent across countries. Except Guatemalan McDonald's have awesome treats like Coconut Pies! YUMMY. Plus their traditional breakfast comes with beans and tortillas and queso fresco and salsa. 😋 But a Big Mac is a Big Mac, even in Spanish.

Spring treats at McDonald's. Peach sundae, coconut pie, mango McFlurry.

For those who like to know these things, a Big Mac combo costs Q38, or about $6.60 Canadian or $5.20 U.S.

The mall.... ah, sweet sophistication. Escalators and shiny floors and people who are all dressed way nicer than I am. I always feel like a country bumpkin when I go to the mall. 😁

Second destination -- Walmart. I was on a quest for several things but was largely unsuccessful. The prices in Walmart in Xela are pretty comparable to Despensa Familiar in Panajachel. (At least for food.) It has a huge beauty section though, which is nice for the ladies, and also tons of housewares. To me, it's great just to have everything with a price on it with no bother of having to bargain or wondering if I'm getting ripped off cuz I'm a white woman.

Next up...MEGAPACA. What is that? Only the hugest second-hand store ever!

Yup, MEGAPACA. (Big booming voice.) And that's not even all of it.

I don't like shopping. I prefer to get in and get out. Megapaca does not allow this. Things are kind of sorted by type and size but then they're grouped by price discount, which is dumb. So I spent almost two hours trying to find a pair of shoes and some tshirts. But the bonus is things are pretty cheap and you can find new clothes as well, not just used. Lots of stuff still has the tags on it.
I scored a pair of simple shoes for Q40 ($7 Cdn, $5.50 U.S.) and a bunch of tshirts for Q6 to Q10 each. ($1 to $2). Sweet!

My plan was then to walk over to my hotel, sightseeing along the way. The rain had stopped mostly and it was a nice, cool overcast day. I started walking, confident I knew where I was going. (Ha!)

A lovely park.

This church was pretty fancy and different.

Some body-less statue dude being a creepy stalker and watching me. 😆

It looks just like Canada...minus the cobblestone streets and Spanish posters.

Something I noticed about Xela is that there is a lot of English. The stores were playing English music and there was English on most of the modern signs. Some stores were even named in English, like Green Cake. The Wendy's in the picture above says "Quality Burgers" in English.

Lots of walking and gawking later, I realized I wasn't ending up where I thought I would be. The streets in Xela are all numbered, which I thought would be easy, but it turned out each Zone starts over again with new numbers. So 9th Avenue in Zone 3 is nowhere near 9th Avenue in Zone 1. Hmmm.

It was after I'd walked down this big hill and to the McDonald's waaaaay in the distance that I figured I needed some assistance. I called Bert at home and he got on Google maps to help me out!

A grey day in Xela.

After getting some vague directions from Bert, I asked a microbus driver which way to Central Park. He waved me off in a different direction than I had been expecting. Hmmm. I walked to the corner and peered each way. Then I looked up and saw this tiny rusted sign, about the size of my hand, that said, "Prq Central" and an arrow. Okay! Off we go!
Many, many, MANY blocks later, I finally reached my destination. Whew!

Central Park is pretty even when it's raining.

Big church at Central Park. There is a secret though! I'll show you a bit further on.

Happy and relaxed street dogs! Ha ha!

Now that I had my bearings, it was easy to find my hotel, only 2 blocks from the park.

I stayed at Kasa Kamelot and paid Q168, although that was the price for two people. (Bert couldn't come with me cuz he was house/dogsitting. Bummer.) I review all hotels and restaurants on TripAdvisor, so head on over there to learn more.

The lobby of my hotel was like a jungle!

My feet were really hurting but I was hungry so I left my room to go out and get dinner at a place I'd be wanting to try since I saw their mouthwatering pictures on Facebook: Tacorazon.

My giant burrito being made.

I ordered a Burrito Classico. I wasn't sure what that entailed but I got to choose my type of meat and rice and beans, and then added a bunch of toppings and sauces too. It was HUGE. I swear it weighed more than a puppy. 😄 Price was Q49. It was a full meal, that's for sure. I think next time though I'll skip the beans as I think they overpowered the other stuff. Still delicious!
I relaxed in the park with a drink for a bit, just people watching, then headed home for some TV and bed.

The Park at night. The big buildings all had pretty lights on them.

I enjoyed sleeping in with no doggies waking me up and then lazily made my way over to grab a coffee and breakfast at the park.

My breakfast view.

I raced out of the restaurant and across the street to try to get a picture of this big beautiful Swallowtail butterfly. He was shy though and stayed up in the trees.

A gorgeous sunny day in the park in Xela. I love the pigeons!

This building was interesting. Notice how the right half is refinished? I guess the owner of the other half doesn't have the money to do his part! Also, that's a tour train in front! Cute.

The secret to the big church? It's a facade! The old part was destroyed in an earthquake in 1901. There is nothing behind the fancy front part. A new, more modern church has been built behind it. It's so modern, there are televisions at the back broadcasting a live feed of the priest at the front.

The architecture of central Xela is very interesting and different from anywhere else in town. It's very European. But once you start walking away from the center, it's back to cinder block buildings and adobe brick with Spanish roof tiles.

Seems a bit out of place.

This was a little monument to a famous poet.

His poem about the moon of Xela.

I wandered up some hills and got a nice view of the church from afar, plus some dilapidated buildings with collapsed roofs that were inhabited by homeless people and street dogs in equal measure.

Ha ha!!

Finally, it was time for my true purpose of visiting Xela, to meet up with a Facebook friend IRL for the first time and enjoy a charity BBQ for her dog rescue organization, The DOX Project: Dogs of Xela. 

DOX is operated out of a hotel that caters to human guests as well as dogs.

Lyka greeted all guests as they climbed the stairs to the rooftop patio. Such a sweetie!

This is Tattoo. She is sooooo soft and sweet! (And, yes, slightly chubby too. Ha!)

Most of the doggies weren't allowed to the BBQ and they were not impressed! I'm sure they enjoyed the leftovers though.

The BBQ was delicious and raised money for a good cause. I got to chat with some interesting people and of course met a bunch of cute doggies. I forgot to take pictures of the food but I do have a video below of the rooftop view.

My friend's charity is small and focuses on street dogs in the central park area of Xela.

The DOX Project aims to address street dog overpopulation in Xela's Zona 1, by proving an affordable and accesible way to sterilise and vaccinate street dogs.

Sterilisation addresses the root cause of the problem - if the dogs can't reproduce, we will be able to drastically reduce the number of hungry, injured, unwanted and (sometimes) dangerous dogs on the streets.

So after all the walking and sightseeing and shopping and eating, what's my overall opinion of Xela? It's not for me. I'm a small town girl! Panajachel is just right for me as there is more nature and less cars. I coudn't live without the Lake! Xela is certainly awesome to visit though and I will for sure return another time, hopefully with Bert so he can enjoy some fast food and Walmart shopping. 😊

TIP: Save your soles and catch a microbus for only Q1.25 to get around town.