Day Trip to Xela

After 9 months of staying home, Bert & I finally decided to take a trip to Quetzaltenango, more commonly known as Xela (SHAY-la). It was good to get out of town for a bit and see the "big city" but also a bit weird with all the COVID-19 restrictions still in place. Masks are mandatory still, of course, and the buses had dispensers of antibacterial gel bolted to the side of them. Technically, only one person was allowed per seat but only one of our buses actually enforced this. The driver was also behind a plastic sheet, yet the ayudante (helper) who collects the money walked freely thru the bus touching everything.

Most of the buses had some form of sticker indicating where you could sit.

The bus driver behind his plastic. You can see the blue mandatory mask sign as well.

We had thought about taking a private or semi-private shuttle but decided to take chicken buses because they're super cheap and also give you plenty of time to reflect on your life choices as you hurtle at 100 km/hr along twisty mountain roads with no guard rails. 

The prices have increased since I last took this trip.

Panajachel to Solola Q5

Solola to Los Encuentros Q5

Los Encuentros to Xela Q30

So it was Q40 per person one way to go from Panajachel to Xela. The trip normally takes about 2.5 to 3 hours.

However, we ran into a bit of trouble this time. There was construction at Cuatro Caminos so our bus took a detour. Suddenly, we stopped at the side of a four-lane highway and the helper motioned to a few of us to get off the bus. He told us to cross the road and get on a different bus to go to Xela. We bolted, terrified, across this extremely busy highway and got on a new chicken bus...which then proceeded to wander through a strange town I'd never seen and dropped us off by a blue arch and a McDonald's. The guy said something in rapid Spanish that I didn't understand as we got off the bus. Another guy immediately tried to push us onto a packed minivan but we hastily declined and spent a few moments just catching our breath and trying to find our bearings. Eventually, we found a taxi and decided it would be better to pay Q30 for a ride to our destination rather than try to walk around lost on steep and unfamiliar city roads. 

Finally at the Pradera (Walmart) mall, we washed our hands in the stupidly crowded bathrooms (keep your distance?? How when there are a dozen women in one small room?) and then had a quick lunch in the food court. I had Panda Express Chinese food, mushroom chicken & rice plus two yummy spring rolls for Q46 (about $7.50 Canadian or $6 American) and Bert eventually decided to have McDonald's, which he didn't like and ended up sharing my Chinese. 

Christmas Tree in the mall.

After fueling up, we began to walk down to the Dollarama at the Utz Ulew mall a few blocks away. We had forgotten how chilly it could be in Xela (higher altitude) so we stopped at a sidewalk vendor and bought Bert a lightweight Adidas hoodie for only Q40 (cheaper than my lunch!). 

Passed this ginormous Xmas tree on the way.

Weird giant fake Christmas tree in Xela.
They were selling real pine trees nearby.

We hiked down to the other mall solely to shop at Dollarama. However, we found that the prices weren't nearly as cheap as we expected them to be and the selection was poorer than we remembered from last time. (Although that was a different location.) We picked up a few things that are hard to find in Pana and walked back to the Megapaca. Megapaca is a giant second hand store that's behind the Walmart mall. It's HUGE. You could spend hours in there shopping but we didn't have that much time, so we kinda hurried through the racks and managed to find a nice pair of sandal-shoes for Bert.

Just one part of Megapaca in Xela.

A quick trip into the Walmart to look for anything else we missed and we were back on the bus to head home. The problem with doing a day trip to Xela is that it takes so long to get there and back, that you have little time for relaxed shopping. We had left Pana at about 9 in the morning, got to Xela at around noon, and were back on the bus just past 4. We reached home after dark at 6:30 and trudged home to be greeted by our overly ecstatic dogs. 

However, as I said, it was nice to get out of town and see the beautiful countryside. Traveling around Guatemala always reminds us that we are in a foreign country. That might sound weird but living in Panajachel has become so mundane, it seems just like normal life now. Even a little bit of travel makes us both feel inspired and adventurous. Time to start planning for another trip... but to where?? Hmmm...

Bert took some GoPro video for you to enjoy.