Rain, on time and so very cold

It has been a week here in Xela and, after a week, there are some things that are constant: The Rain and the Freezing Cold. The mornings are clear and somewhat warm, but one would be a fool to be duped into believing that this will last. As soon as it turns ten, the clouds are herded in like cattle above Xela, and the once inviting puffy clouds turn a more sinister color of dark grey and sometimes even black. At actually 3:17 p.m., - but who is counting? - the rains begin with gusto. The whole town is overrun by wetness and the city turns into a mountainside aquatic park. With the rain comes the ever present chill that stings your face and body. Queztaltenango, or Xela, continues to function as if there is nothing happening. People move about without jackets, ducking underneath different awnings ever so often when the rain mercifully lightens. The whole process of living in these conditions is truly indicative of this city: a relaxed, wet and quiet place. Last Friday, Xela celebrated its 485th year as a city without much fanfare or pomp and circumstance. There was a band and a large flag, but as the rain pounded the city at night, everything turned to normal. There was no BBQ's, or fireworks, or drunken students spilling out on the streets singing the national anthem off key- only the sound of splashing and groans from Sam and I as we stepped into another recently formed river along the street. Everyone tells us that Xela is the quietest, big city in Guatemala- the reverse of the tourist slogan of Reno, Nevada: The biggest small city. Its name is derived from Mayan as “the place where- you'll never guess- the Quetzal bird, native in Guatemala was in abundance. Its only real acclaim came in 1920 when it built the first electric train system in Latin America. Unfortunately, it lasted only for 3 years as the cold- how could they miss that aspect, I have been here a week and I know it’s cold here- deformed and bent the tracks making it unsafe for travel- seems a bit weird when the busses I have been travelling on are pretty much in the "unsafe category" as well, yet they still run. Only in the 50's when some non-descript international conference came to Xela did it gain any international relevance and since then it has quietly grown into an economic and urbanized city. The old city is filled with travellers, who as the travel guides all explained are hardened travellers looking to learn Spanish. Cafes outnumber bars here and often they are filled with travellers with notebooks, computers and pens studying hard. Along with schools there are dozens of volunteer companies advertising trips and opportunities to help communities.
There are two means of finding out what is going on in Xela: the free print Xelawho and Xelapages.com. What is hilarious about Xelawho is this publication has a multitude of advertisements from different bars and clubs informing people that there are dance classes at 7:30 or a movie showing at 8. What I love about travelling is that, on paper, everything should happen at 7:30, but we all know that that is far from the truth. We have arrived at a couple of bars wanting to take free salsa classes that have been advertised as starting at 9 pm, but the classes have to be scheduled in advance and at 9 pm the club has a 15 Quetzal cover. So in order to counteract this goof on our part, we tried to go to another bar that advertised salsa classes at 7 pm on Saturday. We went early to make sure there was no cover or hidden aspect. We arrived at 6:15 and the place was shut. At 7:15 the doors opened and the proprietor told us the classes didn't begin until 9:30: Bars 2, Gringos 0. As through most of my travels, if you arrive on time to an event, it has 1) already happened; 2) cancelled without any warning; or 3) the people who are working in the establishment have no idea what you are talking about. If you try and outsmart the system by arriving early what usually happens is 1) the people who work there have no idea what you are talking about; 2) the event is the day after tomorrow in another location where you must give the secret code just to get in;- even it is not a guarantee that the event is happening or the person has any idea what you are talking about; and 3) blank stares of incomprehension. It makes life so much more worthwhile, I feel like a gumshoe detective.
While getting to know Xela has been great; this place is the perfect place to learn. The real reason to be here is to learn Spanish. For me, this has been a monumental task as my situation in learning Spanish mirrors Sam's time in meditation. The main idea behind Sam's meditation was to draw out all the past problems, stress and hardships of life and allow them an avenue to come to the surface and disappear; and this is what is happening with my Spanish. All my bad pronunciations, - although to be fair, I have a hard time pronouncing words in English- incorrect tenses and general lack ability to speak have all come to a head. My teacher is great; she has tailored the class to revolve around reading and speaking: topics can be on anything. My lack of spoken Spanish was apparent from the get go and it has been quite frustrating to some degree. I have all of these verbs, words, and phrases all swirling in my head, but I have never had the chance to use them- mostly out of complete fear of speaking. Now I hope they will all disappear after a few weeks. I am writing and speaking as much as possible to combat the years of bad habits.
As for Sam, it has been an overwhelming experience, but an exciting one as well. She has been inundated with verbs, words, vocabulary, phrases all of it in such a short time period. Her head hurts, but she is determined to get through it. Ever the competitive person, she has made it here duty to be passable by next week. She loves this new opportunity to use her brain in new and exciting ways, but in general, there is a feeling of frustration as many times she can't understand what is going on or be able to have a conversation in the manner she is accustomed to. I have told her, that this is all part of the process as I went through the same experience in Chile, but all the same, it still is tough. She is diligently doing homework and we have focused on learning then looking to travel; which is what most travellers’ do on the weekend.