Xela

Quetzaltenango is commonly referred to as Xela (pronounced Shela). This bustling mountain town is a great city to organise 1 to 7 day treks in the stunning mountains, or base yourself for Spanish lessons, as many gringos do! Xela isn’t as clean or extravagant as Antigua, but it’s also not as expensive.

You can arrange a home stay with local families around here and see a side of Guatemala many travellers miss.

Thanks internet for this introduction.

I spent the day asking around what hikes snd tours I could do. The weather was still bad. The rain came in at midday and didn’t stop until the next morning. It was cold and the city was dirty and it was quite hard to find a good, cheap Comedor in the city center.

I decided to skip the hikes up here and move on to Semuc Champey in the heart of Guatemala. The next morning I took 4 buses towards my new place and after 10 hours I made a overnight stay in Cobán, not too far from Semuc Champey.Read more