Xela

We headed back around the top of the lake to Quetzaltenango, fortunately known as Xela (meaning surrounded by 10, referring to volcanoes). We were supposed to be volunteering here, leading treks up the volcanoes, but within a few minutes of arriving they were pretty clear the dog was going to be a problem. We were a bit confused as they trotted out wierd reasons like dogs wouldn't be allowed on the buses (they are), couldn't go into the restaurants (we've only come across a couple of our whole trip, and they were posh ones), the guests might not like it (really? Who doesn't like puppies?!). They wouldnt even let us go on a hike with them.

Anyway we soon gave up on the idea, and we are actually pretty glad. The town itself was pretty grotty without much to keep you interested for the 3 months we would have had to commit to. Also I couldn't believe they were preparing things like tomatoes and cucumbers for food - when we hike we go as weight-light and carb-heavy as possible, with things like pasta & noodles.

Although we don't really have much of a plan for our trip, this was the one thing we were basing things around so it had thrown us into disarray a little, and we felt a little let down that day. To cheer ourselves up we had a nice lunch of ribs, and they spent an hour checking out the town.

We do have two other ideas - the sister charity in Nicaragua seems much more well organised and were very receptive to us (and the dog). Also we love scuba diving so we could possibly look for somewhere to do our Dive Master certification, which basically means you lead the dive trips underwater.

To sum up this town, the only photo we could find was of a bin lorry that we got stuck behind for 30 minutes. I think we dodged a bullet here!Read more