Weekend in the Big City

David and I took a trip this weekend to Xela, the second largest city in Guatemala. It's not really a "big city" by US standards: no skyscrapers, no public bus, no yellow taxis. But it seemed like a big city to us. After 3 months in rural towns and villages throughout the lake region, we found ourselves walking the streets of Xela, staring and pointing at glimpses of home. It was our first time in 3 months to see a traffic light, to enter a mall, to go into a Wal-Mart (yes, a real Wal-Mart), to eat ethnic food (how I've missed curry), or to eat at a McDonald's. The funny thing is, that when I was living in the states I pretty much tried to avoid many of these activities: I'm not a huge fan of Wal-Mart, I really don't like McDonald's that much, and I rarely enjoy a trip to a mall or huge shopping center. I don't know why I was so excited to take part in these activities in Guatemala. I guess it brought me back to a little bit of home, although seeing Mayan women dressed in traditional traje walking passed a GAP store was a very weird sight.

None-the-less, we took advantage of our time in the big city and even watched a movie in a real movie theater. The movie only cost $3.25, but the popcorn was way overpriced (just like home!). The mall food court had a Subway. I was so, so excited. It really did taste just like Subway back home, even with the Southwest Chipotle sauce. I was very impressed. And attached to the mall was a huge Wal-Mart. I walked in and was immediately struck by the huge-ness of the store and the aisles upon aisles of stuff. We have a Dispensa in Pana and it's actually owned by Wal-Mart. But it consists of 4 aisles and a fresh fruit section about the size of a walk-in closet. And that's big for Pana. So walking into the warehouse-sized Wal-Mart was surprisingly foreign to me (considering this is what I was used to back home).

Of course, it wouldn't be Guatemala without armed men standing around in the middle of the park, protecting something...

We enjoyed the Christmas decorations a lot. Wearing t-shirts and sandals does not feel like Christmas time for us Indiana folk, so seeing a huge Christmas tree in the central park helped.

Sunday we took a break from the mall and Wal-Mart and enjoyed reading in the Central Park...

We ate Xela's famous xeca con frijol (sweet bread with black beans in the middle - this picture is for you Carolyn!)

And we ended our time in Xela with lunch at McDonald's. It was expensive (compared to most of our meals for around $3 or $4). And David thought he ordered chicken strips, but it didn't really turn out that way...look of disappointment:

Notice how small the drink and fries are? We were like, what? Where's the biggie size?!?! ( : 

It was a fun trip with a few luxuries from the states, but it was good to get back home...