Mi familia en Xela

Here is finally a picture of my foster family from Xela. This was taken then past Sunday 12/23 at my foster mom’s parents house (Mama Flori and Papa Phillipe).

From left to right: Christian (18), Sergio, Sandra, Javier(cito) (11), and Jeffrey (15).

Cafe Baveria

This cafe off on the corner of 15 Avenida (Avenue) and 5a Calle (Street) has been a favorite of mine to hang out and drink coffee over the past couple of weekends. They have a very cozy atmosphere. The wooden walls are hung with all kinds of clippings and pictures on the wall related to Xela and the history of Xela.

They serve great coffee and have an assortment of crepes and croissants for around $4. I have been in there the past couple of Sundays to drink coffee and take advantage of their free Wireless Internet (which I’m using now). They also have a separate upstairs section especially for those that want to use their laptops.

I think the greatest thing about this cafe is their choice in music. They are big on adult contemporary cheese. I’m not ashamed to admit it, I like cheese. For example here is a six pack selection of music I heard today (Friday - 12/21/07)

Right Here Waiting - Richard Marx (ladies dig a mullet)
Baby What a Big Surprise - Chicago (where have you gone Peter Cetera)
These Dreams - Heart (when they turned cheese instead of rocking out to Barracuda)
Hello - Lionel Richie (Can’t beat a music video with a clay bust of Lionel)
We’ve Got Tonight - Kenny Rogers and Sheena Easton (don’t mess with the Gambler)
All My Life - Linda Rondstadt and Aaron Neville (the touch, the feel of cotton)

Regardless, Cafe Baveria gets a thumbs up from Feelin’ Guat Guat Guat

Climb to La Muela

Saturday morning I started out at 7am to do a small climb of a nearby mountain called La Muela.

Because of the time of year, not a lot of students are at the school right now. So today I was the only student going. I met up with my guide Rodolfo who has known people at the school for almost 40 years.

After a quick chicken bus ride we arrived at the bottom of the path to the mountain.

Rodolfo only spoke spanish, so it was mostly small talk. But he was telling me before we went about how he had climbed the second highest mountain Santa Maria 57 times which made my mind start riffing about the movie “The Great Outdoors” and the guy who got struck by lighting 66 times in the head, and the old 96er. Sorry, tangent, I don’t ask my mind to do this, it just does. Rodolfo continued that because of this he had some bad knees. So I’m thinking, great, this guy is going to drop at the most inopportune time.

We began the trek and I was already panting just climbing up the path before we actually got to the mountain. The terrain was pretty rocky and I’m pretty sure that if I do more of these climbs my nikes aren’t going to cut it.

The climb was pretty short only about 30 minutes or so. I got some great pictures as you can see in this post. Rodolfo even wanted me to take a picture of him at the top.