Xela by night

Depending on your attitude, one of the possible drawbacks of travelling around Central America is that it is not safe to venture out at night in many places. This is particularly true in capital cities. Xela however is a large university town with a diverse and safe nightlife.

On my way back from Zunil an American girl approached me in the street to hand me a flyer for a benefit they were holding that night. Something about raising money for some fair-trade textile organisation they were working with. I checked with the others when I got back and they were up for it.

After getting caught then in the storm and getting a nice hot cup of tea were were back in the dorm where Lucy thought we might warm up better with a sip of her Caldo de Frutas, some moonshine she bought at a neighbouring village a few days before. That went down nicely. So I offered to pop down to the shop and pick up a nice bottle of 12 year old rum to share. There we were in the dorm, playing musical ipods and a game of cards. The rum was finished so it was time to head off to the benefit.

We arrived to a circus styled event with a couple of girls doing a very bad karaoke version of Abba’s Mama Mia, hula hoops, and, lo and behold, a face painting station. We were in there like bees to honey and, after decorating each other, took it upon ourselves to make sure everyone had some kind of abstract art over their faces, arms and any other visible flesh. Bald heads were a bonus.

We ended up outside in the street with Ben playing the guitar that belonged to some Irish guy’s Spanish teacher, doing singalongs to Brim full of Asher, Wonderwall and many other embarrassing tunes. We even had an audience of flower children from the party up on the bridge overlooking us, with their hula hoops. Strange, but fun, evening. And, I might add, not at all authentic as far as Guatemalan culture goes – except for Pedro doing a Gypsy Kings number, that felt kind of authentic.

Next night, Lucy’s Spanish teacher’s friend (got that) was supposed to be playing in some band in the park in the early evening and had promised to dedicate a song to her. So we headed over to find (no joke) the Xela Heavy Metal Festival going on in the park. It was hilarious, all these Guatemalans decked out in faux-leather pants, with long hair, studded wrist cuffs and jackets and bad ass attitudes. One of our favourite quotes (and I apologise for the language) came from a young enthusiastic fan. He came over to us excitedly and told us that our friends wanted to “know” us – whatever that was supposed to mean. One of his cooler than ice friends came over and gave me some weird heavy metal handshake then disappeared. Then, Lucy offered him a cigarette. Here was his reaction: “No fucking way, fucking Marlboro Light, fucking great man, fucking great”.

So long story short (I’m trying) we were meant to meet our friends at one bar, ended up at another dodgy bar where Lucy was offered crack cocaine and I was chatted up by an 18 year old. We went back calling it a night when we got chatting to some Irish guys in our hostel, Paul and Killian. Incidentally, a few nights before these guys came into our room drunk at 4.30am, pretending to be ghosts – and, I had also met them a week or so beforehand in a pub in San Pedro. When the hostel bar shut we ended up at a local nightclub, La Parranda, dancing with locals and waving our glowsticks. Oh dear. This is starting to sound like Antigua all over again.

On the Saturday I met up with a local, Manuel, who I’d met the night before. He was a Spanish teacher and offered to chat with me in Spanish to help me improve. It ended up being a pleasant afternoon, sipping wine and babbling in Spanish. That night we were heading out to celebrate Lucy’s birthday. Manuel joined us and we ended up meeting up with some of his friends. Another nightclub (La Rumba) and more glowsticks. And, I also met a funny Canadian called Gavin – 68 and somehow hasn’t been able to get out of Xela for the last six months. I thought I was too old for clubbing…

Last night in Xela, Lucy’s actual birthday, and we headed out for a somewhat more sophisticated evening of dinner and a few beers with some new Spanish arrivals. Thankfully, a relatively early night.