Xetulul- muy muy bonito…
On Sunday morning at 5am, we set out for what was to be a strange but ultimately very interesting and even fun day.
It all started a few days ago when our host family very excitedly produced a flyer advertising an excursion to Xetulul. The mother, the son, and the father all seemed pretty excited about it, telling us over and over that it was "muy bonito, muy muy bonito". Some sort of a park with rides, from what we could tell... The price also seemed to make an impression on people, as it was only 50 quetzals for the bus ride and then 10 Q to get in (about $7.5 total).
From what we could gather from what the host family and a teacher at the school told us, Xetulul is the best of a few theme parks that are made available for free to Guatemalan employees of the private sector, who pay for these parks and other recreational things through a 1.5% income tax. The regular entrance fee is something insanely high for most Guatemalan people, about 200 Q or more, so they also make the parks available to people who don't work in the private sector (teachers, doctors, unemployed people,...) by letting one department go for 10 Q every month. And yes, this month was the turn of Sacatepequez, where Antigua is located.
Still not quit sure what this park was all about, we went to talk to the people at the travel agency that was putting the trip together, and got treated to more "muy muy bonito" comments, with the employees of the travel agency very excitedly saying that they were going on the trip as well.
And so we signed up, still not quite sure of where we were going to, but pretty sure that we were going to at least have an interesting cultural experience on a trip with local people.
Sunday morning rolled around, and we proudly embarked on our first "chicken bus" ride- an old tricked up and brightly painted Blue Bird school bus from the USA, with extra seats squeezed in, and three adults (or two adults plus one or two children, or 4 or 5 children) cramped into seats originally made for two children. We had the extra pleasure of sitting on the seat above the wheel, which further ate away at our leg room. I was pressed against the window, while Matt was stuck in the middle, constantly struggling for breathing space with the lady next to him, who was nursing a baby about one month old.
We left Antigua at 5am, picking some more people up on the way out of town. The first part of the journey was relatively pleasant, as we watched the sun rise and light up the summit of the volcanoes, with the exotic countryside unfolding under our sleepy eyes while the radio blasted latino hits. But as time went by, the tightness began to feel more and more uncomfortable. Matt's knees got bruised against the front seat (as we got off we could see the L of "Blue Bird" imprinted into his knee) and I spilled fruit juice all over my pants as the driver raced along a sometime rather bumpy road. Yet the atmosphere on the bus was friendly, and we enjoyed watching the scenery, with fruit vendors along the roads, exotic trees and plants all around, volcanoes in the background, and the occasional reminder of the dire poverty some people live in here as we drove through villages that looked like shanty towns.
Then finally, we arrived at the park. It was nine o'clock on the dot, and we were the first bus in the parking lot. We all ran off to the gates... to find out that the park did not open until 10! The sun was beginning to beat down, and we waited in the shade, still wondering what awaited us behind the gate.
As we got in, and walked toward the big bright replica of the Mayan pyramid of Tikal to the music of a live band, we were first impressed with how happy everybody looked to be there, and how clean the park was.
As we were sitting on a bench looking at the map, a family with a little girl came to ask us to take a picture. I said "sure" and offered to take the camera to take a picture of them but no, no, they actually wanted a picture WITH us. We obliged, of course, smiling with all our teeth while the little girl looked at us with surprised awe. We laughed as they walked away, realizing that there were probably not too many tall, thin, fair skinned gringos in this part of the world... And indeed as the day progressed, we were greeted by many friendly and curious "hellos", as park employees (Charlie Chaplin, a clown, a pirate, etc.) tried their few words of English on us to ask us where we were from.
The park itself was like a smaller, friendlier Disneyland, with reproductions of monuments from Guatemala and "the three European cultures that influenced it most", namely Spain, France, Italy, and Germany/Switzerland. It was indeed "muy bonito", very well done, and of course somewhat amusing. There was a little nature around, fountains to play in (very welcome in the heat), and restaurants to eat at. Plus of course the rides, which were surprisingly fun. The roller coaster was probably the best one we'd ever been on, and a couple of other rides turned our stomachs too. Fortunately we got to relax on the little choo choo train that went around the park!
An then it was time to head back to the chicken bus - for a very long ride home. Fruit vendors jumped on and off the bus as they could in villages, and we watched people bathing in the rivers along the road as dusk set in. As it got dark, the driver decided there was no time to waste and proceeded to race with other buses to get ahead of traffic- pretty dangerous, but quite successful. When the bumpiness of the ride sent people and bags flying all over the place, the children giggled and the adults whistled-though we could not tell whether out of disapproval or amusement.
When we finally arrived back in Antigua, we were, needless to say, fairly sore and tired. We topped off our "authentic Guatemalan day out" with some good fresh corn and potato tortillas from our favorite food stalls in front of La Merced, once again fearlessly braving the risk Montezuma's revenge.
We went to bed exhausted, but happy. And firmly decided to try a "tourist bus" next week-end...
We did not take many pictures but here are a few to give you an idea.
August 7th, 2010 - 21:00
les recomiendo que valla a xetulul es muy bonito y les aseguro que no se van a arrepentir.