Lit Fest / Café con Cortesía

Last week, from Wednesday to Friday (March 26-28), Xela hosted the 22nd annual International Congress for Central American Literature (Congreso Internacional de Literatura Centroamericana, or CILCA).  In the afternoons, when my classes were finished, I walked a few blocks to the Casa de la Cultura and the Casa No'j, the two cultural centers in the Parque Central where the lit fest was held.  This year's Congress was dedicated to indigenous poetry, specifically in honor of Humberto Ak'abal, a Mayan poet from Guatemala.

I've been told that Guatemala doesn't really have a strong literary culture.  One American who has lived here for several years pointed out to me that the librerias (allegedly, bookstores) in town have a few hundred books but make most of their money on notebooks, pens, and other office/school supplies.  She also noted that there aren't any big bookstores in Xela, except for a place that caters almost exclusively to the self-help genre.  In contrast, however, this literature festival gave me the impression that Guatemala, and Central American more generally, has an enthusiastic corps of authors, editors, publishers, and readers.

Here's a picture of part of the "bookstore" section of the festival.  The doors at the end of the hall open into the room where most of the readings took place.

On my way back from the book fair, I saw a sign that reminded me of a café chalkboard that my French teacher alerted me to a few months ago (http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/news/world-europe-25347423).  It looks like the Guatemaltecos, like the French, prefer their café con cortesía.

Getting settled in Xela

I'm currently in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala, known locally as "Xela" (shay-luh), an abbreviation of the Mayan name for the city.  It's the second-largest city in Guatemala, with approximately 225,000 people.  Guatemala City, with 1.1 million people, is much larger than Xela, but it seems to have less to offer for tourists and has higher crime rates.

For the moment, I'm doing an immersion program at a language school, with five hours of language classes on weekdays and a homestay with a Guatemalan family.  There are about 40 students at the school, including students on exchange programs from the University of Virginia, the College of St. Benedict, and St. John's University.  Most students are here independently, though, and range in age from around 20 to 80 years old.

The classes take place in a courtyard.  Here is a picture of the desks:

And here's a picture of the garden:

Among the most impressive buildings in Quetzaltenango are the churches.  The church closest to my house is in the Parque El Calvario, and while often known as the Church of the Calvary, its official name is Church of Our Lady of Solitude.  It is located right next to the city's cemetery, so there are many funerals in this church.

The biggest church in town is the cathedral in the Parque Central, which is the cathedral for the Archdiocise of Los Altos Quetzaltenango-Totonicapán.  The Cathedral of the Holy Spirit was built in 1532, though all that remains from the colonial period is the façade.  The rest of the original church was destroyed, and a new church was built in its place.  In the picture below, the colonial façade is in the center, with the current cathedral building behind and to the right.

Because Xela is up in the mountains, it has what Wikipedia describes as a "tropical highland" climate.  In other words, it's warm during the day, but really cold at night and in the early mornings.  It's been as low as 36 degrees since I've been here!  Glad I brought some sweaters!