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!