Life at Utatlán: More Than Classes
Studying Spanish at Utatlán gave me opportunities to experience more than just language classes and life with a local family.
Every Monday, students and teachers gathered to welcome newcomers and hear about the activities planned for weekday afternoons and one day each weekend.
The schedule offered a variety of ways to practice Spanish, explore different places, and learn more about Xela and its people.
Participation was optional. Some activities were free, while others required students to pay for expenses such as transportation and entrance fees.
An Afternoon with Local Children
On my first day of school, we visited a local after-school project where children received help with their homework. The kids were there with their mothers, many of whom wore traditional Maya clothing. Each of us was assigned a child to help with English. I worked with Adriana, but after a while, she asked me to help her with mathematics instead, which I did.
Afterwards, everyone went outside to play games. I tried to join in, but I couldn’t figure out what I was supposed to do, so I watched the others.
It was interesting to see children and teenagers of different ages playing these games with their mothers and having so much fun with such simple activities.
After the games, food was passed around, followed by a large birthday cake. The project celebrated everyone whose birthday fell that month. I really liked this opportunity to see a little of Guatemalan life up close. It felt so different from simply being a tourist.
Dinner by Candlelight
The following evening, there was a dinner at the school.
When I arrived at 7:30 p.m., everything was dark, and I had to feel my way up the staircase.
There had been a temporary power cut in the area, but dinner hadn’t been cancelled. Kris, the school coordinator, brought out candles, and we ate by candlelight.
The school had even arranged a special salad for me to accommodate my low-carb diet.
Halfway through the meal, the lights came back on, and we finished dinner in a completely different atmosphere.
Getting into Rhythm
Every Monday evening, there was a salsa class at a local studio. It was free for Spanish school students, while others paid a small fee. The studio was tiny and quite crowded, but fortunately, salsa doesn’t require much space.
The teacher showed the basic steps to beginners and gave us time to practice. Then the beginners were paired with more experienced dancers.
From time to time, the teacher would step in to help with technique or introduce more complicated steps when someone was ready.
By the end of the class, I was hot and sweaty, but I’d enjoyed it a lot.
I only wished Valery had been there, too. I hoped I would remember the new steps I’d learned and teach him later.
Discovering Maya Clothing
After my first week of Spanish school, we visited Museo Ixkik, a museum dedicated to traditional Maya clothing. At that point, I knew very little about Maya culture, and I was struck by the variety of clothing and embroidery on display. The museum focused on the traditional clothing of Maya communities in the department of Quetzaltenango, giving me my first glimpse of the diversity of clothing traditions even within one region.
Our museum tour was in Spanish, which was still a challenge for me at that time. We weren’t allowed to photograph the displays, but our guide demonstrated how traditional headwear is used to wrap a woman’s hair. She invited one of the students to help her show us this process, and we were surprised by how elaborate the technique was.
A Visit to Trama Textiles
Another school outing was to Trama Textiles, a cooperative of Maya women weavers from different parts of Guatemala.
We met some of the volunteers, and one of them gave a presentation and showed us a video about the cooperative’s history.
Trama Textiles was established during Guatemala’s civil war, when many women lost their husbands and had to find a way to support themselves and their children. The cooperative gives them a way to earn money from their weaving and helps keep traditional Maya weaving techniques alive.
After the presentation, another volunteer showed us how she was weaving a scarf on a backstrap loom. The process looked quite complicated, and watching her work made me appreciate how much time and skill go into making these textiles.
I spent some time browsing in the shop, admiring the colours, designs and patterns.
I also liked that the women received 100% of the sales, while the cooperative’s administrative costs were covered by the weaving classes.
I didn’t buy anything, but I was glad we had the chance to visit and learn more about the women behind the weaving.
Chocolate Without Sugar
I love chocolate, so I was really looking forward to our school trip to Doña Pancha, a small chocolate museum and workshop. Established in 1870 by a local family, it has been making and selling chocolate for generations.
Since I don’t eat sugar, I assumed I wouldn’t be able to taste anything, but I was wrong. When I asked if they could give me “chocolate amargo” (bitter chocolate) without sugar, they said yes!
We started with chocofrutas: a tray of cut fruit, including strawberries, pineapple, watermelon and bananas, served with melted chocolate for dipping. Everyone else got a large pot of chocolate to share, while I was given a small ramekin of melted 100% chocolate.
I loved the contrast between the sweet fruit and the rich bitterness of the chocolate.
In my opinion, it tasted even better without sugar, although the others didn’t agree with me.
After we finished our fruit, we had a tour of the small museum and learned about the history and production of chocolate. We were told that cacao is grown along Guatemala’s Pacific coast, where the tropical climate is suitable for the trees, but it is too hot to make chocolate. For that, the cooler climate of the highlands is better. We tried toasted cacao beans, which were crunchy and tasted a little like dark chocolate, and then had a go at crushing them with a stone to make a paste. It turned out to be much harder than the demonstration had made it look!
The visit ended with hot chocolate. Our group chose two flavours, mint and vanilla, but I had mine plain and without sugar. It was the best hot chocolate I’d had in a long time.
I think the secret was in the preparation. Rather than heating the chocolate on the stove, they poured boiling water over it and then whipped the mixture with a wooden tool called a molinillo, creating a rich, bubbly texture.
These activities gave me a chance to experience parts of Guatemalan life that I might not have discovered on my own. But there was more! As it turned out, my stay in Xela also coincided with one of Guatemala’s biggest celebrations: Independence Day. I was about to find out what Xela was like during festival time.
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