Today is Day 5 at Xela and I already had taken 2 trips to nearby towns. On Wed, I went with my teacher Mynor and 3 other students to San Marcos for a soccer (or futbol) match. We took a bus and it took probably an hour to get there. Mynor is from San Marcos and we met up with his cousin and family. The stadium facility is very basic, with concrete stands surrounding the field. The home team San Marcos was wearing yellow jerseys and they have a fan section where people were cheering and playing drums and some kind of brass instruments very enthusiastically throughout the game. The guest team was Xela's (in red) whose performance was not entirely great. Most of the people in the audience were relaxed but where someone in the field missed an attempt or did something stupid, they will yell from their seats these "bad words", one of which I learned to be "punta!". I need to look that up to see what exactly that means....So the score at the end was a disappointing 0-0. I bought more food from vendors at the game, and I'm glad to report that I haven't had any trouble yet with my tummy. After the game, there was no bus unless we wait till midnight (it was only 9:30pm) so we ended up taking a cab. The cab driver was extra nice and it was less expensive than my teacher thought it would be. (There are no meters so you have to negotiate with the cab drivers.) I was just glad we didn't have to stay overnight in San Marcos.
Today we went to the market in this other place called San Francisco. Same kind of bus but today it was way more crowded than that one to San Marcos. There are temporary stalls set up all over in these alleys and also up further at this open dirt lot. I You can find all sorts of things here: clothes, shoes, belts, light bulbs, baskets, etc etc. Some of the students in our group had bought those pieces of colorful weaved cloths which are hand made and takes like 3 months to make. I didn't buy anything from the market because they are mostly junk to me. The open area features all kind of livestock and animals: a lot of chickens, ducks, turkeys, and bigger ones such as cows, lambs, and pigs. Mynor my teacher wanted to get a kitten and/or a pupy but we didn't find any that looks good/healthy. I think one kitten goes for about Q.30 which is less than US$4. All in all the market was an interesting experience but I wouldn't lose any sleep if I miss this outing.
