NYE in Xela

Here´s how it went down. Last night a bunch of us PLQ students met at Parque Central to go out and party. I got there with my pal Elena a little early to find Jarret and Karl already there. There were lots of firecrackers going off all around so I got decided to sprint over to the little market on the South side of the park and bought 2 packs of Saturn Missile-type fireworks. I think I may have gotten a little gypped, but I don´t have a problem paying a little extra for the timing and convenience. I ran back to my group'o'pals which by then had swelled a bit and lit off the first pack in an open space and up they went, one ricocheting off a concrete structure and coming a little close to us. It´s not like we were being any less careful than the little kids and their parents lighting off every kind of firecracker available. The parque was filled with smoke like it was its job. After a while we went off to the one and only gay bar under the impression that if anyone knows how to ring in the new year its Guatemalteco'boyz. There was music pumpin´but when we actually walked in there were a total of two Polish-lookin barmaids with an attitude and not a single gay dude in sight. So before we could all decide to leave and go to a slightly more thrashin´bar Jarret and Elena got drinks so we stayed for a drink or two while the surly broads blasted Spice girls and some other top tier jams, as is the style. In the parque we had met a peace corps gal who said there was a bar that had live Cuban music nearby so I went out with a couple of cats trying to find the place, but we only found bars without live Cuban music! Alas. So we went back and left en masse to a bar nearby that sold buckets of Guatemalan Ice beer by the bucket for the low low price of Q50 for 6 bottles. Guatemala has 3 major beers which are Carbro, Gallo, and Dorada Ice. Carbro and Gallo are both pretty tasteless and watery and make budweiser look like a world class beer. Dorada ice is a slightly beer flavored seltzer water with some alcohol in it served ice cold with attitude. It went down real smooth. We hung out at that place, which was actually pretty cool and had a fancy ceiling and a waitress who was working her very first night and we gave her a run for her money constantly changing our order. Indecision 2k8. We left shortly before the new year and went back to the park to watch the fireworks display which rivals that of Logan Square on 4th of July. I ran back to the market and bought 2 more packs of rockets and some sparklers and we lit em off and got hugged by sketchy Guatemaltecos who were also hanging out in the less than highly populated park. We stuck around watching the fireworks for a little while and then noticed that there were almost no people in the park and fewer by the minute. Elena, Jarret and I went back to the gay bar to see if the party had officially begun and upon arrival we found the two surly bar maids with their boyfriends eating from plates of hors dóuvres and literally NO ONE ELSE in the damn bar. Where do the gay boys in Xela celebrate the new year?¿?¿? Geez! So we used the bathroom one by one and while I was waiting to use it one of the boyfriends of the bar maids came up to Jarret and me and asked for the Q40 cover which included one drink and I laughed and told him that we were only here to use the bathroom and that we weren´t gonna bay $6 to party by ourselves and drink A drink. So I said ¨kiss MY asphat!¨ Not actually, but we told him we were only using the bathroom and then we left to go back to the park and there was almost no one there so Elena and I walked home together cuz she lives on the way back to my casa.
This morning I met Josh, Shannon, and Ben, 3 new pals from the school and last night at the school to go for a hike. There at the school was a gal who told us she had a case of strep gone crazy and it had become a full body problem and that she got these black spots on her legs. She was trying to get a room at the hostel across the street, but it wasn´t open since it was ny´s day. She seemed nice enough. We left her and her lame pal at the school and started off towards the hill with a church that says Christo Viene atop it on the hill. We climbed up her good and found a bunch of drunk young Guatelmalteco guys atop it. We continued on the path as there are supposed to be steam baths at some point as well as some caves. We walked a couple miles and it was beautiful and Santa Maria loomed in the distance, huge as it is. We came upon a stone quarry that had wooden structures that seemed like they hadn´t been used in a very long time, kinda like in Dances with Wolves when KK comes to his outpost to find it abandoned. Speaking of KK I watch part of Waterworld last night with Spanish Subtitles and it was the jam, as it always is. THe hike was lots of fun. The end. Feel free to write me about yall´s NYEs. Anyone get laid??? Resolve to put that in your skullbong and smoke it!