While recovering from a bad stomach and a small cold we visited to local cemetery, where Esben got some pretty cool shots of some of the statues.
The statues with the missing limbs…
The cemetery was also a lot more colorful than the ones we have back in Denmark
Walking around the cemetery there was several graves with gates that led down to a basement with…who knows – I am just glad that the gates were locked 
In general the graves are colorful and decorated, but as we have visit Guatemala we have learned that the difference between rich and poor is huge. Guatemala has a rich ruling elite, a large group of poor and middle-class, but it also has an indigenous Maya population, which tends to be poor, poorly educated and poorly provided for.
The difference between middle-class (to the left) and poor (to the right)
We also had to do some shopping in Xela before hiking up Acatenango. We enjoyed shopping at the local market, were we could buy fresh and cheap food.
In Mexico we were use to buy in grams or kiloes, but here in Guatemala you buy in “libra”. One “libra” is a little less than ½ a kilo (less than 500 grams). When shopping at the local market it was easiest to ask for medio libra (half a libra) or una libra (one libra) – off course you can ask for more the one libra, but we are only two persons.
We also went to Walmart to shop for food and canned food that we could pack on the motorcycles. At Walmart we quickly found out that most of the groceries are more expensive. Check out the picture, one can of canned meat with beans (Hormel Chili is an American brand) cost 30Q which is about 4 USD or 30 DDK. The most expensive cans were lock in boxes to prevent theft. So the rich people and the more wealthy middle-class can afford to go grocery shopping in a supermarket, but all the poor people could never afford it.
Use your imagination… we found this candy in Walmart for the kids – do you think it is an appropriate treat? Okay maybe it is cute, but look at the shape!
Bye bye Xela – our new adventure is waiting!
As we got closer and closer to La Soledad the road conditions changed…
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p align=”left”>But we made it all the way to La Soledad, were we would be staying by local family – also called a homestay, which is very normal in Central America. During a homestay, you live and eat with the family giving us an opportunity to learn more Spanish, eat local food and experience the lifestyle of the local family. Normally a homestay is cheap/affordable.
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