Guatemala has everything a tourist and traveler could wish. Nature, culture, history, ruins, colonial streetscapes and all you can imagine about Mayan culture.
Xela is a piece of Guatemala that you cannot miss to visit during your holiday. Quetzaltenango may well be the perfect Guatemalan town.
You know why?
This lovely city is not too big and not too small, is the second city in Guatemala, where you can feel the national flavor of Guatemala.
The first reason you would love Xela and a Destination is for» Study Spanish as a Second Language.« It is the only city in all Guatemala where you can have a real immersion on the language. People who really want to « learn Spanish » and then stay around and get involved in the myriad volunteer projects on offer. For sure, in all the country you can find Spanish School and projects but Xela is a cultural country where locals are going to treat you not as a foreigner, but as a friend.
Spanish Schools offer 5 hours, one on one, of Spanish lesson, living with a host family, all of them speak Spanish as a first language, if you live with Mayan family, and they also speak their own language.
In Xela, if you would like to do some volunteering and you don’t know where you can do it or how to start the process of volunteering, there is an organization focus on helping people to help.
EntreMundos offers volunteer placements with roughly 100 different organizations in Guatemala, the majority of which are based in the Western Highlands. These organizations work in fields like health, education, the environment, small-business support, agriculture, and community development, among others. They work directly with each organization to identify their volunteer needs and requirements to ensure that volunteers not only have a positive experience, but are also of service to the host organization.
Xela also functions as a base for a range of spectacular hikes through the surrounding countryside
Trek to Santa María volcano or Santiaguito volcano:
Symmetrical, forest-covered Santa María volcano is one of the most prominent of a chain of large stratovolcanoes that rises dramatically above the Pacific coastal plain of Guatemala. The 3772-m-high .
The massive dacitic Santiaguito lava-dome complex has been growing at the base of the 1902 crater since 1922. Compound dome growth at Santiaguito has occurred episodically from four westward-younging vents, the most recent of which is Caliente. Dome growth has been accompanied by almost continuous minor explosions, with periodic lava extrusion, larger explosions, pyroclastic flows, and lahars.
Santiaguito volcano.
Hot Springs!
If you love nature, spa and hot spring; you are welcome to Quetzaltenango and Travel & Health Guatemala. Because we have an amazing trip where you can enjoy a superb natural spa in a spectacular setting. you will swim on four pools of varying temperatures are fed by hot sulfur springs and framed by a steep, high wall of tropical vines, ferns and flowers.
Chicabal Lagoon
The Chicabal volcano and lake are considered as one of the most sacred ecological sites in the Mayan Cosmo vision. They are used for carrying out rituals and ceremonies, especially praying for rain. This picturesque volcano mixes Mayan-Mam spirituality and stunning mountain scenery with the mysterious lake in the crater of the volcano and its mystical cloud forest. On arriving at the site you can see birds such as the Quetzal and many other species of great importance to the national fauna.
I can you give you many more reasons to travel to Guatemala but I suggest you contact Travel & Health Guatemala to find out more.
We organize everything and will be with you throughout your adventure in order to make sure you have the best time possible. Transportation, accommodation, Guatemalan food, Spanish, activities and much more.
What are you waiting for?
Guatemala and T&H Guatemala are waiting for you….