And so begins my 5th week...

Technically, my 5th week actually started on Friday which is incredibly difficult to believe.  It´s bittersweet really because it means that Evin will be here in no time, but it also means that my Guatemalan adventure is coming to an end.  It´s a funny thing to want something for so long, finally realize it and then to have it be over so quickly.  It´s definitely a time of reflection...

The seed of coming to Guatemala to learn Spanish was planted in my head long ago.  Almost 10 years ago to be exact.  I was 18 years old and a fresham in college at the University of Utah where I was taking a first-year spanish class.  I was visiting an art gallery for extra credit that had some spanish art on display and got to talking to the gallery owner.  He told me about some of his experiences backpacking through Central and South America and then proceeded to tell me about all of these spanish immersion schools that existed in places like Guatemala.  He said Guatemala was the place to go if you want to learn spanish and so here I am 10 years later.

The funny thing is that about two weeks after talking to the art gallery owner, I went out and bought a backpack and was set on using it to head down to Guatemala and learn spanish.  So what happened and why did it take me almost 10 years to get here?  Life happened... I got busy.  I got married,I bought a house, I finished school, I started a career, I bought a car, I got divorced, I decided it was time and here I am... finally!  Do I wish I would have come sooner?  I´m not sure about that.  I can´t help but believe that I´m here at exactly the time I was meant to be here.

Had I come sooner, it would have been a different experience and there´s no telling what that would have been.  It´s impossible to say whether it would have been better or worse.  I´m the happiest I could ever imagine being right now and for that I believe that this is the right time in the life I have and that´s what´s important!  

I´m thankful that I never forgot or discounted the fact that I wanted this trip.  I´m thankful to have had people encourage me along the way.  I´m thankful to have a job and a boss that allowed me the time off.  I´m thankful to my parents, Evin and all those who offered me kind words for getting me through the first few days of loneliness and I´m thankful for all of the great experiences I´ve had and the wonderful people I´ve come to know in the last 4 weeks.

Ironically, now that I´ve written this post, I realized that I didn´t even bring the backpack that I bought 10 years ago specifically for this trip.  I have to admit, I brought a rolling suitcase... oh the shame!  I guess it just means I´ll have to take some more trips to make sure my backpack gets some good use in the coming years!

Please note, the weird spacing and hanging apostrophes are not due to my imcompetence, but do to the fact that I´m typing on a spanish keyboard where apostrophes aren´t apostrophes, they´re accent marks and I refuse to take the time to make the spacing perfect.

Less is more...

A phrase that we´ve all heard throughout life, often relating to less material things, less money, showing less skin, etc.  But less information when travelling, I wasn´t sure about that until this weekend when I set off for Semuc Champey with 4 friends I´ve met along the way.


We did something a little different this past weekend and didn´t book our trip through the school.  Instead we booked through a local travel agency.  The trip was half the price and we´d run into some others that had gone through the same agency and had a good time.  The difference was, through the school we knew exactly what we were getting and we were always given a detailed itinerary.  Through the agency, the only things we knew were to show up at 1:50 on Friday afternoon and request to stay in the hotel by Semuc Champey the second night.  From 1:50 on, adventure was just around the corner and I never knew what was happening until it was happening.

For example:

I had no idea the five of us were going to be dropped in the middle of nowhere in the mountains near Lanquin where we were left at a rustic cabin by ourselves for the night.

I had no idea that we were going to encounter a gargantuan spider in one of the rooms and a 3-4 inch scorpian on the wall in the other of the said, rustic cabin.  Thankfully, neither were in my room and we had an experienced scorpian-killer on hand (nod to Kristin).  However, it was enough to make me pull my bed from the wall and make a conscious effort to sleep with my mouth closed for the night.

I had no idea that the following morning I´d be piling onto a motorbike, Guatemalan-style, sandwiched between the driver and Kristin with my backpack strapped to the front of the driver´s chest.  Did I mention we were on a dirt road....

Okay, I have to admit, I did know that we´d be riding in the back of a caged 4x4 to get to Semuc Champey.  What I didn´t know was that we would randomly pick-up locals along the way and I´d get pistol whipped in the face by a low hanging branch and have my sunglasses, that I didn´t even realize had flown off my face, returned to me by a local in the back.  I also didn´t know that we´d be driving through some of the most beautiful parts of Guatemala on such a beautiful day... amazing!

I didn´t know that when they said we were going for a hike, it would be one of the steepest and most slippery hikes I´d done and I´d be sweating like crazy by the top.

I didn´t know that when the guide said we were going to go explore some more of the natural pools of Semuc Champey, we´d have to jump off a rock to get to them.

I certainly didn´t know that exploring the caves at Semuc Champey would mean holding a candle while we walk and swim through the freezing cold water, climb up/down sketch rope ladders, crawl through waterfalls holding a rope with water pounding on us, slide down a rock into a pool of water below, etc. etc. (By the way, this cave exploring never would have flown in the US without harnesses and helmets).

I didn´t know that we´d wake up Sunday morning at 4:30am and wait by the side of the road for an hour for our ride that never came.

Here´s the thing, I didn´t know much on the trip and I wouldn´t have had it any other way.  Had I known what some of the activities entailed, I probably would have been more hesistant to do them or would have booked the ´safer´trip through the school.  Had I booked through the school, I never would have stayed in a cool hostel at the entrance to Samuc Champey (amazing place by the way) where we met and played cards with people from all over the world. I would have missed out on the adventure of not knowing what would happen next, which looking back, made the trip.  I would have also missed out on the comraderie that comes with going through this experience with others who are in the same boat.  You don´t know what´s going on, you´re a little scared at times and you´re definitely outside of your comfort zone, but you survive.  This past weekend is what travel is all about!