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!

Another week already!

I have to start this entry out the same as the last, I can´t believe my second week has come to an end and I´m already well into my third week.  I´m afraid I´ve gotten behind and have somewhat avoided writing because the task of writing about everything I´ve done thus far is daunting.  With that said, I think I´ll skip ahead to now because well, I can... It is my blog afterall and recounting every detail of each of my trips and days sounds like a bit of a bore for readers and an impossible task for me.  They certainly weren´t boring to experience but I don´t think you need a play-by-play.  Instead I´ll share high (and a couple) low points.

Let´s start with the trip to Tikal, Rio Dulce & Livingston .  I scaled ancient mayan temples with howler monkeys claiming their territory in the distance, hiked through the jungle, rode standing up in the back of an old pick-up truck through the afro-caribe town of Livingston with 15 germans, saw the biggest spider I could ever imagine (in my bungalow), spent approx. 25 hours in a van, drank fresh coconut water, and spent the whole weekend in layers of sweat, deet and sunblock.

Last weekend we went to the Pacific Coast town of Monterrico.  It was relaxed in comparison to the last weekend, but fantastic in it´s own way.  I´m now known by a girl I met from San Diego as Tortuga (turtle) Girl because every time I talked about them she said my face lit up.  My love of sea turtles goes back to a report I wrote in 5th grade and reignited 10 years ago in Hawaii on a sea turtle covered beach.  They´re incredible creatures and Monterrico didn´t let me down.  After walking for almost two hours on the beach in the dark, we finally came across the tracks of a sea turtle and had the opportunity of seeing her lay her eggs and venture back into the see.  I have pictures to prove it.  The rest of the weekend consisted of a lot of sitting and talking with people I met on the trip, quizzing each other on spanish, hammocks, cards, loosing a very expensive flashlight to the Pacific and a little bit of indigestion.  Oh, and I can´t forget the layers of sweat, deet and sunblock!

All in all it´s been a great couple weeks and time is flying by.  It´s a double-edged sword because I can´t wait for Evin to join me down here and at the same time am afraid it´s going to be over before I know it.  It´s hard to describe life down here, but it´s been pretty amazing.!

It´s been especially fun to get to know people and see my relationships with my teacher, Carolina, and with Guillermo and Alice (homestay family) develop.  I´ve met some pretty fantastic people so far.  In fact, Carolina and I just had one of the funnest lessons we´ve had as we joked about exes, sex and our love of food and Guillermo, Alice and I are headed for pedicures tomorrow.

Here´s to another week of great experiences! 

Settling in...

I can´t believe it´s been over a week since my last entry.  I kept meaning to write, but this is the first time I´ve sat down at an actual computer and so much has happened that typing from my iphone would have been painful.  It seemed that everytime I wanted to head to an internet shop hay mucha lluvia (it was raining a lot - a common expression here in Antigua during the rainy season) and I didn´t want to go outside.  You´re probably asking yourself, "Isn´t she from Portland?", but trust me on this one, it´s not the same here.  I literally understand the expression, when it rains it pours, because in Antigua, it really does.

Anyhow, enough of that.  I´ve settled in quite well and am really enjoying myself now.  School is going really well and I think my spanish is coming along.  It still takes a lot of effort to speak, but I get by and I´m understanding more and more each day.  In fact, at lunch, Alice and Guillermo were just saying how I hablo bastante español y entiendo mucho.  Translation: I speak enough spanish and understand a lot.  They say I´m well on my way to earning my spanish diploma.  They´re joking of course because there´s no diploma to be had, but it´s nice to hear since I have no idea how my spanish actually comes across.

I´ve been participating in some afternoon activities with the school.  Last Tuesday, I took a salsa class.  I really like to salsa and would go again today if it wasn´t for the arrogant instructor that was kind of jerk and who I think was making fun of me to my face, but was speaking so fast that I couldn´t understand him.  Unfortunate, because I love latin dance. Don´t get me wrong, I can laugh at myself with the best of them, it just didn´t feel all that great in this circumstance.  Don´t fear, I didn´t let it get me down and have plenty of other things to keep my busy....

Last week, I toured La Casa Santo Domingo, a beatiful old monastery turned nicest hotel and museum in Antigua, I got dressed up in traditional Guatemalan dress and got married, had a baby and took a weekend trip to one of the most interesting places in Guatemala, the ancient Mayan ruins of Tikal.

The last few things in that list deserve a little more explanation....

I didn´t really get married and have a baby.  The school had an afternoon trip to an idigenous village named San Antonio Aguas Calientes, just outside of Antigua.  There, me and three other students visited the cooperative home of four idigenous families that are working to preserve traditional Mayan customs, crafts, dress and way of life.  A few Mayan women explained how they weave the beautiful crafts they make and then dressed us up and took us through a typical wedding celebration.  They were then quick to strap a baby to my back quickly after the wedding which, I think is a pretty accurate picture of how it works.  I don´t say that to judge, only to reflect a cultural difference.  Mayans typically marry between the ages of 18 and 20 (used to be 15) and often times have many children.  After the celebration, we made tortillas, ate Pepián (a traditional guatamalteco stew) - delicioso - and ground coffee by hand.  It was really interesting and a nice difference from the touristy streets of Antigua.

The more I think about it, the trip to Tikal deserves it´s own separate entry so I think I´ll save that for a little later.

This week I´m not doing as many activities with the school and am working on building some courage to venture out on my own in a little less structured way.  I was talking with a guy and his 16-year-old daughter who have been travelling Mexico and Guatemala for the past three weeks and I think they´ve convinced me to be a litttle more adventurous.  I´m thinking I´ll take a spin on the chicken buses, correction - transporto publico :)

Hasta próxima...

What I learned/realized today...

First, and this is very important if you ever travel to a Latin American country... Don't, under any circumstances refer to chicken buses as chicken buses. Apparently, it's really offensive to locals. I know what you're thinking-- no I didn't have to learn that the hard way. Luckily I said, "autobuses pollos" in front of my teacher, Rosa, and she kindly corrected me and explained that I shouldn't say that in front of anyone. The politically correct term is transporto publico. Makes sense.


Second, I realized how much I enjoy walking to get places. I was just on my way home, walking down the dirty cobblestone streets at twilight and I realized that there's something extremely enjoyable and adventuress in having to walk everywhere in a new place. It took me right back to Morelia where some of my fondest memories were walking and taking in my surroundings. I also recognized that this would never fly back home where there are so many places to be and much to do in very little time. I think that's why it's so enjoyable here, I have all the time in the world!


Third, traveling alone knows no age boundaries. I spent most of the day hanging out with a 60-something-year-old from Australia that I met on break at school. His name is Dave and he was showing me the ropes and imparting much wanted advice as this is his third time in Guatemala. He speaks pretty good Spanish and isn't afraid to chat anyone up. I admire his Spanish confidence :) Some day...


Fourth, I realized how rich a day you can have when you don't have an agenda. I ended up chatting with Dave in El Parque Central about his travel experiences and then went to a free lecture at a beautiful building that appeared to be the Spanish Embassy--don't hold me to that. The lecture was honoring the founder of a unique university and the director was speaking about their philosophy on education. I didn't catch a whole lot of what was said but I could definitely identify some themes and it was good practice listening. The building it was in was really beautiful. I plan to go back and see more of it. I would upload some pictures from my phone but I'm not that sophisticated of a blogger. Comment with instructions if you know how. Facebook will have to do for now.


Lastly, I learned that all dogs around the world get on the furniture when their owners are gone! Insert great picture of Nugget curled up on the patio chair. He didn't budge when I got home. In fact, I didn't even see him, but he sure got out of the chair fast when Guillermo and Alice got home :) Nod to Dallas and Rio!


Es todo para hoy! Check out the pics on Facebook.

Estoy Aqui (I'm Here)

First, I have to say I'm taking back my blog. I think Evin may have been confused and posted on my blog rather than commented but I'll let that slide :)


It's my second full day in Antigua. As I write this the rain is pouring down outside. They aren't kidding when they say it's the rainy season. The past two days, it's been warm in the mornings then starts to cloud up around 2pm with some light intermittent showers and then starts pouring around 5pm and doesn't let up until sometime into the night. I've gotten caught out in the rainstorms both days and have come home soaked. My clothes are hang drying in my room to prove it. Tonight I think I'll stay in rather than venture out into the rain again.


Enough about the weather.... I'm staying at a really nice place. It's not exactly what I expected as it's a guesthouse with multiple rooms and not a private family residence. The guesthouse is owned and operated by a young couple, Alice and Guillermo. They live here as well and are both marketing students in their last year of school. I was a little disappointed that it was a guesthouse at first because I was afraid there wouldn't be the interaction that I was looking for. But after some great conversation this morning, I think it'll be great. Plus they have a dog. He's a year old Retriever and very sweet. He'll be a good fill-in for Dallas and Rio.


I have to admit I was pretty overwhelmed with everything yesterday. I kept asking myself what I had done signing up for almost 5 weeks by myself in a place I've never been. I was feeling a bit lonely even though I had spent much of the day with a woman and her 8 year old son I met at the guesthouse. They were extremely helpful and good compant, but it's the same as the company of good friends and family and can still feel lonely. Let's just say last night was tough.


Today has been a lot better. It's amazing how some good sleep and good conversation can turn my outlook around. I'm feeling pretty good about things right now and am looking forward to starting my Spanish classes in the morning. I got my first impromptu Spanish lesson from a local standing under cover out of the rain this afternoon. It was pretty funny but I actually did learn something. It'll be nice to start a routine tomorrow and have some structure to my day (which is very American by the way).


Well that's all for now. Blogging via iPhone isn't the most convenient. I definitely need to find a computer next time.


T minus 0 horas (estoy aqui) :)

Kas

Well Kas I had the privilege of driving you and the boys to the airport to see you off on your trip of a lifetime!  I was glad to hear that you made it safe to Houston and safe to G city... Although I wasn't thrilled to hear about your flying down to Houston with the Portland Timbers team!!!!  :)  Hopefully a lost Kindel is the worst part of the trip... Yo tengo un gato en los pantolones!! Miss you already!