Saturday, January 14, 2012

Turkey Day, Christmas, New Years, and a Change


November flew by. I went to the kite festival in Sumpango on the 1st. The kites were huge. I loved being able to hang with my friends, have a couple beers, drench myself in the sun, and look at the huge kites. And watch people attempt to fly them, and some people succeeded in that. Sumpango is where I lived during training, which meant I got to spend some time with my host family, which I absolutely loved. When other people went back to Antigua at the end of the kite festival, I got to go back to the house and have a home cooked meal and great conversation with some awesome Guatemaltecos.

Kites! 
After the festival de las bariletas (kites), I was back in site or about 5 days. Then I headed to Santa Lucia for a sport camp with my YD peeps, and after that reconnect with my training class. It was nice to see everyone’s aces and be back in the Santa Lucia office. It felt like training in that there was a routine, and I was almost never bored. But it was also nice to be a real volunteer because we were able to go to Antigua to have dinner, which was quite lovely. Awesome coffee, Peruvian food, good chocolate, and the amazing falafel, were the highlights of my eating in Antigua.
After reconnect, I went back to site for one night, and the next morning I left for Xela (pronounced “Shela”). I was with three other volunteers (Lucy, Emelye, and Jon), and we were suppose to head to the beach on Monday morning. So we got up early, and all of us were on time and super excited. We caught a micro to the bus terminal. We walked though the market, and arrived to see NOT ONE BUS. We asked a couple of Guatemaltecos what was going on, and they said that there was a bus driver strike, so there wouldn’t be any buses or the rest of the day or until the late afternoon. We were all really bummed, considering that for three of us (including me!), we were only going to be there or 48 hours, which meant we couldn’t go to the beach at all. I didn’t want to wait another day to leave; it takes 6 hours to get there anyway.
So we walked to the Peace Corps office in Xela (super nice, by the way). We laid out our options, and decided the first thing to do was to get breakfast. We had an awesome breakfast at San Martin, and then did some Walmart and MegaPaca shopping! Overall, it was tuning into a nice day. I was trying my best to stay positive, and to make this unfortunate situation an opportunity for awesomeness!
We walked back to the Peace Corps office, and eventually, decided to catch a cab back to our hostel in the central Xela. We walked back to the bus terminal to find our cab, and what to our eyes should appear, but a bus to Coatepeque. This was exactly the bus we needed in the morning! We hopped and skipped to the bus, and boarded! The ride was about 2.5 hours. During the ride, Lucy and I played an awesome game of “Name that Country”.
Lancha on the way to the beach!
Pelicans!


Pelicans!

We arrived in Coatepeque, and the heat was overwhelming. I could already tell I was going to love this trip, as I was sweating like something that sweats a lot (can’t think of an appropriate metaphor). We got on a shuttle or Tilapita. It was and hour and a half ride, and we arrived at this tiny little town. It didn’t look like much. We were instructed to get on a lancha (boat) in order for us to go to the beach. So we got on a lancha, and took the river to a peninsula. During our ride, we saw a beach pig, a peaking view of the beach, and beautiful mangroves. There were beautiful trees, and I would guess that 100 pelicans were hanging out in those trees. It was just a magical sight to see.
Island covered in sand!
We arrived at more beach. We got out of the lancha, and stepped onto beautiful sand. I immediately took off my shoes, and was so happy to walk barefoot in sand. This peninsula/island that we were on was completely covered in sand! No concrete or stone in sight! We walked until we found our friends Janece and Riley. We walked to our crappy hotel, and set our things in our rooms. I then immediately walked to the beach to see an amazing sunset. It was one of the most amazing sunsets I had ever seen in my lie. It was just an amazing experience, with all that stress of getting to the beach, and we made it just in time to see the amazing sunset.
Sunset at the beach
We spent the next night/day at the beach, swimming in the rough ocean, looking at the stars on the beach, swimming in the pool, drinking beer, and having amazing seafood. I awoke on Wednesday, spent some time in the ocean, and hit the road. Jon and I were making our way to Nebaj, Quiche for Thanksgiving. It was a very long trip. Eight hours the first day, and six hours the second day. After a very long trip, we arrived to a totally different part of Guatemala and met our friend Gina. We arrived and had our own Thanksgiving meal, as we had arrived a little to late to eat with everyone else. As we started the main course, everyone else was starting their dessert. I wanted to document everything, but was too delicious to take a picture. We had turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, broccoli, cauliflower, avocado, and an amazing salad. And to top it off, there was wine and pumpkin pie. Yay!
We all spent the next day at a cheese farm near Nebaj. It was nice just to sit in grass and have some wine and cheese. I left the next day to head back to Santa Clara. It was such an amazing trip, and a great tour of Guatemala.

The rest of November and December was spent in a movie and television haze. Since schools ended in November, I was on a summer break of sorts. I had fun times with my friends in Solola and Xela. I ended up going to San Lorenzo, San Marcos to celebrate Christmas with Jacob, Emelye, and Tina. We watched Christmas movies, ate really well, and set off fireworks at midnight on Christmas Eve (which is a Guatemalan tradition). We woke up on Christmas morning to gifts from Santa (Jacob). Santa was so happy with his little snacks of marshmallows and whiskey that he decided to gift us.

Myself, Ashley, Kim, Linnea, and Gina in Solola
On Christmas Day, I got to Skype with my family who were spending Christmas, like every year, in Marietta, GA. I spent an hour and a half Skyping with them. I got to see all of them open their gifts I sent them from Guatemala. I got to see Mom, Hannie, Bam, MA, Aunt Shar, Aunt Sands, Ben, and Chuck! I love my family. Chuck even played a special Christmas song on the piano for me, live via Skype. This was my first Christmas without them, and it definitely wasn’t the same. It was different. I am so glad I spent it with friends; I don’t think I could have handled myself if I spent it with Guatemalans.
That week, I ended up being told that I need to leave my house, because of circumstances outside of my control. It was a stressful and awkward week with my host family. The day after I got back from New Years, I moved into my new house! I am so excited! It is two rooms, with two balconies, and my own bathroom. I know that I am going to be so much happier with more space and a little more privacy.
riley, me, and jon celebrating New Years in Antigua!
Speaking of New Years, it was spent in Antigua with some great friends! We had great food and good times! On New Years Eve, we stayed up till 6AM hanging out. I felt like such a rebel doing that, since I don’t think I have ever stayed up past 4, when it didn’t involve writing a paper or studying.
As I was leaving Antigua, I was running errands around the city. While I was walking around, I lost my wallet. Only I would be in a city that is known for theft, and I LOSE my wallet. I had to cancel my cards, and borrow money. It was a big stressor, and an unfortunate end to a great weekend. But it’s just a wallet; I wasn’t hurt, so really it’s not that big of a deal. 
School starts next week; I could not be more excited. My movie and television haze has developed into a big case of the boredom. I am so excited to finally be able to feel that I am contributing to the success of the people of Santa Clara.


Paz y Amo

No comments:

Post a Comment