27, January, 2013 (no, I’m not dyslexic, that’s the way most
of the rest of the world writes their dates)
Arriving in Guatemala:
It’s Sunday afternoon while I write this and it was exactly a week ago today
that I arrived in Guatemala. I’ve
accomplished so many things in just one short week; including but not limited
to moving into a new house, working a week at my new job, almost dying and then
recovering from food poison, slicing open and twisting an ankle on a giant
boulder, swimming in lake Atitlan, and learning how to cook anything, including
pizza on a stovetop. It’s been quite an
adventure so far to say the least!
So, where do I begin? I suppose the beginning. After a flight delay of 6 days (yup, you read
that right, see previous blog entry), I arrived at BWI airport on the 20th
at 5am, fingers and toes crossed that my flight would actually be leaving that
day. Luckily, it did, and the girl who
checked me in helped me force my overstuffed bag closed and didn’t charge me
extra for the other, overweight one. My
first flight from BWI to Ft. Lauderdale was pretty uneventful, although
uncomfortable. The flight was full and
the seats did not recline at all (again, budget airline) and I was glad to have
my water with me since they even charged for that. Although seated like a contortionist, I was
tired enough to sleep an unrestful sleep for about an hour of the 2 hour
flight.
I was a bit nervous about my connection in Florida since I
only had about 30 minutes in between flights. Luckily, the terminal was the
smallest (and most crowded) I had ever seen and the next gate was right next
doors. It was so small, I even had time
to go to the toilet and buy an organic salad (it was good)! I felt like I was
already in Guate since everyone around me was speaking Spanish. Actually, everyone at my gate in Baltimore
was speaking Spanish too since most people were headed to Central America and
it was comforting to know that, even after years of not living in a
Spanish-speaking country and at 5 in the morning, my brain slipped right back
into el español.
I lucked out on the next leg of the flight from Florida to
Guatemala City (also about a 2.5 hour flight) and had an empty seat next to me
so I was able to lie down, although ironically, couldn’t sleep. Towards the end
of the flight, I met a Finnish girl seated behind me who had already been to
Guate several times. We exchanged
stories and emails, and she may come visit me next week. Plus, if I’m being honest here, it was nice
to have someone to leave my bags with while I went to the bathroom. J No problems
with the bags, they were there waiting when I got off the plane, customs was a
breeze (although I did have a slight panic when I realized I didn’t have a
return flight and quickly invented a story in my head just in case), and my
shuttle driver was outside with my name on a sign waiting for me. I felt special! J
The school had arranged for the driver, Domingo, to meet me
and I was glad since I was running on little-to-no sleep and had some errands
to run that could only be done in the city, before heading to my remote village. The first sights I saw of Guatemala as we
left the airport included Dominoes pizza, several Citibanks, the zoo, lots of
Burger Kings, and Shell gas stations. I mentioned to Domingo that I wanted to
stop to go to an ATM, buy a cell phone chip, and eat lunch. He said he knew just the place for us to
go. I was excited to have my first Guate
experience and curious to know where he would take me—It was none other
than….Walmart! Yup, my first “local” experience in Guate was at Walmart. And he was shocked to learn that we had
Walmart at home too. J
Nonetheless, it was still an experience, and nothing is ever
simple! My first “to-do” was to take out money from the ATM for the month since
my village has no bank. The first 2
machines I tried gave me error messages.
I was starting to panic that it was my card when the 3rd one
finally worked (except, it would only give me a minimum amount and only let me
do that 2 times). So, I left the city
with less than half the amount I needed for the month. (Luckily, later in the week, I took a trip
for work to a town with a bank and was able to get more money because by that
point I was already down to 90 Quetzales (about $10) for the rest of the
month.
After the ATM, we went to buy a SIM card chip for my phone. It’s a phone I bought while in Jordan and I’ve
used it all over the world: Europe, Asia, etc., simply buying a local chip in
each new country. I bought the chip, the
guy put it in and….voila, nothing! Damn thing wouldn’t work here. I was so tired and hungry, I just bought the
cheapest phone they had (about $12), and we got on our way to eating in the
food court. I will say this, although it
was Walmart, it was a Sunday and was a hopping place for the Guatemalans so I
didn’t really feel like I was in Wally world.
And it’s definitely a different clientele than the ones back home. Food court options were slim (except for Taco
Bell) for vegetarians, but we found a Ma and Pop place with local food. I had some sort of egg-covered asparagus with
beets and tortillas. Not the best, but
it filled my belly. (Lucky for me, my
town, San Marcos, La Laguna is extremely vegetarian-friendly!!) After lunch, I
quickly bought some things I thought I might not be able to by in my town or
knew would be cheaper in the city (toilet paper, olive oil, balsamic vinegar,
etc.) and we set on our way.
By this point, it was close to 3pm (I landed around 1) and
as much as I tried to persuade Domingo to stop at Office Depot for a filing
cabinet the school had asked me to buy, it was a no go. SO, a double-fail for me on the first 2
assignments I had for work—arrive on time and get a filing cabinet L The
trip took about 3.5 hours, including all my private bathroom stops, and was a
good chance to catch up on sleep (had the entire van to myself) and learn about
Domingo’s family. We even picked up his
wife and daughter for part of the way.
The first part of the drive was not much to write home about, but the
second half was a bit slower as the roads would disappear at times and turn into
giant potholes of dirt (reminded me of Laos roads) on windy, mountainous
routes. As we approached my town, San
Marcos, it was right around sunset and it was a beautiful drive overlooking the
lake and the town, with all the lights.
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| My Kitchen |
I was nervous we wouldn’t find my contacts since we hadn’t
established a meeting point, other than “in town” and was wondering why no one
else seemed to notice this oversight. And then we pulled into “town” and I saw
why. There’s literally (like that,
Jenny?) one spot in town for a car and sure enough, that’s where Andrea, a
teacher at my school, was waiting for me.
She was sweet and bought me a 5-gallon jug of water as a house-warming
gift, for which I was VERY grateful! She showed us the way to my house where
Josh, the co-founder of the school (American) had prepped the house, down to
fresh flowers on the table!
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| Pieces of Home to watch over me :) |
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| Kitchen, Desk, Bed |
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