It’s been a long two days getting here to Xela, Guatemala. Let’s start at the beginning. First of all, getting back from Europe and having only Tuesday through Saturday to do everything I needed and wanted to do was pretty tough. I wish I could have had an extra week inserted between the two trips while still keeping each of them the same length (or even longer). I got to see a lot of my friends and hang out with a few of them, and I also got to spend time at my favorite youth groups, High Five and FaceOff! Being at them for only one day out of the quarter was hard, and it made me want to stay home and continue on with them, but I know these trips have been good for me and I will grow from them in ways I never could have at home. Travel just does things like that to you.
On Sabbath, I woke up early and went with Mom and Aaron to the Pendleton airport. When I booked my flight (which I got for a sweet first-time-flyer price of $33.50) I had no idea how small the plane would be! The pictures made it look like a nice private jet with room to spare. No no. There was barely any room to move around. I loved it, though, when I was waiting in the terminal and one of the pilots said, “Come on everybody, let’s go to Portland,” and then he began to do a roll call and assign us seats by word of mouth. That pretty much made my morning. The flight had probably the smoothest takeoff and landing I’ve ever had. It was a really pleasant flight.
In Portland, I was very pleased to find life moving at a much more relaxed pace. I made my way through check-in and security and proceeded to use the free WiFi they had in my terminal. I boarded my plane and flew to Houston. The flight was fine—nothing really worth mentioning. Same with my flight from Houston to Guatemala City—nothing too special, except that they were kind enough to bring me a vegan dinner (as opposed to the cheeseburgers everyone else got—and it was surprisingly palatable!). When I arrived in Guatemala City, I picked up my bag, went through customs, and waited for my ride to the guest house affiliated with my school in Xela. When Alberto, the guy who owns the guesthouse, arrived, we went over to his place and then I went to bed. The room was very nice—a bed, lamp, fresh water. The basics. The weather in Guatemala City was pretty muggy, so I didn’t fall asleep too quickly, but when I did sleep, I slept well.
In the morning, I woke up, put in my contacts, and went to breakfast. Staying at the same guesthouse as me were five other Americans. They are all medical students in Virginia and are here to learn Spanish and help in the clinics here for a few weeks. We ate a great breakfast of watermelon, pineapple, banana, toast, and coffee. We then packed up and headed off to the bus station. Another American, named Christine, who is from Oklahoma, had flown in that morning and was waiting inside our van. I sat down beside her and then everyone else packed in. We made our way to the bus station, bought our tickets, said gracias y hasta luego to Alberto, boarded the bus, and were on our way.
The bus was a pretty nice first-class bus with comfortable seats and televisions on which we watched an old black-and-white movie in Spanish (looked like a modern-day Aladdin with turbans and all) and then about a third of the movie “The Shawshank Redemption.” The ride took about four hours and included heaps of curves and turns that felt similar to the road to Camp MiVoden. It wasn’t horrible, but it did make you wonder if you were going to get sick. Thankfully, we had a rest stop that had bathrooms and food we could buy. I got a tortilla con queso (a makeshift quesadilla).
When we arrived in Xela, we got off the bus and Christine and I took a taxi to our school, Celas Maya. The school is small and has gates at all entrances. We rang the bell and a lady opened the gate for us. After checking in, Christine and I wandered the streets of Xelas for an hour or two. We stopped to eat at a little restaurant—we both had burritos, papas fritas (French fries), and fried plantains. It was a nice meal that ended up costing us 40 quetzales (which is about $5 total—pretty great, huh?!). After we ate, we went back to the school and used the Internet (yes, Internet is capitalized). I was on for about twenty minutes and only had to pay 2 quetzales (about $0.25)! Sweet!
Then my host mom came to pick me up. Her name is Lucky, but you say it like Loookie. My host dad introduced himself when I got home, but sadly I don’t remember his name at the moment. I have three siblings here: Marvin, who is 15, Andrea, 12, and Nancy, 6. They’re all really nice. I’m so glad I got a family with kids! I think I’ll learn a lot more Spanish this way.
My room here is just great. I have a big bed (not super comfortable, but it works fine), a desk, blankets, etc., and the best part of all is that I have my own patio that has a beautiful view of the city and the volcano nearby! I have a housemate who is one of the Virginia medical students I mentioned before. His name is Andrew Pfeffer. He’s 26 and his room is right on the other side of the wall from mine. I think we’re going to get along well.
Dinner tonight was spent with Andrew, Lisa, and Jean (Virginia students) out on the town. I had little nachos (chips with beans and cheese on them…individually), pasta with pesto and onions (more onions than pesto…practically a whole onion), and some delicious watermelon juice! Overall it cost me about $8 US. Not bad for eating out! Tomorrow begins the homecooked meals by Lucky (I’ll call her mom or mama from now on, I think). We’ll see what vegetarians eat in a carnivorous country! Haha. It’ll be great, I’m sure.
Well, I think it’s time I go to bed. I’m writing on my laptop and then I’ll get online at school and post this.
Hasta luego!
