I´m sorry I´ve been a little lax about keeping up with the blog but being the first week itś been hard to find time to sit down on the computer while weŕe experiencing all these new things and trying to get settled down. Itś been a little over a week since I got here and I hope to keep a post running once every week or two.
Luke and I left for Guatemala on Thursday night/Friday morning and arrived here around 7 am Friday morning. I was nervous, excited, scared but also looking forward to a new adventure. I wish I could say that the start of my travels went smoothly but that would be a lie. When Luke and I first got to LAX we were ushered to another line to check in our bags but that line happened to get skipped over time after time and we found out that it wasn´t really a line at all. So, after about 10 mns of frustration we switched lines. This line ran rather smoothly but when we got to the counter to check my luggage I was informed that my bag was considered oversized. This entailed that I had to pay 150 dollars and that it would be put on standby and may not even make it to Guatemala the next morning when my plane arrived. So, that wasn´t a good start. Then going through security my carry on bag got taken off the belt and searched through by police and i was searched as well for about 15 mns. Again...not a good start. As soon as we got on the plane though everything went smoothly. When we landed it was a real eye opener looking out the window onto the airport. I definetly got the feeling that I was in another country right away. There were old, rusted, broken propeller planes scattered throughout the airport and the runways looked worse than the gravel roads I´ve seen in Iowa ( no offense Jeff).
When we made it to the baggage claim I was worried sick that my bag didn´t make it. I got one bag right away but my "oversized" bag wasn´t showing up. We waited for a good 20 mns and low and behold my bag was one of the last ones to come out.
Luckily we had Michael Anderson, a Johnnie alumn and former sjbvc volunteer in Esquipulas, meet us at the airport and travel the five hour bus ride with us to Esquipulas. If it wasn´t for him I don´t think I would be writing this write now...I´d probaby still be trying to find my way here..seriously. When we got out of the airport Michael met us and we took a taxi to a bus depot where we would catch a bus to Esquipulas. Right before our taxi made it to the depot Michael turned to me and said "be prepared". Before I could ask what for our taxi stopped, our doors opened and 15 men were crowding our car looking to take our bags to the front desk to earn a tip or commission. I really don´t know what they were doing, but everyone was yelling and grabbing at our bags, it was really quite entertaining. I remember kind of laughing at the whole thing. After paying some guys to take our bags we got into the bus that would take us to Esquipulas...well almost. Anyways, this bus ride was 5 hours long and started with just Michael, Luke and I but as it drove through Guatemala city on its way to Esquipulas the bus got fuller and fuller until it was so crammed I couldn´t move my arms. As the bus stopped at different places the bus would empty out or at some places fill to the brim again. But at almost every stop people would come on board selling food. I´m not talking chips or snack foods I´m talking chicken and beef and even fruit on a stick. It was a real neat experience seeing all of these different things and getting thrown into this whole new culture and experience within the first hour of being here. As we drove through the country side you´d see the occasional cow just walking along the road by itself or a tienda in the middle of nowhere with one or two people in hammocks waiting for customers.
Our bus made it safely to Chiquimula which is the department or state that Esquipulas is in but shortly after our bus had to make a stop at a tire shop. We got off the bus thinkin that the bus would just take 5 minutes to fix but after probably 45 minutes we were ushered to another bus that just happened to be driving by. So, we left the old bus behind and got onto a newer, nicer bus for the last half hour of the trip.
When we finally made it to esquipulas I was amazed at how bussling and crowded the town was. I didn´t expect it to be so busy and packed with people. The Basillica itself is absolutely amazing. It´s so big you can pretty much see the top of it from any part of the city. As soon as we arrived we got our bags put away in our rooms settled in a little bit then took a tour of the basillica and the town of Esquipulas. The Basillica is huge and has tons of land on top of that with beautiful gardens with paths running through- its like our own personal tropical forest for a backyard..its really sweet.
The basillica also has a library where we met some guys that work there. They´re our age so we get along well with them. We´ve gone out to town with them and just hang out in the library and watch all types of pirated movies in spanish while trying to learn eachothers language. Its pretty cool how we are from complete different cultures and speak different languages but we can still relate and interact. We´ve started having informal classes after the library is closed for Luke and I to learn more spanish and for the guys that work there to learn more english. Itś a fun, relaxed environment which I think is really helping our language skills right now.
A couple of things that we´ve done so far as work or volunteering goes we´ve finished our first week working in the orange orchard with our boss Leonidas. We work in the mornings, typically, and pick oranges and cut out weeds and such around the trees. The work isn´t particularly fun but it is fun to talk in spanish to Leonidas and teach him phrases in English. He doesn´t speak any english but always wants to learn. I don´t know exactly how tall he is but he comes up to about my waste. And he loves cameras which is nice because he has kind of become our personal photographer. I just give him my camera and he shoots away..its pretty cool. He has also become more than our boss he has become our friend. He goes with us to places and takes us to different local spots. I don´t know if he adopted us or we adopted him but either way Leonidas is always with us no matter if we want him to be or not. Heś come with us to dinners, to the orphanage to go out for a beer and we´ve visited his home a couple times. This past sunday he took us to a recreation park called chatun. It was really cool--it had zip lining, cervezas, hammocks, volleyball courts, pools, loud music...it basically reminded me of a mini spring break destination minus the excessive drinking and nudity. So all in all Leonidas has been a big help so far in getting us acquinted with the city and lifestyle here.
The other thing that we´ve done so far is volunteer at the ciudad de felicidad. Itś an orphanage on the outskirts of town. We have to take a tuctuc which is essentialy a little taxi thing that costs 3 quetzales.( 1us dollar= about 8 quetzales). The first time we went to see the kids was an overwhelming experience. Itś amazing to see these kids so excited just to see us. As soon as we walked up the hill one little girl was by herself and just came up and attacehd herself on me..it was the funniest thing. When we met the rest of the kids we immediatly became mountains for them to climb on and were named the caballos (horses) because of the millions of piggy back rides we gave. Giving that first kid a piggy back ride was a mistake...after the first one it was all over for us...kids would fight to get in line and jump on us smiling,laughing and yelling ¨caballo,caballo!" ...It was really a work out.
So sar far so good. I´ve been a little sick thatś why I actually have time to write this because I should be in the orange orchard with Leonidas and Luke. So, I´ve been feeling a little down but hopefully in a couple of weeks my body will become adjusted to the food and what not and I can fully enjoy everything but so far its been a pretty neat experience.
cervezas at the pool at chatun
The zipline across the river at chatun
First day at the Ciudad de Felicidad
Our pal, Leonidas
Picking some oranges
Above is the garden/ rainforest this place has in its backyard..its amazing
View from the orphanage of the basillica and the city of Esquipulas
Here is Luke and I infront of the Basillica. Notice the cowboy hat- Alot of guatemalans here wear them so I figured I´d get one to fit in
