The Lonely Journey
Here is is-my last day in Guatemala. Sigh.I am very happy to be in my hotel in Guatemala city after an enduring bus ride here. The old man next to me kept falling asleep and putting his head on my shoulder. It wouldn't have been so bad but he had stale garlic breath and his face was bound to leave a grease stain on my shirt. To get air and shrug off my companion, I promtly opened the window and was greeted with rain in my face. The downpour had just started. Rain or stink. I choose rain -which served to wake up the old man and make him angry. I pretended to speak no spanish. I quickly remembered my spanish upon arrival in Guate (Guatemala City). I had to argue with 3 different taxi divers until one finally gave me a fair price to my hotel. Geez-what did they think I was-a gringo?
So now I am here and can pleasantly reflect upon my last weeks adventures. After my last email I headed off on a boat Playa Blanca where I wore my swimsuit for the FIRST time since heading down south!! After 4 weeks of Xela's cold and a weekend of Tikals mosquitos laying out in a bikini felt very exotic..and almost scandalous. My new found backpacker friends and I played vollyball on the beach and drank Coco Locos to the sound of Carribean drums. This was the life! This was my first real day of relaxation after studying, volunteering and being on the go. I felt happier than I had been in a long time.
Civilization in Antigua
The next day I took the 5 am sunrise ferry to Puerto Barrios where I hoped a bus to Antigua. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw Antigua. I knew Antigua was a colonial city-and the nation's old capital-but I didn't know it would be so pristine. I glanced at the rows of tastefully painted houses on cobblestone streets and thought that it couldn't be real. It was Disneyworld. In the perfectly sculpted park I even saw a horse and carriage passing by. It was beautiful but it was too much. Desperately, I tried to find garbage on the street. I walked the entire city over to find the second hand shops, the slums, even a drunk man peeing on the corner. Anything to prove to me that Antigua was a normal Guatemalan city. Nothing. Just smiling tourists and freshly painted houses (painted like NORMAL houses-not bright orange with the 'Orange Crush' label that was so popular in Xela) greeted me.
To make myself feel better (....well actually to save money) I choose the dingiest, cheapest hotel for the equivilant of $2.50 a night. Little did I know I would spend 4 times as much in allergy medicine for the permanent congestion the moldy walls caused me. Lesson learned.
After one day of seeing the ruins, I spent the next morning climbing Vulcan Pacaya (not to be confused with Papapa which half the tour group insisted on calling it despite the exasperated guide's corrections). For those who know my distressing story of Santa Maria, you will be pleased to know that Pacaya was much more rewarding. At the top was toxic smoke (the volcano was still active) and an amazing view.
Later that afternoon I met a man in a coffee shop whose family happened to own a coffe planation. We started talking about coffee and it turns out his family exports coffee to nowhere else but Portland, Oregon and Seattle Washington.Luis and his family would be arriving in Portland to tour the coffe shops this very week. When I told him that was where I lived he immediately offered me a free tour of the planation and took me to the family house for a fresh cup o' Joe. The family was very nice and I gave them my phone number as a contact for their arrival in the PNW. And then it happened. My imagination started to run wild. Luis's family would befriend me to the point of hiring me. They would need me as a multilingual agent to help them expand their business. I would travel the world setting up coffee shops that sold Gautemalan coffee at fair trade prices. But I wouldn't stop there-the stores would also sell Guatemalan handicrafts with all proceeds going to the indigenous families still suffering from the aftermath of civil war. My valient success would appear on Oprah and Good Morning America and I would make enough money to pay off all MBA loans and set up a foundation for abused, one legged, albino street children in the highland. Anyway...the tour was very informative when I wasn't busy day dreaming!! Tonight I will sleep well. I actaually spring for a nice hotel with hot water and a fan!! Getting myself prepared for the re entry into real world.
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