Rocking that *International* Paradise

I went to the Festival de Bariletes Gigantes in Sumpango, Guatemala last year for Dia de Todos Santos, and I was impressed.  It was a good day.  But when Chris, Michelle, and I went today, it was one of those rare wonderful days that combined good friends, adventure, culture, spontaneity, new experiences, and laughter.  Michelle started the day off on the right foot by bringing breakfast burritos along for us to enjoy on the drive.  Chris set the tone with good music in the truck.  Even the fact that we spent probably half an hour stuck in traffic waiting to turn off the highway into Sumpango couldn’t get us down.  When we got close to the turn-off, Chris rolled down his window and shouted to the gent' manning the parking lot across the street to find out if there was a spot.  “Una!” came the response.  “Para MI?!” Chris entoned enthusiastically.  When the guy nodded “sure,” Chris popped the truck into 4 wheel drive, checked that th...

We may look like adults on the outside, but we teachers need very little excuse to dress up in ridiculous outfits and act a little silly.  Months ago, a few of us dreamed up an amazing party idea, and Kenra’s birthday this weekend finally provided us with the opportunity to make it happen.  Everyone who signed up to come to the party was given someone else’s name and a budget of Q100 (approximately US $12.50) to spend at Megapaca, which is a chain of thrift stores similar to Goodwill…except word has it that everything that doesn’t sell at the Salvation Army outlets in the States gets shipped down to Megapaca here in Guate.  So there are some pretty exceptional finds hidden among the copious racks of the stores.  So, the goal of the party was basically to dress someone else in the most ridiculous Megapaca outfit imaginable.  We then had a contest for the best worn costume, complete with fashion show, at the party.  Everyone made their outfit int...

I always tell myself: “Low expectations are often exceeded, whereas high expectations are sometimes met.”  I try to live life with low expectations.  When I can manage that, all of the good things that life become bonuses, and everything seems exponentially better.  My expectations were pretty low this past long weekend.  We were headed to Lake Atitlan, and I’ve been there plenty of times before.  People kept getting sick and dropping out prior to the trip, nothing was really planned for most of it, and to top it off, our group’s shuttle was leaving on Friday at 3pm right after school…which ensured that we left the city at a crawl that didn’t really ever get much faster, due to the mess that is the town of Chimaltenango, finally to arrive at our hostel at 10pm.  But here’s the thing: Lake Atitlan is just good for the soul. When I woke up on Saturday morning to the view of the volcanos, unshrouded by clouds, the placid lake, and the tranquilit...

A few weeks ago, I received a message from two friends of mine in the Netherlands.  They've started up a travel website and asked if I'd be willing to write a piece on Guatemala for them.  I was thrilled and excited!  My first foree into actual travel writing.  So, while they translate my article into Dutch to post on their website, I'll post it here for your reading pleasure.  (And, because it's my blog, I'll add a bunch of links back to prior entries about each of these things).   I moved to Guatemala City just over a year ago to teach at an American School here.  I don’t pretend to know everything about the country, its sights and sounds, or its people after one short year, but I started to discover some of its treasures in my time here.  So if you ask my humble opinion, here are my top ten tips for what to do in Guatemala. 1. Hike a volcano.  This is my absolute favorite thing to do in the country.  Guatemala has 33 ...

Last week I finished my first Framingham masters course of the new school year.  6 classes down total, 3 to go until I have my masters degree.  This most recent class focused on Collaborative Leadership, and was taught by a spunky, spiritual, loving professor who lives in Antigua and is, simply put, a force of nature.  Her class was anything but conventional.  We began and ended each meeting with a bow, breathing in the air and energy from the earth or the sky, bowing to each other and letting that energy flow to the center of the circle, then breathing in again “just taking what we needed for the night” as we stood up.  We also meditated several times throughout the course, and each evening included time for both reflection and for play.  At first I really wasn’t sure what to make of the course.  It certainly was not stressful, but the format being so different from other classes, I worried that I wouldn’t learn “enough” in it.  As the class...

I have tried many new things while in Guatemala, but I wasn’t sure rock climbing would ever be one of them.  I had a rather irrational fear of it.  I’d tried indoor rock climbing once or twice, and the last time I tried, I didn’t get very high before a paralyzing fear froze me in place on the wall, unable to move.  And if I was that scared inside, why on earth would I want to try it on an actual rock?! Still, seeing as some of my best friends here love the sport, when they said they wanted to plan a trip to rock climb, I knew I couldn’t be left behind and that I would join them and push myself to overcome the fear.  And so I signed on to Saturday’s rock climbing trip in Xela with 7 others.  We left Guatemala City at 4:00am in order to reach the Quetzaltrekkers office in Xela as early as possible to check in, eat the delicious breakfast they provided, and pick up gear.  Shortly after 9am, we were equipped with climbing shoes (which I thought were cl...

I have now completed 5 half marathons in my life time.  Add that to the list of things that ten years ago I would not have thought possible.  The Guatemala City 21K (half marathon) is a huge event.  The race registration is capped at 8,500 people, and registration was already full and closed nearly three months before the race.  Luckily, because of Annette’s forethought and persuasion, a rather large group of us all registered before the race was full.  So that, of course, meant a summer of training.  There were hiccups along the way for each of us, I think, ranging from mild injuries to decreased motivation to train while traveling.  Days before the race, a friend asked me my goal time, and all I could do was shrug at him and say, “I honestly have no idea what I can do with this one…my training has been so erratic.  We’ll just see how it goes.”  The morning of the race came, and a group of six of us found ourselves clad in runni...