The Unexpected

• Dianaj25's Profile
• About this blog
• Entry from Quetzaltenango

Trip Start May 23, 2007 Previous
Entry Trip End Oct 03, 2007 Next
Entry

  Quetzaltenango, Guatemala
Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Buenas Tardes Amigos!

In life there is the unexpected.  It is something you can always count on.  I decided to travel to Guatemala and live temporarily where almost everything would be unexpected.  Somedays you roll with the punches and other days the frustration mounts.  There is nothing I can do about the fact that where I teach is 40 minutes from the city center.  Even if I had known that before I still would have come to Xela.  There is nothing I can do about having to ride the bus where the prize goes to whichever van can pack in the most people.  For the most part I am getting used to this and not letting this bother me anymore.  I did research the weather, however the actual temperature and how cold I am depends on whether or not it is sunny or rainy.  I did not expect to be so cold sometimes and I was dreaming of having slippers with me last night in my apartment with a warmer sweater.  But I did bring some warm clothes with me and itīs just a matter of wearing them more often like when I was in Europe for 6 weeks.

Last Saturday my Spanish school organized a day trip to a nearby volcano.  This volcano now has a laguna in what used to be the crater.  It is called Laguna Chicabal.  We were told the hike was easy and I knew I wasnīt in the most fantastic physical form, however I desperately wanted to see the beautiful scenery they talked about.  Saturday morning we piled in a van and took off for the park.  Some unexpected students joined that morning.  We were close to our base camp but not yet there when we all had to pile out and walk the remainder of the way to the park because the recent rain had damaged the mud road and we were too heavy.  Our hike began unexpectedly early and it was all uphill, mostly straight uphill.  We got to the park and paid our entrance and many of us needed to use the bathrooms.  I was expecting a hole in the ground like many places I had been in the mountains in Colorado.  But wait, they had actual flushing toilets in a place where there is no electricity.  However no toilet paper - except that I had learned from Tami in Europe and I had toilet paper with me.  I was everyonesī best friend after that!!!!

Then we were hiking again almost 3 more kilometers to the top.  And the view down on the laguna was definately worth it.  Then we went down 576 steps to the laguna and it was no picnic going down those steps.  I tried not to think about the return trip.  We all ate our sack lunches along the beach and got to know one another.  I expected mostly college aged kids here, but actually lots of people more my age (late 20īs) are here for the summer learning Spanish and touring the scenic country.  A mother and daughter are here from Michigan and the daughter is 15.  She has been learning 3 different languages and already knows she wants to go to college to be an interpreter.

Too soon it was time to go back up the 576 steps.  I didnīt count them, but someone else did and I think I shouldnīt have asked!  It was a grueling process especially when you have short legs, but finally I made it.  Most of the rest of the hike was downhill.  We were all really proud of ourselves.  I had developed a cold on Friday, the day before, so I was happy that I could breathe and only had to deal with blowing my nose a lot.

Sunday my cold hit me like a ton of bricks and I wanted to die.  I slept a good portion of the day trying to recuperate as fast as possible for a busy week ahead.  I drank a lot of orange juice and bought some eggs at the market for some protein which I have been lacking.  All this seemed to do the trick since I felt better yesterday and even better today.  Colds always hit at the most unexpected times.

Last week the sun was out every morning with clear blue skies and warm weather.  This week it is cold and cloudy.  Rain or shine it does rain almost every afternoon as the clouds roll in over the mountains.  Every day it appears different as the sun goes down and the clouds break up through the mountains.  One day the orange and pink and purple of the sunset shone through the clouds and it was the most beautiful sunset I had ever seen.  The mountians here look nothing like the Rockies.  They are not as jagged and they are covered with lush green trees and shrubs.

I have one group I teach that tries my patience.  They are the largest and oldest group of students I have.  I teach them on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons.  I feel like some of them donīt understand what I am teaching over the constant chatter, but they donīt ask any questions.  I am coming up with more games and songs to teach them in English.  They are all asking to learn songs in English.  If anyone has any good songs for kids 6-13 let me know.  I still enjoy all my classes.  I only hope they can learn a lot before I leave.  I expected the kids who goof off and donīt pay attention to have dropped the class by now.  However, they keep coming back and have even brought a few friends to join.  I never thought this would happen!

Well I started out thinking I had nothing to write about and unexpectly this blog has turned out to be just as long as the previous blogs.  But itīs time for me to go scavenge for dinner and then write a story in the imperfecto pasado tense in Spanish as well as compose an exam for my students for Thursday. 

I have enjoyed all the new emails from people so keep them coming!

Until next time God bless,
dianaj25

Print this entry Share Quetzaltenango hotels

Previous Entry Next Entry