Days 122-123: The Return

On Wednesday morning, I said my goodbyes to Angelica and her family, paid for my room and got special treatment from the shuttle service. It was a private van, and they drove right up to the door. I felt very spoilt during my trip to the City.

Let us hope prices never make it here in USD

Leaving shot of Antigüeño street trash-cans

Final view of Antigua

Once in Guatemala City, the shuttle service would not go to a place of residence, so they dropped me off at the Westin Camino Real Hotel that is located in the same zone as Carmen's parents's house. Their names are Carmen and Edgar, so that I do not have to keep referring to them as Carmen's parents.

Edgar came and picked me up from the hotel and brought me back to their house. Carmen's sisters who live next door have kids, all of whom were off from school this week (along with the rest of Guatemala) due to the state of calamity and national emergency they are experiencing, and these kids in particular had had only one more week before their break, so now they are on an extended vacation. They were naturally quite disappointed.

Volcanic ash piled on curbs

I had relaxed afternoon, had lunch at one of Carmen's sister's house, went to the supermarket with one of the girls and Edgar to get some groceries, and experienced a full-blown Guatemalan sugar rush that evening when we dined on sugary cereal and key lime bars. While I started feeling a bit ill, Nicolas (who is 8) starting buzzing around the house. The girls just got increasingly giggly.

Happy family

I woke up quite early this morning. I had breakfast and made sure everything was packed and ready. I said my goodbyes to family, thanked Carmen (mother of Carmen) for her hospitality, and Edgar was so nice to give me a ride to the airport. He definitely did not have to do that, but it was very much appreciated. As soon as I arrived at the airport, things went very smoothly.

I was excessively early for my 2.15p flight departure (I arrived at about 09.30), just so that I did not have any problems with security or with what was expected to be a busy airport. When I checked in, there was a flight also going to Houston leaving at 11.40 that I asked about boarding, but I was told it was completely full. It turned out, however, that it was leaving from the same gate, so when I got there, I asked the gate attendant if I could be placed on the standby list, behind just one other person.

As it turns out, I got onto the flight and arrived in Houston at the local time of 3.30. My scheduled flight to Austin was for 7.15p that night, but again there was an earlier flight leaving at 5.50. This time I was not sure if I could get on because of the size of the standby list, but since the airport was experiencing a lot of delayed arrivals, there were about 10 or 15 seats available on this small flight. So, I lucked out again and got into Austin at about 7.00p. I had called my Mom (using my Guatemalan phone from Houston, do not know how much that 2 minute phone call cost), and I had told her about my new arrival time. It was very nice how things worked out, I much prefer spending time with family over spending it reading a book in an airport terminal. Even if I did have some of that bread left over.

The flights were good, only about 3.5 hours total flight time, and I am very happy to be home. My Mom picked me up with our dog, Zona, at the airport, where the only hitch the entire day came in the form of my bags staying with the 7.15p flight instead of jumping with me on the earlier one. Still, Continental was super gracious and the bags arrived this evening to our doorstep free of charge.

Just arrived in Austin airport

I went out to dinner tonight to the restaurant where my sister, Lana, works to surprise her (she did not know about the early arrival), and she did not have to close tonight, so we got to do some picture sharing at home. I have over 1,700 photos, however, so we are going to have to go through them bit by bit.

Oh, I have to mention the decorations that my Mom put up in the house. Inside the garage were the words "Welcome Home Dylan" spelled out on sheets of paper, and there are bunches of balloons with ribbon hanging from the hallways of the house and in my room. Very sweet.

It feels bizarre to be home. Almost like a stranger in my own home. I know everything, my body moves through the house on autopilot, yet my time away leaves me with a different perspective.

This trip has changed me through and through: as a student, as a tourist, as a person, as a friend, as a family member, as a part of humanity. The experiences I have had barely translate across with the blogs I have made, the photos and video clips I have taken; there is definitely a large portion of the experience that is very personal and individual. I am so incredibly thankful that I chose to take a gap year between high school and university. For me, it was 100% the right choice. I think that I am a better person today for my time abroad.

Now, though, I am excited to work again, to share stories, catch up with friends here and in other parts of the United States, and I am also excited about university, starting in mid-August. The next adventure. I feel, though, that after my travels this semester, I am up for every challenge that freshman year can throw at me.

I want to say a couple of thank you's to people who made this fantastic experience possible:

To my family, first and foremost, to helped me make this crazy idea into such a wonderful reality. To each and every one of my hosts: Betty, Carmen and Nick, María Elena, Susan (however indirectly), Angelica, and Carmen and Edgar. I want to thank all of the friends I made while on my trips, especially to Paula, Flor and Andrés, and to the students with whom I shared my Spanish classes. And also to my volunteer coordinators Josh and Courtney, and Jonathon and Emma, for letting me be a part of the two communities.

Finally, I would like to thank you personally for reading my blogs. I hope that they have provided entertainment and insight, provoked thought, and shared with you in whatever form the truly special time I have had these last four months.

For the last time,

Chao. Chau. Goodbye.

Day 121: The Final Day in Antigua

Today I had the laziest morning of my time here in Guatemala, possibly during this entire experience. I woke up, read some, ate my breakfast, and read some more.

I was monitoring the Continental website, looking for more information on my flight. I came across two other websites that seemed to be reporting that there were flights arriving and departing from the airport, but I was not sure if they were incorrect. Carmen, however, confirmed that the airport was indeed up and running. What a relief. With the airport open two days before my flight, I feel confident that I will have no problems.

Tomorrow the shuttle will be coming to my house at 11.00 in the morning. With all luck, I will be arriving in the City at about 12.30-12.45. Carmen's parents are expecting my arrival, though I will call when I have made it and let them know where the shuttle dropped me off. The shuttles normally only go to hotels, so we chose one hotel, but I will ask the driver tomorrow if there is any chance he can take me directly to where Carmen's parents live. I sort of doubt he will, though.

I had a very nice dinner with Carmen, Nick, and Santiago. We went to a restaurant/bar called Hector's with a very nice atmosphere, very rustic and cozy. The food was quite fancy, and delicious. I had an open-faced steak sandwich with french fries that were home made within earshot. I had a chocolate fondant for dessert that was warm in the center and had a strawberry plopped on top. Quite excellent.

Nick, Carmen, Santiago

Santiago and Nick

It was nice to have a chance to see their family once again before leaving. I had not seen them for quite a while, I saw Carmen and Santi briefly when she dropped off my bag after I returned from San Marcos, but really it had been a few weeks. I shared some stories of my experiences in San Marcos as well as in El Hato. We also discussed the recent weather-related news. The neighboring city where Santi attends school was devastated by the storms. They had a huge amount of water/mudslide damage. We were very lucky here in Antigua.

I am excited for tomorrow. I have become accustomed to my life here, so it will be nice to change things up a little. And there are plenty of opportunities for something to go wrong in the next two days, so I can expect plenty adventure.

Angelica (pink), husband, daughter and María household helper

I have almost finished reading all of my Spanish literature that I have with me, so I am saving it and trying to make it last as long as possible. Therefore, I will do some reading in English tonight before bed.

Chao.

Day 120: The Beginning of Overtime

Today was the first day spent in Guatemala that was not originally scheduled. I had the whole day to run around and do nothing, so I decided to head up to the school and say some goodbyes.

I got up at 08.30 and had a relaxed morning. I left the house at a bit after 11.00 with the aim of catching the midday bus up to El Hato. Something went wrong though, I got the times or places mixed up and I ended up missing that bus. So, I went and had lunch at Pollo Campero, figuring it might be the last chance I got for a while, and made it back to the market to catch the bus leaving at 2.10.

Waiting at the bus stop

Part of the market

One of 'my' former children was riding up to El Hato with her mother and two siblings. She was happy to see me, and it was nice for me to be able to see at least one of the kids before I left.

"Pretty kitty"

María Fernanda and her brother

Road between school and Earth Lodge

Two children, girl is student

Happy to show off

Laundry with a view

I went to the Earth Lodge and chatted with Emma for a while. I also talked with British, Canadian, and an American guest who were all sitting at the table. Conversations are always interesting at the table, full of opinions. Topics today included English football teams and smoking bans, especially in how they differ between British Colombia and Guatemala. We also covered the Olympics briefly. And the Arizona immigration law. I finally got a picture, though it is not the best photo, with Emma and Jonathon, which was an important accomplishment. They were really great, and they are doing wonders for that school.

Emma, Jonathon, Me

View of Earth Lodge from entry path

I also jotted down a little note for the kids of Dora's class, saying thank you and telling them to study English so that when I return I will not have to speak a word of Spanish with them. I also gave Dora's classroom key to Emma, along with the keychain with its little, white, stuffed dog. It is a bit of a bummer that the school does not have classes this week, since the school was essentially undamaged, but the whole country has no classes this week (as I read in this morning's paper). It would have been really nice to get to see them all one last time, but if I had to choose, I would rather have the assurance of a flight home again.

"Number of deaths rises to 82"

"Week without classes in entire country"

"Hard work Thurs. (l) and Sat. (r)"

The latest on that front is that the airport is supposed to open Wednesday or Thursday. I am hoping it opens on the former so that I know that my flight will leave. But, if I am one of the first flights out of the airport, I will not complain one bit. My shuttle is scheduled to take me into the City on Wednesday around midday, so I will have just over 24 hours before my flight the next day.

Tomorrow, being my anticipated last day in Antigua, I shall go out into the city to do some walking around. I would like to meet up with Carmen (and family) if possible, but I understand they have separate lives. It should be a pretty relaxed day, like really this whole month has been. The lifestyle here is very in the moment, there is not much fuss about the future. A mindset that is good for me in the short-term, but would frustrate me a little over a longer period of time.

Days 118-119: The End of Regulation Time

This weekend was originally set to be my last weekend, with Sunday being the final post in this blog. With certain recent events, however, there are to be a few more entries.

In addition to the disastrous effects of the volcanic eruption, a tropical storm swept the country, powered by the hurricane Agatha that touched down on the Pacific side of Guatemala last evening.

Friday's rain carried over into Saturday. It did not stop raining the entire day. And it was not just a drizzle, but a good steady pour. I only ventured out of the house once on Saturday.

We had rebooked my flight from Sunday (since the airport had closed for that day) to Monday, so I went into town to book a shuttle to the city on Sunday so as to be in the City the evening before my flight. I borrowed an umbrella from Angelica, but I was still getting wet, so I dropped by the handily-timed market and bought myself a raincoat. It is quite nice: it is black, goes down to my knees, and has a hood and sleeves. Between that and the umbrella, my body from the upper leg and above stayed essentially dry. My feet and legs, on the other hand, got an extra shower.

I was lucky in that I only went to two travel agencies before booking a shuttle. The first place pointed me to the one I used, Silva Travels, who offered a private (that's right) shuttle since they have no public transportation on Sundays. I was relieved that they were going out, since other agencies had preemptively closed down. I returned home as quickly as possible.

That night, I had dinner with the family, watching the news station. We were experiencing a remarkably mild set of conditions compared to other cities nearby. The images of extreme flooding were impressionable. We heard conflicting information throughout the evening as to the duration of the storms, predictions that seemed to be hardly more than guesses.

The only difficulty that affected me personally was that we had power cuts during the day, some for no more than a half-second, other times for maybe 10 minutes. However, each time, the internet cut and had to reset a process that takes about 7 minutes. If there was another power 'break,' it would have to start over. That got quite frustrating when I was trying to monitor Continental's website or contact my family or Carmen.

This morning, however, when I woke up it was oddly quiet and still. The rain had stopped during the early hours. It was very strange to not hear it falling on the roof and on the courtyard stones.

It turns out that the airport will be closed for a minimum of three more days. The earliest I have heard of for a possible reopening is Wednesday. Naturally, my Monday flight was cancelled, but my Dad was able to book on on Thursday afternoon. With that change in plans, I had to change the date of my shuttle trip into the City, because I did not want to bother Carmen's parents for more than one night and also the City has been damaged much more severely than here. Carmen's parents were without power for a good part of Saturday.

I went into town today around lunch time to talk with the agency about a reschedule. I had called last night as well as this morning, and I had been told that the postponement of the shuttle was no problem, and it was not. I just walked in, they recognized me, changed the date on my ticket and bam, that was that. I went out for lunch and ate a pretty big one since I knew dinner was not going to be served either at Angelica's house (it is Sunday, the food-less day in Guatemala), so after eating I grabbed a container of pasta and a salad to bring home with me. I also stopped by at the La Bodegonia supermarket for some snack food. I do not think my bread will last me until Thursday. Pitty. I will just have to eat it before it goes bad.

Semi-dry street with a volcano visible and blue skies

Damp paint marks flooding height in Antigua

Today's paper: "Tragic rain: 12 dead"

I have made quite good friends with the family cat here. Yesterday, it was left outside the front door during the rain, and while I was in the entertainment room fiddling with the internet modem, I heard its whining. So, I opened the door, of course. It spent the entire evening on my bed/lap. Today, when I left for the city center, it was still sleeping on my bed so I left my door open. Someone closed it while I was gone, but the cat did not seem to mind, it was fast asleep when I got back. It spent the rest of the day today on the bed again. It is a sweet little thing, the only bad trait is that darned kneading. It does that alternating 'pushing' with the front paws and only once I have been petting away for a goodly while, will it settle down and sleep. I guess I have never noticed this because there has never been a cat in the house, but they sleep in the weirdest positions. Quite amusing.

Cat on lap. Makes typing more of an effort

So, tomorrow I plan to go up to El Hato, since that did not happen this weekend. I can return Dora's key and say some goodbyes, but there are no classes this week, or so Angelica says. I will head up with the noon bus (thank you, Market Day) and hang out until the 5.50p bus comes at the end of the day. Hopefully, I can see a couple of the kids on the streets.

Other than that, I am just waiting on Thursday to arrive. I cannot do anything to accelerate or even really assist my departure, except be in the City and at the airport on time. I just have to hope that the fair weather here today was the same in the City, and that it continues as such so that they can clear off the runways.

Chao.

Day 117: The Last Friday

There was no school today. Last night after I had written my blog, 'they' made the decision to suspend all of the schools in our district (as well as two others). I was pretty bummed, not being able to have one final day with the children, not being able to help Dora any more with the piles of work she does not have time to take care of for the class.

Ash and rock fell pretty heavily on the capital city. People were missing, as of last night there had been 3 deaths, and of course all of the inhabitants of the Pacaya volcano's mountainside were evacuated. They closed down the airports and redirected the flights through neighboring countries. The eruption was accompanied by the earthquake that I felt just a hint of here in Antigua. We are actually not that far away from the central point of the quake, where it was measured at about a grade 3.5, but what reached us was quite weak.

The silver lining to all of this drama is that I got to sleep in this morning. Of course, my body decided that today would be the day that it adjusted itself to the early wake-ups, so I had to roll over a couple of times; but, it it was nice to have breakfast at 09.30, a full four hours later than usual. It had rained, not terribly hard, throughout the night, and it continued into the morning. After spending some time relaxing in my room, I decided I might as well take advantage of the free time.

I called Continental Airlines and was told that currently my flight for Sunday has not been cancelled. I need to call again tomorrow to confirm that there have been no changes, but it is a good sign. Hopefully they can clear the rubble off the runways by tomorrow evening.

After making the call, I decided to go ahead and pack. I figured that tomorrow, as my last day, should not involve frantic packing, rather happy farewells. So, now I am about 95% packed. I just have out the things that I am going to use tomorrow morning.

I had lunch here at the house, and then opted to go for a bit of a walk through the city. I grabbed my backpack, with raincoat, wallet, phone and camera and left. I decided to take some pictures of the streets, for they were still quite beautiful even in the overcast climate. The surrounding mountains were blanketed in clouds, so I could not see any ash, or dramatic lava sprays at all. In fact, I would not have even known about the eruptions except for Carmen and the news. I feel like there was a slightly suspicious scent that came down with the rain at a couple moments during the day and afternoon, but that could just be my subconscious, desperate for a little part in the excitement.

Courtyard outside my room

Front door

Tuk tuk

Barber shop where I got my hair cut

National beer 'Gallo'

Rain-protected stalls of off-day market

Entrance outside my gated community

My walk led me, inevitably, to the bakery where I purchased a half-loaf of that banana bread. After snacking a bit this afternoon, I now have a third-of-a-loaf of three breads: orange, carrot, and banana. A fantastic snack for the flight day. Beats the airport snack options without question.

I had a little chat today with Gloria, the household assistant who was just recently hired. There is a second girl, Maria, but she left to visit her family for the weekend, so Gloria is flying solo for the first time. She was very nice, quite sweet, but just as shy and soft-spoken as the typical Guatemalan. Guatemalans, to stereotype for a sentence, are quick to giggle, but essentially only adult males will initiate a conversation with a foreigner like myself.

Tomorrow I would like to go up to the Earth Lodge one last time to say 'thank you' to Emma and Jonathon. I also need to return the key to the classroom that Dora lent me since I arrived before she did in the mornings. Hopefully, I will see a couple of the kids there, and I would like to write them a little letter saying thanks and goodbye to them, so I can drop that off while I am up there.

Only one more full day left in my wild and fantastic adventures abroad this semester. Hard to believe.

Chao.

Days 115-116: The Last Wednesday and Thursday

Wednesday. The most rain I have seen since I have been in Guatemala. Pretty much the whole day was drizzly, I actually wore jeans for the first time since leaving Buenos Aires.

At school we worked more with numbers, moving full speed ahead with number 7. I am making 'friends' with the children now, they are all used to my presence in the classroom, and they know I speak Spanish. It is fun talking with them; it is quite different from talking with adults, I feel like all of the adults are paying attention to my accent, my grammatical errors, while the children just hear what I am saying. The only problem I have had so far is when my Argentinean accent makes my Spanish 'foreign' to the children's ears. Since they are not accustomed to accents, the 'shh' sound that I use throws them for a loop. So I have to be more careful with my speech in that respect. Mostly, I just end up repeating the sentence, sans-accent the second time.

I went over to the Earth Lodge after school. There are two women from Australia there right now, a dentist from England, and two girls from Canada. It had been nice chatting with them, sharing stories and plans for the future. Only problem is the lack of Spanish, English really is the primary language at the hotel, but I guess it is about time I adjust to the concept of speaking only in English, my return is coming up quickly. I did finish my El Eternauta book, the gift from Germán, and I have to say it was an excellent read, such good practice for maintaining my Spanish. Thank you Germán and Marta.

My bus stop

Today has been rather wet as well. It was drizzling as I caught the bus this morning (a very full bus due to the fact that I get on right before the market, so all of the vendors are in the bus). The drivers all know me now, I am the only 'gringo' I have ever seen on the bus. This morning I wish someone could have taken a picture of my white face and blonde hair standing out horribly amidst the sea of stall owners.

Today in school not too much academics happened. Seño Dora and I did a lot of homework checking, and I wrote out the homework for this weekend and Monday night. I want to do as much for her as I can before I leave, since she is really quite overwhelmed by the size of the class. She needs a full-time assistant. Anyone want to do some volunteer work in Guatemala? Just before break, we went for a little march down the road a bit. She had them all lifting their knees, swinging their arms and singing little songs (including the Spanish version of 'Twinkle, Twinkle." Super cute.

On our 'march'

Returning to school

"Seño-Emma-Teacher"

I get so used to how short the kids all are while we are still in the classroom setting, since the chairs and tables are all pint-sized too. But once I was standing up and we were out on the road, I noticed how a lot of them really just came up to my hips. If even.

After school, Seño Dora had a meeting so I sat outside the classroom with a couple of the kids who were waiting on siblings in older grades. We took some photos, they played some soccer in the rain, and we talked a bit, which was great. One of the boys was really quiet in class, but he talked to me after school, it was very sweet.

Kindergarten, 1st Grade, 13th Grade(?)

I caught the midday bus today, market day, and so I got back to Antigua at around 1.00p. I went out again in the afternoon to look around the market a bit, and to buy some bread. I bought two loaves, and took a half from each and gave them to the family here as a gift. Besides, I wanted both flavors, but there is no way I could eat that much bread.

The bakery.

The biggest news this evening I just heard about about a half an hour ago, as I was starting to type. Carmen contacted me about the little tremor that we all felt this afternoon. I had originally thought it might be the construction next door, but it lasted a little too long and was not accompanied by an obvious noise. I did not think anything of it, Carmen had told me it happens in Guatemala, but it turns out that it was just a little indication of what is happening nearby.

The volcano Pacaya has been erupting, throwing ash and rock over Guatemala City and the surrounding areas. There have been volcanic rock injuries, ash is covering the capital currently, and most importantly for me, the airport is closed. The rain is supposed to continue at least through the night, Carmen suggested that I keep the doors and windows closed in case any ash comes down with the rain. Talk about going out with a bang. Schools are being closed across three provinces, including the one I am in currently (Sacatepequez, quite the mouthful) so I do not know if I will have school tomorrow. I sent an email to Jonathon and Emma, hopefully they will respond.

So, I have to hope that the City can clear up the runways before Sunday, and that I can leave without any delays. It is looking a little uncertain right now, but I do not have a very clear picture of how things will shape up.

Chao.