lo siento, no es mi problema

When we left Lago Atitlan for Xela it sounded fairly simple. We bought a 11 dollar ticket that would get us from San Pedro to Chichi which was an hour, where we would switch shuttles and then continue on to Xela, another 2 hours. Simple enough.

Lies.

We leave san pedro and about 20 minutes in we have to shut off the bus and get out because there is some kind of road construction happening and the road is impassible. SO we all unload while traffic piles up behind us..everyone sitting on the side of the road waiting for about 30 minutes. Once we get moving our bus cant get up the hill so we have to wait, let all the traffic pass us, and then retry it. About another 30 minutes later we are winding back and forth up the side of the mountains and the bus starts sputtering...and we start coasting backwards down the cliff. The driver says please get out, this is very difficult. So half of the bus gets out and hoofs it up the terrain and meets the bus at the top. We all find this very funny...the first time. When it happens again ten minutes later its not so funy. When the bus stops working all together and we all have to sit on the side of the road for an hour waiting for alternative shuttles, it is no longer funny at all. Actually its to the point where most of us are failing to see the humor at all when the rescue shuttle can only fit half of the crew, leaving the other half of us to wait another 20 minutes for the second shuttle.

Whitney and I hop in and get the last seats, in the last row...which is american terms is the trunk. Sitting in the trunk, 3.5 hours into a trip that is supposed to take an hour and bouncing around like rag dolls...

When we finally arrive in CHICHI which is a huge market city and is the destination of every other traveler on our shuttle, we inform our driver that we are to get a connecting shuttle here that is bound for xela. He said, oh, sorry but you missed it. We instantly get pissed because we not only paid for it, but we are now stuck here without a shuttle?? In relaying this to the driver, his only response is Lo siento, no es mi problema. In english, tough luck asshole, not my problem.

It only gets worse when in looking for an alternative way to xela we find out its going to cost us 100usd for the 2 hour trip. Not to mention we have three creepy guatemalan men telling us they can take us in their shuttle, no their bus, no their taxi, right now, no in an hour, no at 4pm to xela for 100 usd no 15quetzales no...shady!!

So we end up running away and jumping spontaneously on a collectivo headed to los encuentros. Where that is we have no idea but its 45 minutes closer to xela, or so we are told. So we squeeze in, whitney up front next to her new bff pedro and me in the back in the middle in a sea of guatemalans...all staring at me like i have 8 heads. These collectivos make about 6 stops per quarter mile and shove whoever wants to get in, in a seat...or on someones lap...or to hand on to the oh shit handle and hang out the side.

Finally we get to los encuentros and 3 seconds later are shoved onto a Chicken Bus headed for Xela. Now we have been informed several hundred times DO NOT RIDE A CHICKEN BUS. They are notorious for highway robberies...for maniac drivers flying down the highway at excessive speed ignorning all traffic laws and weather complications. Not to mention it is a recycled US cheese bus and they put three people per seat so breathing room is negligible. All the while, your pack full of everything you own currently is being slopped around all over the roof where you cannot see it and will have no reassurance that it is still there until you get off and with some act of god, it is still there. God was on our side that day, thankfully.

After 9 toturous hours, 3 shuttles, a chicken bus and a cab we find ourselves at the american equivalent of a dump hotel...thanking god the day was over. Oh but im sorry, ´no es mi problema.¨

poo pile

The family that we are staying with is hillarious. It is the mom Maricela and her husband Alnoldo and their 3 children, one of whoms husband and baby Alejandro live there as well. They are loud and there are always extra people around...sounds just like the Fischer house. Then they have a dog, Mia who is the sweetest little thing. Im missing my Sophie so it was so nice the first day to play with the dog. All was well and good the first day we arrived and we went to bed happy.

The next morning I wake up at about 6, yes believe it, and go to the bathroom. Well I open my door and see the dog beat me too it. There is a huge pile of poop literally in the threshold of my doorway. Im horrified and have no clue how to tell this family that their dog did this! If that ever happened at home with Sophie my family would be mortified. So I scramble to the bathroom and back to my room to get ready for school. Before I get the chance to tell them, its gone. Vanished.

The upper story of the house, which we are staying on, is also the floor that 2 of the other family members live on so I assumed someone saw it and got to cleaning.

The next morning, it happens again. Only this time, its two huge piles and a puddle of pee! Again, it vanishes before breakfast.

The third morning, repeat. Only that night it also happened. So I told the dad in broken spanish ¨dog use floor as bathroom... to which he replies you need bathroom? I say no no dog bathroom. He says oh oh! ill clean it up! As if its no big deal...

So being thoroughly confused and equally as disgusted by this I ask my teacher the next day what is happening here. She proceeds to explain that its not like in America here where you put your dog on a leash and take it for a walk to go to the bathroom. Most people here have what they call terraces, pretty much an eclosed patio that the dogs use like ours use the grass. Im dumbfounded.

So the poo piles shall continue. What a treat.

Drowning Day

We left Antigua on Wednesday which was a holiday, and it feels as though it has not stopped raining since then. We signed out of our homestay at 10am and the first shuttle wasnt until 1 so we sat in the park for 2 hours in ponchos waiting for our shuttle to panahajel, Lago Atitlan. Once we got to Pana, it started pouring on our walk to the ferry. By the time we found the ferry we had to wait another hour for a boat however, the walk to the boat we finally caught was through a raging rapid of raing water in which I completely soaked my sneakers. The hour ride across the Lake to San Pedro, where we are staying was terribly soppy and wet. By the time we made it across, my clothes were all soaked as well.

We hung up all our wet clothes before we went to bed and awoke to find nothing had dried and it still raining. This sucks however we were forewarned that this is the rainy season here. Now I like rain....however I completely DISLIKE water in other forms when it involves damage to things that do not belong in water. Like my camera. One morning we got up and packed up our important stuff for the day...money, water, camera, passport, etc. I sling my bag on and a few seconds later yell bc my back is all wet. Apparently the lid was not all the way on my water bottle and it drowned the contents of my bag...camera included. NOT happy. Esp bc a few months before I left I just paid 100 bucks to get the thing fixed after I dropped it. Now post drowning I immediately bought a bag of rice and have had the camera in there for 2 days but so far no luck. So, in conclusion I have officially broken my first camera on this trip.

So onto further water related dilemmas. If you know me at all you know I get blisters like a son of a bitch so doing anything in wet sneakers is just entirely inappropriate on every level. Having drowned my sneakers the day before and having made plans to hike a volcano, you begin to see my problem. So yesterday we went, sopping sneakers in hand, in search of a place with a dryer that would let me pay to use it. No luck. They all took one look at my sneakers, the 2 places that actually used machines and not just the sun, laughed and then said no. Maybe they would break the dryer, I dunno. Well I ended up giving in, buying some baby powder and filling my shoes with that and newspaper to suck up the moisture. Luckily it was a success and I had almost dry sneakers for today....

Onto the volcano story. This was the 2nd one I hiked. I hiked Vocan Villarica in Chile a couple years ago and hated every moment of that one too. Seriously it is like the most physically demanding thing you can put your body through. I do not know why people enjoy it. Ok thats a lie, I do. You get to see some of the most beautiful scenery in all the world and it is so fulfilling to know you got yourself there on your own two legs. So after 4 hours we made it to the top and it took us about 2 hours to walk down. Our guide was laughing at us the whole way bc we were so slow. Thank god there were no other people in our group! Unfortunately bc it is so cloudy here, we had an amazing view until we got up above the clouds and then we saw nothing..but clouds. Bummer. Its pretty absurd that this is the second time that has happened (we met the same fate in Chile). How many volcanoes do I need to climb to get a clear view!

So in the end, today was fun...and horrible. Next on my list is buying a new camera so I can show all you wonderful people at home the world. Until then...

Sound Enhancing Devices in a Bathroom Stall

Our family that we stayed with in Antigua was apparently very well off. We had our own wing essentially on the 2nd floor with two bedrooms and a bathroom, living room and terrace. The way it was structured our windows in our room were actually facing the inside of the house and into the hallway which was open to the kitchen below it on the first floor. The bathroom which was right next to all of this had a small uncovered opening in the upper portion of the ceiling. This type of construction is odd but common here.

The first day I hopped into the shower which was up a step. After getting out and standing there in my nudie pants drying off for a minute I caught myself shouting OH MY GOD! because I realized that since I was up a level, any tallish person in the hallway could have stood there and seen my naked ass. Awkward as shit. A couple hours later Whitney experienced the same thing and had pretty much the same reaction...although i think her words were JESUS CHRIST!

So to reinforce the idea of sound enhancing devices, one night we were woken up at about 5am because our roommate, who had been sick for a few days, was dry heaving over the toilet. Although before coming out of your sleepy haze, you could have easily mistaken his location to be right above your face. Apparently our other roommate who sleeps downstairs and in another wing could hear every gag and heave as well thanks to the acoustics.

either stupid or foreign

There are always moments throughout the day where you catch yourself feeling like a total idiot. In reality, you aren't one, you're just a foreigner which at the moment seem freakishly similar. I had a moment the other day. After a long walk we wanted to go get these crepes at this store that we pass every day. They looked so good and we have been talking about them all week. We walk into the store and find no crepe supplies but a freezer full of gelato, which is delicious any other time but not when you are looking for a crepe. So we stand there, looking at the freezer, both of us separately trying to figure out what the hell is going on here. There is no menu, no english, no crepe supplies and the 3 workers are all standing there, staring at us, waiting for us to order. After a few minutes we start awkwardly looking around and at each other saying, "umm" and not wanting to look too painfully obvious in our confusion. So finally we come up with some broken spanish to ask where the F the crepes we so desire are. She says something I did not understands and points to a large round skillet and then back at the gelato. Still as confused as before, we made a few fruitless attempts to get ourselves a crepe and finally resided to the fact that we would not be having crepes that day. Having to order something we got some gelato which of course did not satisfy the crepe craving and in fact, wasnt very good anyways. Oh the joys of traveling.

Another daily struggle is how to use something as simple as a keyboard. I had forgotten how something that is pretty standard in the US could be so wrong abroad. For example, I am currently in a computer lab with 8 computers. They are all flat screen and newer as I am at school. Now any time you sit down you have to first make sure you know how to use the @ sign and the ? mark because on every keyboard it is different. Yesterday it took control 4 and 6 at the same time to get a question mark. This we figured out after pleading with an internet cafe attendant to show us how to use the @sign. He looked at us with a blank stare im sure asking himself "who are these buffoons?!"

On another note, last night we learned to Salsa! Well, just the basics but it was a lot of fun. Tonight we are going to a happy hour at an Americanish bar and then downstairs to try out our new skills. Our teacher told us never to say no to a boy who asks you to dance because its very hard for them to ask you in the first place. Ya. We'll see how that goes. Were going with our 2 housemates so its going to be quite the scene...4 Americans dressed in traveling clothes flopping around to the beat, probably not well.

Oh and for those of you that are following "Where's Miguel?" you'll be shocked to know that oddly enough the salsa teacher was named Miguel...but he was tiny, and made me feel like an ogre so that was a no go. Plus he was married, had a kid and is a dancing man...enough said I think. Here's to finding Miguel at the next stop!

The domination of Lady GaGa

Yesterday we went on a walk just to see what we could find that we hadn't yet seen in Antigua. Because Antigua is on like 2 major fault lines, they are prone to earthquakes here. As a result, a lot of the older buildings have crumbled and only portions of the edifices still stand. There was a law made recently that says all new buildings or renovations to buildings must be in the style of the older buildings here. So its a gorgeous city.

So on our walk we stumble upon a small park with towering old churches surrounding it. Its around siesta time and we are towards the edge of town so there aren't many people around and traffic is minimal. Its so quiet and still...almost so much so that its alarming. Suddenly you hear it...on the xylophone...a small boy playing it... lady gaga bad romance. And its echoing about 4 blocks away.

Dont get me wrong, I love myself some Lady Gaga and i'll "Just Dance" any time, any day. You could even say its my theme song. However, there is something deeply disturbing about hearing Bad Romance from a 10 year old boy on a xylophone outside of a church.

If only lady gaga could have seen it.

wrapping up antigua

For the last week I have been taking spanish classes at a place called Maximo Nivel in Antigua. I have 4 hours a day, plus a homestay where they will only speak to us in Spanish so I get very tired here. Its exhausting really. Constantly having to listen to every word that is spoken and having to think about every word that comes out of your mouth...its horrible, but I am learning quickly I think. Much, much quicker than I ever did at home in school. One day here is like a week of high school spanish at home so it is DEFINITELY worth what I am paying.

Anyways, today in class it was funny bc my teacher Evelyn will give an example in spanish and the persons name will always be like 'Diego' or 'Marta' and mine are like 'Bill' and 'ashley'. Whats normal is so different here, its interesting to see. Plus with my teachers we talk a lot about things that are "normal" to both of us. My teacher thinks all guatemalans are ugly! Theyre so perplexed by snow..i showed sondra, my teacher, pics of my house in the winter and she was like wtf?!!?

The homestay were at is awesome bc there are 2 other americans staying with us, maika and rick. She speaks like no spanish and Rick is practically fluent...which makes group conversations in spanish really ridiculous. And then there is whitny who speaks literally no spanish. But she is learning too! We have our own room, no hot water for showers, and weight watchers portions of food. But its like an apartment cuz theyre practically never here so its easy to come and go as we please. All in all its a good experience and were def going to try it again in another city/country.

That is all for now. Its been pretty normal here since ive been in the same city for a week and were just going to school, eating meals, and walking around the city absorbing the culture. I like it here a lot. People are generally nice and its a beautiful city. I think, however, that I am ready to move on at the end of this week. From what we hear, it is a lot cheaper in other cities too bc this is like the new york of guatemala-- modern and more expensive. So today we are trying to figure out what the plan is bc classes are over on wed morning.

Highlights in antigua include...playing charades to try to buy some glue for our journals, going to a soccer game, watching two teams of disabled guys in wheelchairs play basketball at the court down the street from our house and watching horses "dance" in the streets. Tonight, if all goes as planned which rarely happens around here, we salsa!

Oh and for those who are going to ask, there has been NO Miguel yet!

Broken Back Beds

Antigua is cool so far but I CANNOT figure out the map of this place. Every street looks the same, half the intersections are not labeled...its impossible. Im definitely struggling. Where is my map girl Sam Veltri when I need her!? Now I HAVE to learn maps...ugh.

Last night we stayed in a hostel called Kafka that two americans on our shuttle here recommended. Its great but the beds, were brutal. I went to bed at like 8pm because I had been up traveling for 24plus hours and was beat. Well first I took a cold shower in a stall the size of a broom closet, in a midgets house. Then I went to bed. I woke up probably every 15 minutes because the bed was SO hard. My neck and back and everything in between have been splitting all day long. Unbelievable. So I popped some advil and we switched hostels.


Now were at Jungle Party which is only 8dollars a night! And they have a dog that looks like Sophies great grandma. The guy at the desk offered us $1 vodka and rum when we signed in so this is going to be interesting. We will only stay there one night because tomorrow we get up and start our 1 on 1 spanish classes at 8am. We signed up for a week of spanish and a homestay through Maximo Nivel. So far so good. I mean, we get free internet! Tomorrow we will meet the family...lets hope they have a hot son in his 20's.

Runaway Laptop, the grocery bag suitcase and the man with no shoes

Ive made it safely to Guatemala. Currenly I am in Antigua, a 45 minute car ride from Guatemala City. Antigua is a largely tourist city with many travelers taking spanish lessons here.

So I'll take you back to the beginning of the trip for a few laughs... my lovely friend Megzies picked me up in Erie and drove me to the Pitts airport around 2pm. My flight was at 630p but when we got there the security line was ridculously long. So long I thought i'd be so late. So after awhile Megan leaves and I look to my left after a huge commotion and some guy is chasing his tumbling laptop bag DOWN the UP escalator. The laptop is picking up speed and the guy, in his dress clothes, is trying desperately to catch up but since the escalator is going the opposite way, he is making little headway. So after about 30 seconds some stranger runs UP the escalator the appropriate way and cathches his laptop. The runner then flies up the stairs in sheer embarassment, grabs his waiting luggage, and leaves. Given there were probably 150-200 people in the security line watching this happen, I would have run too. So the silliest part...I turn to the lady behind me with my mouth gaping open and say "Well thats embarassing!" She looks at me, in disgust, and says "Hes lucky he didnt get hurt!" I thought it was funny! If you know me, you know i ALWAYS think people falling is funny...even when I fall.

Moving on to Boston. I land, pick up my bag bc it was not a connecting flight only to find I have to reenter security which is closed because its 1130 at night. So I set up shop on a bench and get out a book. Shorly after an unattractive 20 something guy sits next to me. After awhile he makes small talk..and I oblige. Im freezing so I go to sit on the floor opposite side of the room. As I am getting my stuff this kid says, in a creep voice, "I like your braids." So nervous laughter ensues and I get my bags quicker than I planned. Mins later he follows me saying "ya it is cold over there." Jesssusssss! I lay down and put my headphones in thinking he will stop talking, which doesnt work. What is it with people not getting social cues!? So he then says "If youre still cold, you can come sit by me." I started praying Whitney would get there soon but she wasnt due for another 2 hours..and im stuck with creepy mcgee!! Finally whit shows up and rescued me. What made him weirder was he was going to Nicaragua to travel for 3 months but literally ALL he had was a small bookbag with his laptop, a nicaragua guide book and im not kidding, ONE plastic grocery bag with a few clothes in it. The only shoes he had were dress shoes. You can imagine my confusion now, ya!?

Moving on to Ft Lauderdale. I see a tiny, tiny man who looks like he is from Guatemala walking around on crutches with no shoes....I emphasize walking around an airport with no shoes. Get on the plane and who is sitting next to me? The man with no shoes. Who hurt himself falling off his bicycle come to find out. But still, couldnt you wear a shoe on your non hurt foot? Welcome to guatemala i suppose.

hasta luego

So this is it. The day I have been waiting for for MONTHS now. In a little more than 24 hours I will be getting off the plane in Guatemala City and I am so excited!!!

I got to hand in my resignation at work....which was awesome. Then last night a couple friends came out to celebrate--thank you i love you all!!!! The highlight was playing flip cup in the kitchen with an additional rule: you drink, you run around the island, you flip. After a few hours of craziness my mother, yes MY MOTHER, came to pick her 3 adult children up from the Crooked I at 2am. How lovely is that. Anyways Adrienne, Leah, Megan, Lindsey, Meghan and Ben, Tina and Brian, Bobby and Meg..thank you thank you for a wild night in celebration of this exciting journey!!

Also, thanks to everyone who has been supportive of another one of my crazy ideas! (esp you Miss Jenn Nelson!)

I wanna be a husky!

Last September I was in Seattle, WA walking 60 miles in 3 days as part of the SUSAN G KOMEN The 3 Day in efforts to raise money for breast cancer initiatives. I stayed for a week or so and my friend James and his girlfriend Amanda gave me a tour of the city. I loved the place. It was a perfect mixture of what I grew up loving-- Lake Erie and everything that comes with living near a body of water, and everything I craved-- living near mountains! It was absolutely beautiful. I fell in love on the flight in. So when I left, I started looking for jobs in Seattle. I think the problem was with every interview when they asked "When did you move out here?" I would say "As soon as I have a job I am on my way." which immediately makes employers prefer a person who is already living there. So after living in Erie for awhile longer I decided that maybe graduate school was a smart option for me. So of course, I looked at Seattle.

I had visited the campus of UW when I was in Seattle and it is so nice. So the last 6+ months I have been diligently working on my grad school application. I know its incredibly risky to apply to only one school, you know something like putting all my eggs in one basket. But if I go to grad school at this junction in my life, I only want to go to University of Washington. So after a ton of hard work, my essay is done, Ive paid my application fee and its officially submitted. Now all I have to do is wait until April to see if I get in.

Keep your fingers crossed :)

Keep me where the light is

I should be asleep, preparing for a hard days work tomorrow but instead I am watching John Mayer streaming live on his Battle Studies tour from Red Rocks in Colorado. Delightful :)

I stumbled upon his heavenly blog and am going to sleep so well tonight knowing that this beautiful thing has come into my life.
http://www.johnmayer.com/blog/permalink/5522

Here is my favorite ranting courtesy of John Mayer <3

I used to think that life was an intricate series of levers and pulleys, buttons and switches, Mexican standoffs and hostage negotiations. As I get older I realize that life is more Netherlands minimalist than Jackson Pollock. The problems don’t get fewer, and in fact they grow in number, but the way I index them in the database is different. More problems get filed under fewer category headers.

Things are getting simpler, and it’s making life better. Here’s the cheat sheet:

People want to be liked. We all crave attention and affection and we all reject shame. When we get embarrassed we send a thug version of ourselves to the forefront to do our fighting for us. We’re at the top of the food chain just under fear. We don’t want to be in a relationship to hear the words “I love you,” we want to be in a relationship to say the words “I love you.” We want to feel needed, and exceptional and we hate feeling insignificant. We want to ace a hearing test. We are binary creatures; if we’re the plaintiff, we want to win every dollar. If we’re the defendant, we want guard every penny. We want to make more money than last year. We don’t want to get cancer or die in our cars and we want the same for our loved ones. We go out on weekends to try and have sex while trying not to get punched in the face. We drink so we can be ourselves and not mind it so much. We’re desperate to be understood. We want to know someone else has felt it, too. We hate being judged unfairly. We want to make the person we heard wasn’t all that into us change their minds and admit they had us wrong. We want sunny skies with a chance of killer tornadoes, just to keep music sounding good. We take hours upon hours to admit to self consciousness. We don’t know exactly how to pleasure each other. We just want love. In any and every form.

See? It’s simple. :)