Earlier today (I started writing this yesterday but didn’t finish so it’s not actually today anymore it’s yesterday technically) we went to this women’s cooperative weaving place where you get to learn how to weave. My back hurt from leaning over so much but my lady was really nice she was. She was like a little nice old lady, she was trying to speak to me in Spanish but I had no clue what she was saying so I didn’t say anything I just looked and smiled. LOL I ended up telling her I didn’t speak Spanish but she was so cute. Also learning how the color the yarn and stuff was really cool
This is her I didn’t even get her name It was really cool I learned how to do it without understanding a word she said
Today me and Kayla jumped off the dock and it was freezing like it was water snow.
But other than that, we have a new guest named Elissa and she is Kianna’s roommate so I’m getting along with her.
All of us went on the bumpiest boat ride ever because we almost flew in the roof of the boat and we went to a weaving tour and we got to try weaving and everyone did amazing 🤩 and then we went to a bee tour/ farm and we saw different kinds of bees and some of them are tiny and that was interesting. Did you know that Mayan bees don’t have stingers?
We went on a tuk tuk to our boat ride and our captain was named Pedro. It was super bumpy but we survived the ride.
We had lunch and guess what I had? Spaghetti and meatballs! My favorite 😍.
Yesterday I tried something new and I liked it… broccoli soup!
After we ate lunch, me and Kayla jumped off the dock into the freezing lake🥶! And then we were so cold that we went in the hot tub and the sauna. Then we went to dinner with everyone and there was a bbq at la iguana and Chula, the dog that I met the first year I came was there. The BBQ had the best chicken Ive ever tasted! After dinner, we had dessert which was drum roll please 🛢️🛢️🛢️🛢️🛢️ brownies!! So we ate all of them and we walked back in our house in the dark so we had to Tia’s phone flashlight to get back to the house and we walked with three lake dogs that followed us the whole time we were walking but then we had to say goodbye to the dogs.
Tia saved our lives by a catching a scorpion that was in the house!!
By far the hardest part of travel for me is the packing. My hard rule of “no checked bags and if you can’t carry it yourself don’t bring it” makes packing a challenge to say the least. It also puts into perspective how much you think you need in life vs how much you actually need. Makes me grateful that being in Central America is more about what you’re doing and who you’re doing it with rather than what you’re wearing. I can wear the same outfit a 100x and no one would even notice or care. So wish us luck as we pack 3 weeks worth of items into a backpack…Guate bound in T minutes 9 hours.
I feel like I blinked, and this trip has come to an end. No part of me is ready. I am not ready to leave my walking city with 75-degree weather, not ready for school, not ready for a lot of things that we face going back home. Being in Antigua isn’t like a regular vacation. It’s really like being in a second home…. so I never feel an urgency to leave. I also am not ready to have the girls and Luca gone. The feeling of walking away without the girls in tow at the airport was pretty overwhelming to me. It’s a rare thing to be with people for two weeks and not have a single moment where you desire a break from each other. So we either did a really great job of naturally giving each other space, or we are just really meshed so well. I have a feeling it was a combination of both. I hope you’ll hear from this crew again someday. Thanks for following along.
Here in the states when someone asks me what I do for a living I usually get one of two reactions:
1. people have the persception that we are baby snatchers, or
2. I get the dreadful “poor you how awful your job must be look.”
But in Guatemala when people ask what I do for work and I say I am a Social Worker….their reactions are quite different. Their faces light up in awe and amazingment. Much like the reaction a doctor or lawyer would get, or the same as Nicole gets when she says she’s a Midwife. I noticed this reaction my first two times in Guatemala. This time I pointed it out to Nicole and she noticed it as well. Clearly to be a social worker here means something quite different to the Guatemalan people. I wanna know more. I am intriqued by their reaction and can feel an instant endearment to me when I talk about the work I do. No one looks sorry for me like they do in the states. In the states I am not sure if the looks I get are related to the toughness of my job or the salary my job alludes to. I love the work I do and this is the first time I see a reflection back from a community that miorrors how I feel about my profession. I am intrigued and hoping next time I am here that I can have more converstations about their perspectives on social work.
Nicole touched on something in an earlier post that I wanted to piggy back on a little. She talked about a converstation she had where the fact that Nicole and I are two working non married woman who are able to travel freely was pointed out to her. Funny thing is it wasn’t until she shared her converstation with me that I even stopped to take pause about that simple fact that I clearly take for granted. If I allow myself to view my own situation from the vantage point of a typical Guatemalan woman or man…how insane that concept must seem. To be completely financially independent and to be free to do as I please is something I very much take for granted. Not to dismiss the fact that I work two jobs, but to their point the fact that I am able to find two jobs to have is something inconceivable to them. Access to education, that then gave me access to jobs (in a country with jobs), that then gave me freedom and independence. I don’t have to have a husband to survive or feed myself. I don’t require support. And because no one else is supporting me no one gets the right to dictate me either. If I choose to be with someone it is because I desire to be with him, not because I am just trying to survive. If I am in an unhealthy relationship I am free to go because I have the means to do so. I also have a huge support system in my life of family and friends that if I ever find myself in a situation I can’t manage on my own I know I have people willing to back me. It’s hard to place myself in the shoes of a “typical woman” here. Being in the outside towns and also at the clinic with Nicole the other day were great experience to help me grow my empathy, and the amount of empathy I feel is overwhelming. I also have a great deal of admiration for the hard work that living here requires. Nothing is easy here. Everything takes effort. We drove through other villages on our way to Pacaya and saw life outside of a very touristy Antigua. Watching the woman of the villages we passed having to walk down hills to the community water spouts and then lug the juggs of water back home, or carry their laundry to the community pila only to carry it home wet to hang. Women and men carring large heavy objects hanging from their heads. The quote “necessity is the mother of invention” is something you see in live living color here. They have created ways of doing things to help make life a little easier, all while, from my perspective, life is still far harder here. And yet kindness prevailes. People here are kind and genuine. Life is slower here and when you aren’t all self consumed (like we are most times in our society) you get to really engage with people. Experiences like this continue to reinforce my belief that to be human and to treat others not just with kindness but with empathy outside of our own understanding is the most coveted quality someone can possess.
22 years ago, this little tiny baby girl came into the world, and I became a God mother. I had no idea the woman she would become. Let me tell you about Kianna….
Kianna was part of my very first trip to Guatemala and really my first trip out of the country alone as the only responsible adult. To express what it’s like to be back in Guate 5 years later with her is pretty hard to put into words. But my goodness, oh how she’s grown in the last 5 years. From basic things like 5 years ago using an ATM for the first time and it happening in Guatemala, to problem solving and being aware of and observant of things around her. To this year she’s the driving force behind school. She is nearly fully bilingual now after living in Miami. Simply having her around has brought so much to my experience. The quite moments in the house gave us time to talk and the adventures gave me time to observe her and all of the great that she is. I can’t imagine being here without her. She is kind to her core, she’s got skills (like the ones that matter in relationships, in dealing with others, and with coping with life) that not many others might notice but I see them and they are impressive, especially for someone her age. She is learning about herself still and though it might not be easy for her it’s incredible to watch. I talk about just being a good human all the time to people, especially in todays climate with politics and world relations. Well Kianna is just a good human and I am so proud of all that she is and all that she is destined to become. I hope that she remembers that you don’t have to have it all figured out to know that you’re doing just fine.
