Reading this week:

• Range by David Epstein

Buckle up people – I’m going to milk this Guatemala trip for all it’s worth.

So over Christmas break I went to Guatemala. I mostly went because I was jealous of other people doing cool stuff. I’m in the Global Affairs program and because the affairs we care about are global, you get people who just casually go to Jordan or Vietnam or Portugal and stuff. So I wanted to go somewhere, and I figured I should practice my Spanish, and I have already technically been to Mexico, and Guatemala is the next closest place. I also have not ever traveled to Central/South America, except for a spring break in Cancun and a trip to Manaus, and I figured I should get some exposure to the region. I was very interested in how a place like Guatemala contrasted to Zambia or the other African countries I had been to. And then finally, ancient stone cities are like my jam, dawg, and Guatemala fortunately has quite a number of Mayan ruins.

So off I went to Guatemala. My mom dropped me off at the airport at 0400 and at 0600 I was on a flight to Texas and from there Guatemala City. I was hoping to find a Spanish phrasebook in one of the airport bookstores but no luck. The flight was fine. We landed a tad after noon and I got off the plane. As I walked to customs I kept asking why I had done this to myself. I was nervous about being in Guatemala and totally alone and not quite sure what I was doing. After customs, I changed money and bought a sim card at the convenient if overpriced stands in the airport, and then exited the airport and was like hrm. My original plan had been to take the overnight bus to Flores, but I had wussed out and decided to fly instead. So I needed to find the departure gate, and that was tougher than it sounded. I had found the departure entrance, but it looked like an exit, and so there I was wandering around with a bright orange shirt and a salmon colored backpack looking confused. Luckily, they had a cafe across the street so I ducked in there because I needed some lunch anyways. I got to sit down finally and eat some food and I observed the departures gate and concluded it really was departures. I sat around reading for a while and then went in at the appropriate time and then hung out in the departure gate. We eventually boarded the very tiny plane and took off just a few minutes before the sun went down. It was a fairly pretty ride, though clouds covered most of the way so I couldn’t get a really good look at the landscape. But I met some nice Canadian ladies.

The most jarring thing about landing in Santa Elena was that there was a huge McDonald’s sign visible from the runway. And right before the causeway to Flores there is a Burger King. I came all the way from the United States only to find this. In Zambia you don’t run into this stuff so it feels more exotic. Guatemala seems much more developed. But I got off the plane and found a taxi, and the driver found some other people to split it with me. They were either French or Quebecois. I almost forgot to pay the taxi driver but he got me to “Hotel La Mesa de los Mayas,” which I picked out of a guidebook. I asked if they had a cheaper room than the Q150 one he offered, so the proprietor gave it to me for Q125. I took a shower and then head out to finally see some of Guatemala.

The island of Flores was jarring when we first crossed the causeway because I could see a lot of what seemed like tourists but now I think they might be Guatemalan. Still maybe tourists. So I didn’t really know if I was comfortable with the whole place. But the island isn’t large and I went for a stroll around the whole thing, stopping for dinner. Literally all around the island were couples enjoying the night air and each other’s company and I thought it was very very cute. My Spanish was really terrible. However, the place I picked for dinner had a nice view across the lake and it was good food and everything was great. As I was sitting there, I was very happy to be in the tropics but it felt like it would be a while before I really understood the vibe of the place. After dinner and back at the hotel, I pondered before I fell asleep what the Mayans that originally inhabited Flores would think about it these days. Would they be into commerce and trade? Would they like the food?