It's the weekend!

Leaving Casa Colina (which you can barely see tucked behind the trees) for the last time. I left in a frenzy and scrambled to take this picture fleeing towards Santiago in a public "lancha".

Mom hard at work. We spent all day Saturday together enjoying the the sun, the lake and each other with a little help from Don Julio and Jalapeño margaritas in glasses rimmed with a mix of salt, sugar, and ground coffee. So tasty!

Dad hard at work either checking the market, checking scores and lately checking his INR results. 

Soy voluntario.

Surprisingly I am surviving the withdrawal from my San Juan Salsa Co. tortilla chip and salsa addiction without to terrible side affects. It’s almost like I’ve quit cold turkey except for the fact that my diet still comprises of a few corn tortillas a weeks. Imagine a typical corn tortilla, only smaller and thicker. Definitely blander BUT everywhere you go in Santiago and the surrounding Atitlan region women are clapping and pumping out thousands if NOT millions of fresh tortillas during all waking hours. The two other most common foods in the region are deep fried chicken and French fries prepared on a cart in the street. After two weeks straight of fried chicken every day, if not multiple times in one day, I am discovering a diet a local fruits and veggies is most satisfying of all – leaving little to be desired beyond occasionally finding myself daydreaming about San Juan Salsa Co..

What’s has been most unusual about this week has been waking up – wide awake – every morning just before 7 a.m. Sometimes it’s the pleasantries of sparrow’s song, a falling avocado on my roof or a faintly distant passenger boat engines roar. Other times it’s a pack of what sounds like 15 dogs barking incessantly. No me gusta. I get the feeling they have terrible owners for every other stray and cachetic dog wondering aimlessly around town is fearful of their own tail. None the less, its feels great to spring to life every morning ambitious and well rested.

Each day I start my day of Volunteering at Hospitalito Atitlan. I have been working with Tono aka Antonio in the hospital’s supply bodega. The hospital is still slowly transitioning into their new space after its construction completion December 2010. My daily tasks have involved physically moving ever shelving unit and piece of medical supply acquired through donations into its new 2^nd floor location. 

jueves.

Every afternoon...4 hours of private Spanish lessons.

                                Dad doing what he does...working on a deal.

    This little guy was nice enough to greet me at home this evening.

 Today's first light in the Casita. 

Semana dos (week 2)

I am still feeling on top of the world. My new Guatemalan world is exciting and unfolding before my own eyes. I have so much to look forward to, to learn, and to do. I am blessed to say I had an amazing first week here – with the perfect team to help launch this epic journey. Spending the week exploring and getting to know Guatemala, specifically Antigua and Lake Atitlan, with my parents and Steve was too good to be true. It was the perfect balance between sanity and insanity. Steve keeps me from going entirely insane from my parent’s antics and rooted ways, and deals. Fortunately for Mom and Dad, Steve’s outside influences offer the same perspective for them and aids their sanity and understanding me. How Steve maintains his own level of reason will forever amaze me.

All of us benefitted from our easy of adaptation to new and unfamiliar surroundings and our willingness to always go with the flow. And most amazing and insane of all of course is this place. I feel fortunate to not only be surrounded by three towering volcanoes (San Pedro, Toliman, and the tallest Atitlan topping out at 12,000 feet), but genuinely authentic and honest people from around the world. In it all of it glory and power, Guatemala did not have the power to persuade Steve from returning home. Understandable, and as I am discovering, it is manageable without him here and important from him to be back interpreting peoples dreams into perfectly designed homes. We are forever grateful for Skpye – allowing us to continue on my journey together.

My new home away from home... a one-bed “casita” fit with every modern convenience without foregoing the spirit of a Guatemalan lifestyle. No, it doesn’t have an open fire stove, nor does it have dirt floors. In fact, the floors are terracotta titled and the hand crafted floor to ceiling window and doors flood this tiny space with ample natural light. Even the shower is flooded with the day’s first rays as the sun begins hovering over the eastern volcanoes. The entire east-facing wall of the shower is made of wrought-iron French doors with stained glass windows, easily ajar to a tropical garden. It keeps getting better. Aside from having a place with everything, staying in this casita is really about what being outside of it has to offer. Gee Gee and Ana Lisa, the German and Swedish partners and owners of this property have done an impeccable job maintaining and developing this land since purchasing it 1990. At that time it was a dusty cornfield. Gee Gee of course credits Nicolas – our “Guardian” and gardener with his year-round upkeep of the property. The other set of expanding French doors that serve as the casita’s main entrance parlay accordion style to two koi ponds, a generous and spacious yard between two other casitas, a saline swimming pool, and a stone path towards the “main house” which abuts the lakes edge.

As good it seems, thinking about only being here another 25 days has me fearful I will come up short of getting the most of this place. It now is day two in my new routine, volunteering 4 hours in the morning and 3.5 hours of Spanish school in the afternoon. So far, my in between time has been spent trekking to the Mercado and various tiendas to supply this house with important rations like eggs, wine, and water. I am finding myself exhausted here in the early evening but happy to finally be on track with what I came here to do. I see so much potential with my time at Hospitalito Atitlan and practicing the art of speaking Spanish. I am grateful and thankful to be here yet so proud of Washington state for stepping up to face life’s greatest challenge – accepting others for our differences – while striving to create a free and just society for everyone through marriage equality.

Cheers to a future of acceptance not only in Washington or the US but the entire world!

Pacific coast, Monterrico, Guatemala

Trip highlight 1,800,000,001. 24/7 Guatemalan single car + passenger ferry. Powered entirely by a 15 hp Evinrude traversing costal marsh. Pitch black. No lights, only stars. Wow.

Antigua, Guatemala.

Better to give than receive...the rest of my coconut ice cream cone. 

Lake Atitlan, Santiago, Guatemala

Pacific coast, Monterrico, Guatemala

ARRIVAL: Guatemala

Friday, January 13, 2012

Today is yet again the first day of the rest of my life. However, I have arrived at today after months of preparation – physically, mentally and emotionally – to allow myself to embark on this adventure of a lifetime. It was no surprise it took the better part of two entire days to pack for six short months traveling to Guatemala, Brazil and Columbia. I already know I have way more than I need. Three separate bags including a smaller than most backpacking packs, a Victorinox roller carry-on and a satchel with enough room for go everywhere essentials like Burt’s Beeswax and a moleskin and my Spanish dictionary. It’s like a necessary good and evil balancing act. The part of me that knows I have way more than I could every need paired with the luxury knowing I am strong enough to actually carry everything I have with me everywhere I go (and enough money saved to pay for a personal sherpa if I tire). Whether I need it and don’t have it, or I have it and I don’t need it, I AM ON MY WAY.

I have the greatest pleasure realizing the potential of this trip and myself with the steadfast support of my biggest ally, my best friend and boyfriend, Steve. Together we left for Guatemala and arrived nearly flawlessly. Steve forgot his glasses after two frozen margaritas at DFW and flight 2195 had some of the most impressive turbulence - people’s drinks went flying and a passenger seated next to us returning from the bathroom white (…what better place to shit yourself?!). Otherwise, we are here and arrived only two join my parents for the start of the next six months. Here it goes. 

GETTING STARTED

Lying in bed, watching reruns of Arrested Development on Netflix with my boyfriend and a brown dog, my blog has been born. In less than one week my world will change. I will leave behind the conveniences of a perfectly perfect life upon a feather bed to an uncertain future to pursue whats next in the greatest adventure ever: life. I will use my new born blog OCCURRENCES as a platform in an effort to account the trail I intend to blaze in the next few months as I travel in Central and South America. OCCURRENCES represents a great deal for me personally, and offerers me the opportunity to share with others experiences and observations along the way.