It was my intention to catch up on my blogging of the rest of my semester in Iceland and my Spring term in Zanzibar (and Kenya, where we were eventually evacuated due to covid before going home 2 weeks early) before I peaced off to a whole other country that would require its own post, but alas. I went to Guatemala for 10 days. When your brother needs supplies from the US, and you want to cart some Spanish language books over to an Education Centre, you do it. I reminded myself that James began his fun trip to Greece in 2017/18? by stopping in Cameroon for a few days to see my village and drop off a whole suitcase for me, so it was very easy to tackle the challenge of packing the essentials for myself plus everything else I could think of to bring James and Lily in a carry on and person item. I packed 3 outfits, and I am quite proud. Despite being an RPCV, I have always tended to be an overpacker/preparer.

This foray into Central America was my first, and it surprised me how similar and different it was to Africa. It was a culture shock, but not in the way I anticipated. The pace of life was similar, I quickly learned that lazy afternoons were out of self preservation, as was common in my village. It was truly too hot to move between about 11am-3pm. I had to admit within the first day that it was even hotter than dry season in the Adamawa. The humidity of the jungle added an extra fun element and I found myself dripping sweat in new and fun places. And out of habit I had packed pants, used to Muslim communities. I wore a swimsuit half the time I was there. The next shock was the scale of development. Before I left, James told me that Guatemala is like Cameroon, but several decades more developed. I completely agree, the infrastructure is more present and fleshed out, they had a fair amount of tourism (the first thing I noticed was relative lack of plastic garbage), but there were still stands by the side of the road selling vegetables, and kids who couldn’t afford to go to school. This I am familiar with. Women also seemed more independent, while girls are still the first to miss out on education in deference to their male siblings, women rode motos, something I certainly never would have seen in the Adamawa.

The biggest culture shock of all for me was having to defer to my brother for all translation needs. I hadn’t realized how accustomed I was to being in charge while traveling, or how competent I felt navigating a developing country (at least at the end of my service in PC, compared to the beginning) until I realized I couldn’t haggle the bus prices down for us all. James did great though, and I’m sure if he spent 2 years in Guatemala he’d also only spend 25% more than locals for everything. So begins my journey in Guatemala, with James and Lily picking me up from the Flores airport, on September 12th.

The first few days I got to see the local go to stores and what they offered (everything!! well, not really, but plenty for Lily to make some of the best food I’ve ever had) and we added the books I brought from the US to the ed center library. I also got to have a go at painting the shelves for the books, so they were all spruced up when the new ones were added. I sat in on James and Lily tutoring in English (they have several sessions a week at the center with especially motivated kiddos) and they did great! They use the same method I used when I taught English (via French and Fulfulde) and it’s perfect when you yourself are also trying to learn as you teach.

My favorite place to visit (other than the local ex-pat chill hang spot, the hotel/bar/restaurant/swimming spot “El Gringo Perdido”) was the permaculture farm Sol y Verde. This farm, started by an extension worker from the states named Andrew, accepts volunteer workers who work on projects ranging from tree planting to experimental vanilla propagation. We had the pleasure of planting a bit, and helping set some (also sort of experimental) mole traps, which we intended to deal with the very real mole problem the farm has. They wreck havoc on the plants with all their tunneling.

The visit to the farm was very interesting to me. Andrew knew a lot more about permaculture than I ever have, and it was cool to see what worked and what didn’t in Central America from a food security standpoint. I brought some resources about beekeeping with me (including a simple handbook I put together for those just starting out) but found out that lots of people kept bees locally, and mostly using modern techniques. I’m happy that Lily and James have a place they can go to do the kind of volunteering that you see the results from very quickly, but I do think their strengths lie in the long view of aid work: improving livelihoods through education and resource access. It’s a bigger time scale, but no less important than improving crop diversity or farming practices.

The tourism aspect of my trip was pretty lit too. We spent a few days at El Gringo, a place I would have sold my left kidney to have access to within walking distance in Cameroon (free coffee and tea and filtered water for volunteers?? a lake without schisto??), we visited the island city of Flores, and we trekked to Tikal.

Tikal. Oh my. Top 5 experiences of my life, without a doubt. We woke up at 4 am to make it to the top of the highest temple at the ancient Mayan citadel with plenty of time before sunrise. To do this, a guide takes you into the park in the pitch dark, and you climb up lots of stairs until you reach the top of Temple IV (the tallest at Tikal), which has no handrails. That’s ok though, because sitting up there in the dark and the fog is pretty distracting from how easy it would be to topple down the ancient steps and die. To my dismay (but understandably) you couldn’t enter the 3 chambered room at the top of the temple, which really made me seriously consider going to school for archeology just for the opportunity to do so, but the view made up for that. Holy crap. We didn’t see the sun as it came up due to the fog, but the general other worldliness of it all was really hightened by this fact. At one point we saw what I believe was Temple III (The Temple of the Jaguar Priest) through the fog, and I had to pinch myself. I felt like Indiana Jones. The freaky sound of the howler monkeys made it feel even more like a movie.

I can’t say enough about Tikal. I wish I’d had a week to see the rest of it all, but I think we really hit the highlights. If you ever have the chance to be on top of an ancient Mayan temple as the sun rises, take it. I have to thank my excellent hosts for such an amazing trip! James did a great job helping me navigate (and buy souvenirs, I got a really cool Guatemalan hammock, which I had plenty of space for on the way home), and Lily impressed me as usual with her ability to stand my brother for long periods of time, cook amazing food, and watch good tv with me (thanks for introducing me to Lost, Lily!). I had such a great 10 days in Guatemala, and I am happy to know that James and Lily are thriving there and having life changing experiences. The only consolation I had on having to return home was that I flew from Guatemala City straight to a Harry Styles concert in Chicago. Without that, I would have been pretty darn bummed!

If you’ve made it this far, great job! I hope to have more posts in future chronicling the trips I’v neglected, but until then I just have to find a real person job as a recent MA grad. As of now I have what I am calling a “full-time part-time job” or a full-time job not in my field, but I am hoping to have something I’m truly passionate about soon, whether that is located in the states or abroad again. We’ll see!

See yeeso, au revoir, adios, until next time!