Every Day

Hey all! While I was having the time of my life in Guatemala, I wrote blogs in my journal. So Im going to catch up on those blogs soon enough. BUT I wanted to give y'all a brief overview of what happened and get you excited for the upcoming blogs. Amazing. That really sums up all of my trip. Its a beautiful country with wonderful people and very inexpensive for American tourists, like me. The first thing I notice when I step onto States soil is that my brain is slowly turning to mush. I had to constantly think in another language, try to translate and think of words and conversations in Spanish. When I got back my brain didn't have to work so hard and at first I was still thinking in Spanish but it soon slowed down. Now its almost gone already. It really made me want to transition to a spanish speaking country for longer than a few weeks and maybe even take a Spanish course. I learned so much in only those 11 days! Also, being disconnected is the best feeling ever. I ...

7:09 am Its been a habit of waking up early. A lot of the people here are up already too. I like how I feel when I go to bed early and wake up early. I feel like I have so much more time to get things done or to just relax in the morning and not feel like Ive wasted so much time. Its hard to keep up this schedule in the States though because I need to use the evening hours to get stuff done and thats the lifestyle there. The sun is out today and I dont see any clouds, how exciting! But, its our last few hours here so we can't enjoy it fully... Im excited to get home, traveling can get exhausting but I also dont want to leave Guatemala. Its so beautiful here, everyone is so friendly and I love exploring new places. I forgot to talk about the heat lightning! Last night we had some which created a cool atmosphere as we walked around the city at night. There was a lot of it at the Yoga Forest too. Especially the last night that one of the girls from our retreat taught yoga. It w...

6:44pm Today Melanie and I packed up at the beautiful Earth Lodge. It was a little bit drizzly in the morning . We had to was up the steep hill with all of our things. I was pretty warm at the tom! Then we waited for the shuttle with some guy whose name starts with an M from Australia. He was an interesting fellow and we chatted about travel and life. It is always fun meeting cool travelers because they always have the best stories. Once we got to antigua I helped us all figure out how much the shuttle was because I was the one who spoke the most spanish. M-guy took off as soon as we got the money figured out, solo traveler. It took a bit to find our hostel. I had to ask for directions. Our Hostel Capitan Tom isn't fancy at all but the woman at the front desk is very nice. When we came in from the rain she told us to grab tea or coffee to stay warm (I won't mention that the sugar had bugs crawling in it...) We spent most of the afternoon walking around the city. We found t...

4:04pm Its friday the thirteenth and I didn't even realize! So, today I slept in until 7 am and took an hour and a half nap mid-day. Ive had an annoying headache all day. I drank, ate and took a nap but it was still there. I think my sleep schedule is just weird... Melanie and I ate lunch (an avocado, pesto and grilled cheese sandwich. as good as it sounds) at the lodge and then went on a little adventure hike. There are little trails all over this mountain because of the locals. Thats how they get around. On the way to el mirador, the lookout, we were unsure if we were on the right path. We had a map but it wasn't very good. I asked almost everyone we passed of we were going the right direction. This little boy we first met was so cute. He asked in spanish if we were looking for el mirador. I said "si" and he pointed up the steep path and said "ariba!" up! So we continued up this horribly steep hill... I just spilled delicious popsicle all over myse...

7:35am Im sitting next to a tree trunk in my tree house, looking at an amazing view of Antigua below, mountains and volcanoes surrounding. So lush and green. I didnt sleep very well because the light from the city shone so bright into where my bed was in the top portion of the tree house, where my bed is but it was ok. I miss the Yoga Forest and my friends from there. Yesterday we got to Antigua and had to say goodbye to another woman who had to get to the airport for her flight. The rest of us had some time to explore Antigua for a bit. First, We went to this awesome Mayan textile store that our retreat leader told us about. There were so many beautiful things! Thats where I bought an awesome tie for my Ty, haha.  Then it was time for lunch. We ate at some place that was close and convenient. The food was alright but the company was better :) After lunch we had to say goodbye to another woman from our group. I walked her to her shuttle so she wouldn't get lost be...

11/11/15 10:15 pm Today was the last day of our retreat. Its a hard thing to say goodbye to these ladies who Ive gotten so close to. We are all going to Antigua together so I feel like its not exactly saying goodbye yet. This evening we did a dancing ceremony which was SO fun! This woman came and led it who was such a beautiful young spirit. She started out the night by handing out Glitter!!! I was so happy; it was the best thing ever. All of us had glitter everywhere so we sparkled as we moved. This woman played this tribal, EDM, irish infused shit that was so bad ass and the speakers even had colorful lights. It made us all want to move. We all just frolicked around this candle-lit open space without any judgement or care in the world! It was the best movement/dancing of my life because I felt like I could be myself, completely myself, without worrying about what others thought or feeling that I should "look cool". Each woman there had her own style of dancing and compl...

9:22 pm Tonight we had our cacao/new moon ceremony and I left early. Ive been really tired lately and so I took my chance to leave when I could to come write and sleep early. It started out with a ton of us sitting around a fire. Id say close to 30 or more. The people leading the cacao ceremony prepared our cacao and then sent around mugs which we sweetened with honey. They were wearing these tall pointy brimmed hats, not like a witches hat like suuuuuper pointed. Apparently it takes a lot to make cacao. We started out with the new moon ceremony where we chanted songs and banged on drums. The woman who led this had a beautiful voice and so I didn't do much chant/singing but listened to her. Im also not much of a chanter... We then invited the four directions (NSEW) to join us by shaking our gourds in each direction after their invite. As we were doing this, I noticed that the stars were so bright and beautiful in the sky. At this point our fire started to die and I wanted s...

11/9/2015 10:03pm I just had a very magical experience, but let me give you the events leading up to this magical experience.  All us girls went into the sauna together which was this little adobe/rock-like hut which one of the men stocked with fire to keep it hot. It was a Mayan sauna. It was pretty hot in there with all of us but it felt great. We all sang some songs because it had a nice echo inside. We were all talking girl talk which I haven’t done in forever and I talked about how awesome science is and Bill Nye. Nerd status.  Anyway, so we are all deciding to leave and our retreat leader accidentally grabs onto the hot pole which heats the building. She puts some cold water on it right away and some try to assist her. A few of us decide to get moving and B decides she's gonna stay for a bit but a second later she comes out holding her hand and says “I just did the exact same thing!” So, B joins the group tending to the other burned hand. For a minute Im think...

11/9/2015 9:43am I pooped! haha I ate SO much food at breakfast in the hopes that it would push something through and it did. I also didn't mind hanging out in the bathroom with the amazing views for a little longer than normal. Im getting eaten alive by sand flies. My ankles are soooooo itchy but not as bad as my bites in the VI and the other girls are worse… I havent seen myself in a mirror since the airport and its weird but also liberating. I dont judge myself as much and mostly focus on my inner beauty and how I feel I look (which is awesomesause!). I do like to see what I look like though cause Im not bad looking and I like to confirm that sometimes. lol I am lounging on the hammock in the sun outside my bungalow, cabin, whatever. Its pretty perfect. And now I feel like I want to take a nap…

11/7/2015 11:56 am The bathroom views are amazing! I took a poo yesterday looking out at the lake and volcanoes in the distance. Absolutely stunning. I dont mind taking my time in the bathroom with views like that! 11/8/2015 3:36pm We had a day of exploration in San Marcos today. First the group of girls went to hang out by the lake, Lago Atitlan. It was very rocky, like a cliff-side almost. Not like a beach at all. But we climbed down the rocks to check out the water and it was cool, but not cold like lake Michigan. I put my feet in the water and soaked in the morning sun.  Its SO fun to chat with all the ladies here. I feel like Im a part of something and they all have such interesting things to say. I want to know all about them! 9:45pm This morning’s yoga was taught by one of the girls in my group, K. I love taking classes by people I know because it brings a whole new level to the experience. She came around and did excellent adjustments and it was so calmi...

The following is a conglomeration of journal writings that I made about my travel day to San Marcos, Guatemala and some additions to make it all run together smoothly: 11/5/15 6:60am Chicago I JUST made my first flight. It helped that the dude behind me in the security line was on my flight. We chatted a bit about travel and it eased my mind a little. I get so stressed out when Im not early... I had to take the earliest bus from Milwaukee at 4:30 am. I slept three hours. 10:55am ATL I think I smell... I didn't do that deodorant thing this morning. Whatever. I had less than an hour layover and had to run through the huge ATL airport to get to my gate. I got there with a bit of time though which is nice. Im between two not so fun humans. One is a very large man who thinks he can have half of my seat (though at least he seems nice) and an older woman who I don't think speaks good spanish or engligh. Also, when she's passed out its fine but as soon as she wakes up, the ...