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 horrible stench of her breath permeates through the whole row. Ive never come in contact with someone whose breath is so horrible.
Guatemala
So, I get off the plane and make it leisurely through the airport. Stopping to exchange some money along the way and using the bathroom. I step out onto the street and there are people EVERYWHERE. Theres a little fence that everyone is standing behind, waiting for whomever they are waiting for. Some are holding signs, some are just waiting for family and friends, some are trying to get taxis for everyone ("taxi? you need taxi??") and I am overwhelmed. I say "no, gracias" to all the taxi's as I search for my name on a sign. I keep walking to look like I know what Im doing (traveler tip #1) but don't see my name and Im trying not to freak out quite yet. I walk back and forth through the crowd twice with no luck so I stand to the side hoping someone finds me. Eventually, this man comes up to me with my name on a sign and immediately, I relax.
We go to a car where I meet B, another girl in my retreat. We chatted for awhile until the last girl, P, came and then we were on our way with our driver, who didn't speak much english. The three of us girls were very excited to get to know one another and so we chatted for awhile but then slowly, we all started to become quiet. We all had long travel days and I had only gotten three hours of sleep.
Guatemala City is SO busy. The traffic was insane, stopping and going, inching along. Cars weaving in and around one another. Lots of head bobbing as we slammed on breaks and sped up. Once we got out of the city, it wasn't much better. The roads were cut into the mountains so there were tons of switchbacks. How you drive in Guatemala is speed up on the straight aways and then slam on your breaks and weave around the corners. Lanes don't really mean anything, especially around corners. It was hard to nap as your body is getting whipped back and forth. Somehow I passed out for maybe 20 minutes.
So, after getting the ladies their money exchanged and stopping for gas, its starting to get dark and we pull off of the main highway to this side road. We take this super winding, bumpy, pot-holey (with occasional mudslides) road down the mountain until we hit a traffic jam and we have to stop. At this point it is dark and has started to rain. There are people getting out of cars and walking around so our driver rolls down his window to ask whats up and turns out there is a huge truck stuck sideways in the road. I needed to see this for myself, so P and I get our rain gear on and walk down to where this thing is happening. A smaller semi-truck looks like it tried to take the switchback too early and is literally stuck. It can't go forward because then it'll go off the mountain and can't go backwards cause the steep incline of the road is there. There are men under and around the truck trying to figure out what to do. Everyone is saying it'll be at least an hour until the path is clear. There is no way around it. There is no alternative route to San Marcos. We are too far to walk. What do we do??
We wait for probably about 30 or so minutes while our driver tries to call and see what we are to do. Keep in mind also that we are passing up on dinner time at the yoga forrest and we are all pretty hangry. Finally a solution is made and the phone is handed to B for the whole translation. P and I are in the back and all we hear is "ok... mhmm...yeah..." She gets off the phone and is like so I guess we are going back up the mountain for an hour to another side of the lake to a boat and then an escort to the Yoga Forest. We are all pretty confused but start laughing and prepare ourselves for the upcoming adventure. Our driver turns our car around on the narrow, steep congested road and we pass the first cop car (which, what is that little car going to do anyway...).
At this point its pouring, foggy and we have completely missed dinner. Im hangry from not eating all day really, and exhausted. Im trying SO hard to sleep but it was so HARD to do so on those roads...
When we finally get down the other mountain and into the town, we pull up to the waters edge and sit there for a minute. There is no one around, its dark and quiet except a few dogs barking at our presence. After about 5-10 minutes a wooden boat pulls up to the rickety dock thats down the hill. Nobody speaks engligh and we only speak rough spanish so we wonder, are we really going on that boat? alrighty...
We get on the boat and pull away from land, no turning back now. This little wooden boat has a small plastic roof and little wooden benched under. We are tucked under the plastic roof joking about how we really have no idea where this boat is taking us. Could be anywhere. About halfway through the ride, the light on the front of the boat goes out. I get a little nervous and say something. You're supposed to have a light on your boat at night... Then after a minute it comes back on. In the beginning of the boat trip we are chatting a lot but then we are just taking it all in and silently listening to the wind and the waves hit the small boat. The second time the front light goes off, we all stay silent waiting for it to come on. After several minutes, I say something because this is not good. We start making jokes to ease our discomfort and I'm worried. Probably five minutes goes by and then the light comes back on again and I let out a big sigh of relief.
Then we make it to shore and are greeted by three men who are eager to help us carry our bags and also, dont speak engligh. We introduce ourselves (which is something we all know how to do in spanish) and they start leading us through this adorable, quaint little town of San Marcos. There were little walkways with cute little stores and pretty plants everywhere. We walk for a little bit till we took a turn for some off-road trails. Its dark so we all bust out our lights, I've got this awesome headlamp that lights everything up. We are walking behind buildings and next to houses that are just in the middle of the forest. It was SO dark and I was happy to have my headlamp with new batteries! Immediately, my inner Biologist came out and I saw things I recognized like mother-in-laws-tongue and was intrigued with other things that my headlamp shined on! We walked on this trail for a long time past houses and things. No roads, just the trail to get there.
We must have walked for a good solid 20 minutes in the woods on a dirt trail in the dark when we, exhausted, came to the Yoga Forest gate. It was a beautiful gate made out of wood and curved branches. We weren't done though. We had to walk up SO many stairs along a waterfall to the top. All of us out of breath, we met A, our retreat leader, and Finally ate the most delicious vegetarian dinner!
Needless to say, we were all ready for some quality horizontal time in what I must say were some very comfy, warm beds.
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 horrible stench of her breath permeates through the whole row. Ive never come in contact with someone whose breath is so horrible.
Guatemala
So, I get off the plane and make it leisurely through the airport. Stopping to exchange some money along the way and using the bathroom. I step out onto the street and there are people EVERYWHERE. Theres a little fence that everyone is standing behind, waiting for whomever they are waiting for. Some are holding signs, some are just waiting for family and friends, some are trying to get taxis for everyone ("taxi? you need taxi??") and I am overwhelmed. I say "no, gracias" to all the taxi's as I search for my name on a sign. I keep walking to look like I know what Im doing (traveler tip #1) but don't see my name and Im trying not to freak out quite yet. I walk back and forth through the crowd twice with no luck so I stand to the side hoping someone finds me. Eventually, this man comes up to me with my name on a sign and immediately, I relax.
We go to a car where I meet B, another girl in my retreat. We chatted for awhile until the last girl, P, came and then we were on our way with our driver, who didn't speak much english. The three of us girls were very excited to get to know one another and so we chatted for awhile but then slowly, we all started to become quiet. We all had long travel days and I had only gotten three hours of sleep.
Guatemala City is SO busy. The traffic was insane, stopping and going, inching along. Cars weaving in and around one another. Lots of head bobbing as we slammed on breaks and sped up. Once we got out of the city, it wasn't much better. The roads were cut into the mountains so there were tons of switchbacks. How you drive in Guatemala is speed up on the straight aways and then slam on your breaks and weave around the corners. Lanes don't really mean anything, especially around corners. It was hard to nap as your body is getting whipped back and forth. Somehow I passed out for maybe 20 minutes.
So, after getting the ladies their money exchanged and stopping for gas, its starting to get dark and we pull off of the main highway to this side road. We take this super winding, bumpy, pot-holey (with occasional mudslides) road down the mountain until we hit a traffic jam and we have to stop. At this point it is dark and has started to rain. There are people getting out of cars and walking around so our driver rolls down his window to ask whats up and turns out there is a huge truck stuck sideways in the road. I needed to see this for myself, so P and I get our rain gear on and walk down to where this thing is happening. A smaller semi-truck looks like it tried to take the switchback too early and is literally stuck. It can't go forward because then it'll go off the mountain and can't go backwards cause the steep incline of the road is there. There are men under and around the truck trying to figure out what to do. Everyone is saying it'll be at least an hour until the path is clear. There is no way around it. There is no alternative route to San Marcos. We are too far to walk. What do we do??
We wait for probably about 30 or so minutes while our driver tries to call and see what we are to do. Keep in mind also that we are passing up on dinner time at the yoga forrest and we are all pretty hangry. Finally a solution is made and the phone is handed to B for the whole translation. P and I are in the back and all we hear is "ok... mhmm...yeah..." She gets off the phone and is like so I guess we are going back up the mountain for an hour to another side of the lake to a boat and then an escort to the Yoga Forest. We are all pretty confused but start laughing and prepare ourselves for the upcoming adventure. Our driver turns our car around on the narrow, steep congested road and we pass the first cop car (which, what is that little car going to do anyway...).
At this point its pouring, foggy and we have completely missed dinner. Im hangry from not eating all day really, and exhausted. Im trying SO hard to sleep but it was so HARD to do so on those roads...
When we finally get down the other mountain and into the town, we pull up to the waters edge and sit there for a minute. There is no one around, its dark and quiet except a few dogs barking at our presence. After about 5-10 minutes a wooden boat pulls up to the rickety dock thats down the hill. Nobody speaks engligh and we only speak rough spanish so we wonder, are we really going on that boat? alrighty...
We get on the boat and pull away from land, no turning back now. This little wooden boat has a small plastic roof and little wooden benched under. We are tucked under the plastic roof joking about how we really have no idea where this boat is taking us. Could be anywhere. About halfway through the ride, the light on the front of the boat goes out. I get a little nervous and say something. You're supposed to have a light on your boat at night... Then after a minute it comes back on. In the beginning of the boat trip we are chatting a lot but then we are just taking it all in and silently listening to the wind and the waves hit the small boat. The second time the front light goes off, we all stay silent waiting for it to come on. After several minutes, I say something because this is not good. We start making jokes to ease our discomfort and I'm worried. Probably five minutes goes by and then the light comes back on again and I let out a big sigh of relief.
Then we make it to shore and are greeted by three men who are eager to help us carry our bags and also, dont speak engligh. We introduce ourselves (which is something we all know how to do in spanish) and they start leading us through this adorable, quaint little town of San Marcos. There were little walkways with cute little stores and pretty plants everywhere. We walk for a little bit till we took a turn for some off-road trails. Its dark so we all bust out our lights, I've got this awesome headlamp that lights everything up. We are walking behind buildings and next to houses that are just in the middle of the forest. It was SO dark and I was happy to have my headlamp with new batteries! Immediately, my inner Biologist came out and I saw things I recognized like mother-in-laws-tongue and was intrigued with other things that my headlamp shined on! We walked on this trail for a long time past houses and things. No roads, just the trail to get there.
We must have walked for a good solid 20 minutes in the woods on a dirt trail in the dark when we, exhausted, came to the Yoga Forest gate. It was a beautiful gate made out of wood and curved branches. We weren't done though. We had to walk up SO many stairs along a waterfall to the top. All of us out of breath, we met A, our retreat leader, and Finally ate the most delicious vegetarian dinner!
Needless to say, we were all ready for some quality horizontal time in what I must say were some very comfy, warm beds.
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