kellita the señorita the ibby dibby dow: Life’s a Journey But Sometimes It’s Nice When You Reach Your Destination

Turns out that one month of traveling in Guatemala hasn’t made me any harder. I bawled my eyes out yesterday when I left the Ramos family. I spent the morning with them, laughing and taking pictures. I felt like a celebrity, and like if we took enough pictures, we would never forget each other. As if I would ever forget this experience.

As I packed up to head out, I hugged each family member, profusely thanking them for everything, wishing I could have said more to express my gratitude. Then the tears started. They came slowly at first, but by the time I made it to the door, I was sort of heaving. And when I turned around to say goodbye, I saw that the ladies were crying, too, which made me cry harder. I started walking down the street, trying to navigate through my tears, turning around every 5 seconds or so to keep waving, until I turned the corner. I will never forget them.

I met Hayley and Ethan at the school, and we began our journey to The Mountain School. Transportation from place to place when you’re backpacking is always guaranteed to bring people closer. There’s always a good story to tell, and yesterday was no different. We hopped a micro-bus to the park, where we missed our stop, then were told there were no buses running from that location since it was Sunday. So we flagged down another micro-bus to get to the other terminal. Of course we found the one had about 15 people in it already, which made climbing in with our packs a bit of a task. I went first, awkwardly plunking myself on the extra aisle seat near the back, thus making it impossible for anyone else to fit. Hayley came next forward, and had no choice but to awkwardly straddle me, and sort of sit on my lap/lean forward over the seat, backwards in the bus. Ethan was thus forced to squeeze in and stand near the door. To say that we were laughing hysterically would be an understatement, and getting out was another interesting battle as Ethan blocked the door so we could escape before the waiting passengers forced their way on.

We finally made our way through the sketchy market and boarded the Xela-Ju bus for Columba. It has been proven that I have an ability unlike anyone else I know to attract public masturbators. Some day the reason will be revealed to me, but for now I guess I will just continue to do so. I had just told Hayley about this talent the other day, and as we sat down on the bus while Ethan ran to buy fruit, I warned her that the young boy behind her had just unzipped his pants and was waiting for no one to be looking, but that we were probably going to see a show starring his hand and his package. Luckily, the bus got so full and he had to share his seat with another man, thus stopping the show.

There is always someone on the chicken buses trying to sell you something before the journey begins. Yesterday it was a man selling carrot juice based eye drops. He went on and on about the benefits, how children as young as 6 months can use them, and then he did a demonstration. On someone else. Some woman two seats in front of me let this man put these “eyedrops” in her eyes, no questions asked. She just tilted her head back and prepared to be eye dropped. All I could think about the rest of the trip was how she was going to go blind.

As we neared our stop for the mountain school, we started to fret about the art of getting off the bus. As the bus moved farther away from civilization it filled with more people than there are seats, again another characteristic of chicken buses. People don’t move out of the way, and when you’re trying to get off other people are trying to get on and it’s a shit show. It took us a few minutes, and a lot of yelling, as the bus tried to take off with Hayley and I still making our way down the aisle. But alas, we made it and no bags were slashed nor money stolen.

The Mountain School is a dream. It’s such an opposite of Xela, and a welcome change after a month there. Here we live at the school with the other students, and go to family’s houses for meals. The school is in the middle of the woods in the middle of the mountains near the communities of Fatima and Nuevo San Jose. There is a history here that is deep and interesting, and our tuition money goes straight into the surrounding communities. Just by being here we’re making a difference in the lives of the people, which I will elaborate on in a later post. There are 6 students this week, and it’s going to be amazing. The Christmas activities list will make this one of the most memorable holidays I’ve had.

After dinner and orientation last night, I hunkered down in my room for a good night’s sleep. The silence here is broken by the sounds of crickets, and every few hours in the wee morning, the sounds of dogs howling and chicken buses honking, calling to take the men to find work at 4am.

Today classes started at 8am, and I am working with Lupita. We study in small huts in the backyard, and it’s so much warmer here than in Xela. I didn’t have to sleep with socks, a hat, or gloves last night! After classes we headed in to Columba in search of Internet and ice cream. It’s a 20-minute ride in the back of a pick-up. The pick-up trucks are all equipped with a rail structure so that people can ride inside and hanging off the back of the vehicles. This is the legit transportation here, and it’s so fun. I’m making up for all the years I always wanted to ride in the back of a truck but wasn’t allowed to do so. In true Guatemalan style, they pack them full every time. It’s not uncommon to see a truck with 20 people standing up chugging up the mountain.

The drivers here do everything on their own terms. When we were returning to school today we stopped 3 times on the way for the driver to run his own errands. It’s good we have learned to always allow enough time, and to take start times with a grain of salt. I am already in love with the mountain school and it’s only been a mere 24-ish hours.