Gracia a Dios!

Three months ago I stepped off of a plane into a strange land. I didn’t know the language, I didn’t know the people, I didn’t know what the next 3 months would have in store for me. Since then I have learned how speak here, met incredible people whom I have grown to love, and had more amazing experiences than I could have ever imagined. From climbing volcanoes and jumping off cliffs, to flirting in Spanish and riding up mountains in the back of pickup trucks, it has been one remarkable ride. My life will never be the same and I am so grateful that I have been able to have this opportunity.

Gracias a Dios por esta experiencia incredilbe y por haberme permitido ver esta parte del mundo que ha creado!

The gang at Por Que No? Cafe

 

 

 

 

 

Me and Carlos (my brother from another mother)

The baristas (Carol, Conor, me and Rene)

Me and Oscar :)

Me and Jen at Calle del Arco in Antigua

David, Kyle, me and Jen enjoying some ice cream on a stick!

Semuc Champey

Things seem to be wrapping up quickly here.  Spanish classes are done, my practicum is done, and Tuesday we will present our marketing plan to Por Que No? Café and thus my marketing class will be done.  The fog of all the classes, work, activities and excitement has seemed to clear and all of a sudden I find myself on the last Sunday night of my last week in Guatemala.  People keep asking me if I am happy or sad to leave and honestly I can’t answer that question.  I can hardly wait to go home and be with my family and friends once again but then, there is also that deep painful feeling of knowing who I am leaving behind and that I may never find myself in Antigua with them again. 

                On Thursday me and Kyle gave our 25 min long final presentations entirely in Spanish to the head bosses of the hotel.  We were both pretty nervous about it since I only formally studied Spanish for 5 weeks and Kyle for 3.  However, with some help beforehand, they went really well.  Everyone was so kind and excited to hear what we had learned from them.  Even Paul Nemecek (our professor here) and Juan Carlos (the director of La Union Spanish Language School) and his wife came to the presentation.  It was really cool to know that they cared enough to come and support us and that they were proud of our work at the hotel.  At the end of our presentation the general manager of Camino Real Antigua, Señor Abel Murga, thanked us for our work and said that he really enjoyed having us.  Then he said something that I wasn’t quite prepared for.  He said that the secret to his success and the principal that he has lived by is to never forget those that you leave behind.  I was really taken aback by the strength of that statement, not only in a business sense but also in almost a philosophic sense as well.  It brought tears to my eyes as I realized that everyone sitting at that table was someone I was leaving behind.

Me presenting

The bosses at Camino Real

                Wednesday was a big festival for the burning of the devil.  Apparently it symbolizes the battle of good and evil and at the end of the festival they set a piñata on fire to show the triumph of good over evil.  This triumph then leads right into the celebration of Christmas.     

Angels and Demons

                It has been a little difficult to feel the Christmas spirit here being that it is so warm still.  On Thursday our group had a Christmas party at Bev and Paul’s.  We decorated the tree and made Christmas cookie, broke open a Santa piñata and sang Feliz Navidad.  It warmed my heart to be a part of the preparations for Christmas here since we will be missing a lot of it back home.  

         This is a link to a youtube of our group singing Feliz Navidad

For our last weekend here a group of 7 of us decided to spend it in Semuc Champey.  Other tourists that we have met along the way have continuously told us that we need to visit Semuc before we leave…and they were right.  Lake Atitilan has by far been my favorite adventure so far in Guatemala but I have to say that Semuc Champey may have just stolen that title.  After and 8 or 9 hour ride we finally arrived at our accommodations a little before midnight.  They were cute little cabin/dorms with a shared bathroom.  My bed had also been home to 2 2-inch cockroaches. However, the next person to stay in that room can rest assured that they are now much more dead than when I found them.  The next morning we rode in the back of a pick-up up and down and back up and then back down again to Semuc Champey.  None of us really understood exactly what this place was that we were going to visit.  However, we found out that Semuc Champey is actually a cave from which an underground river surfaces and becomes Rio Dulce (Sweet River).  We hiked up and down mountains for what seemed like years over slippery and muddy paths almost to the point where I didn’t know how much more my body could take.  Finally we made it to a perfect overview of the river.  It was breathtaking from above but nothing like getting to swim in it.  There is a part where the river splits and part goes underground through the caves and the other part goes over and forms several beautiful lagoons.  The cool, clear and vibrant turquoise water was incredible feeling after the sweaty and muddy hike.  We swam in the lagoons for a while and then the guides took us to the edge of a huge water fall and gave us the chance to jump off.  Before the trip I had pinky promised Evan (one of the guys in our group) that I would jump off a cliff, however I was not prepared for a cliff like this.  It was a ten meter drop-off into a fairly strong river.  I started shaking and my heart was pounding as I stood by the edge.  There was no way.  Several people jumped while the rest of us watched in half amazement and half horror.  Then the guide said no more could go and we had to continue with the tour.  At this point I must admit I was incredibly relieved.  Our next task was to propel halfway down a waterfall and then jump onto a nearby rock.  Usually this would have been terrifying but it was small potatoes in light of the 10 meter plummet.  Most of the group did it and then from the large rock we hopped across another waterfall and into the cave “Semuc Champey” that is the outlet for Rio Dulce.  We stood above the raging river for a while and then crossed back over the waterfall onto the big rock.  From here we had two options of getting back: we could climb back up the water fall that we had previously propelled down or we could jump off the big rock into the river.  Neither option really seemed that appealing.  After all the real chickens went up the waterfall, the guide at the top of asked if he could pull up the rope.  Feeling the guilt of not jumping off the first cliff I hesitantly told him he could go ahead and pull up the rope.  So there I was standing next to a waterfall on a massive rock about to jump off a 7 meter cliff into the river below.  At this point I should tell you that I don’t really even jump off diving boards.  But there was no going back…literally.  So the people in front of me jumped…and even lived to cheer me on from the bottom.  From where I had been waiting I really could not even see the jump.  When I climbed out onto the edge of the cliff the guide told me not to look down.  I was amazingly fairly calm…until I glanced down. I immediately turned around and buried my face in my shoulder.  No way.  Because of the way the cliff stuck out you could not even see where you would be hitting the water.  The guide told me in his broken English to stop thinking about it and just jump…the thinking is worse than the jump.  I really couldn’t do it.  Then all the survivors at the edge of the river who had jumped before me started cheering and counting down.  I stared straight ahead at them…“three”…”two”…….my heart felt like it was pounding out of my chest and I was thinking I hope they don’t say… “ONE!” came the word I dreaded the most and I leaped off the cliff and plummeted into the river below.  I did it. I survived! I kept my pinky promise. I jumped off a cliff. It was incredible!!!

This is my new favorite mode of transportation

The view from above

Tell me this is not the most beautiful thing you have ever seen.

Where the river goes underground

This is the big rock I jumped off of!

My "I did it!" picture

Tooth brushing party at the lodge!

                I thought that would be my last life-threatening adventure for the day but as it turns out I was way wrong.  After lunch and a brisk tube float down the river we went into the caves.  We were each armed with one candle and shoes.  In the cave, of course, was the river.  We walked about waist high in water until it dropped off and we had to swim with one arm holding the candle above the water and kicking with our heavy shoe covered feet.  Little did I know that was only the beginning.  From there we proceeded to climb up some rickety ladders, swim some more, see some spiders that were bigger than my head, climb down some rickety ladders and swim some more.  My candle had about an inch left and I was a little worried since I still could not see the end.  Then we get up to this little shoot (which David referred to as the “birthing canal”) with water pouring down it and our guide standing at the bottom in the dark telling us to jump.  That was about it for me.  I am incredibly claustrophobic and water rushing over my head as I try to fit through a little hole in the middle of a dark cave did not sound like anything I ever wanted to do.  However, again there was no backing out now so I faced my fears and once again came out alive.

                On the 8 hour trip back to Antigua someone on the bus mentioned that it was exam week.  All of a sudden it hit me.  It is mid-December and exam week and I had just spent the weekend swimming in caves, jumping off cliffs and staying in open air cabins.  Even though this week has just begun, I think that it is safe to say this has been and probably will be the best exam week of my life.  I have been so blessed to be able to experience so many incredible things here and meet so many incredible people.  Looking back on who I was at the beginning of the semester to who I am now it seems like I have changed so much.  As I try to soak up the last few days here I know that I will “never forget those I leave behind.”

                One thing that I really like about being here is that I get to meet people from all different cultures, not just Guatemalans.  One night this week at dinner our Korean housemate had some of her Korean friends over.  We all talked in Spanish because it was the only language that everyone at the table could understand, however they both spoke 5 languages.  After dinner one of them got his guitar and started singing for us.  Since he knew so many languages we asked him to sing in some of the other languages.  At one point we were sitting around the table in Guatemala listening to a Korean singing in Russian.  It was one of those moments where you realize how small the world really is.  Last week in one night we chatted with a 34 year-old Slovenian economics teacher, a 22 year-old Guatemalan realtor and paraglider and an 18 year-old Canadian surfer sponsored by Rip Curl.  When I signed up for this trip I was expecting to meet a lot of Guatemalans, and I certainly have, but I didn’t realize how many other people from different countries and backgrounds I would meet.

                For my practicum at Hotel Camino Real Antigua I will have to do a 25 min. long presentation on what I have learned.  This doesn’t sound bad at all until I tell you that it has to be in Spanish and in front of the entire board of directors.  Sounds a little more daunting now doesn’t it?  I started writing out what I want to say in my presentation and I was actually amazed at how much I was able write in Spanish.  I get so frustrated sometimes by how little Spanish I know when I am conversing with someone but writing out what I have learned really helped me see just how much Spanish I have absorbed.  However, the learning process has not been without its embarrassing disasters.  One day I had the line of a rap song stuck in my head.  To practice my Spanish I wanted to translate it and sing it in Spanish.  The line was short and simple, “every day I’m hustling.”  The first part translates really easily into “cada dia estoy…” but I was having trouble figuring out how to translate the word “hustling” as it would be used in a rap song.  That night I asked my friend Diego and he said that I could use the word “apostando.”  I was really excited about my new song and I sang it to all my roommates who were, of course, thrilled.  The next night at dinner I sang my little song to Marta who burst out into a fit of laughter.  When she regained composer she asked if I knew what I had said and I said yes thinking she just thought it was funny that I was rapping.  However, she informed me that I had sung “cada dia estoy apestando” which means “every day I am stinking.”  Who would have thought that pronouncing one little “o” as an “e” could cause such a drastic change in the meaning of my song.  So now it is a running joke in our house that I stink every day, but I will certainly never forget how to say “hustling” in Spanish.

                The practicum that I am doing at Camino Real has really allowed me to experience so much more of the Guatemalan culture than I think I could have otherwise.  This Saturday me and Kyle worked at a $28,000 wedding reception in one of Antigua’s many ruins.  It was incredible.  We were there before anyone from the hotel and then helped set things up throughout the day.  It was amazing to see the transformation from the morning when we arrived to how exquisite everything was by the time of the wedding.  Even though they are really close to where we live we had never been in these specific ruins before so it was really cool to get to hang out in them all day.  Jorge, the chef, (who is a spectacular cook) also let us have dinner at the reception.  I think it is a safe bet to say that neither of us will ever find ourselves eating dinner at a $28,000 wedding again anytime soon so we enjoyed it thoroughly.  

Surveying the preparations

The ruins were lit up by color-changing accent lights

There were probably at least 1,000 candles there

It worked! They are married!

I even learned how to fold pretty napkins

Me and Kyle with Chef Jorge (a.k.a. the best Chef in Antigua!)

                A few weeks ago I was working in the accounting department of the hotel and I was able to meet Karla, who started the whole planning process for this wedding.  She does not work at the hotel anymore but was there picking up her last paycheck when the lady who was attempting to teach me accounting procedures in Spanish conned her into translating for me.  She is Guatemalan and worked at Disney in Orlando last year so her English is really good.  I think I learned more in that 20 minutes than I had the rest of the 4 hours, the language barrier can be a real pain sometimes.  We ended up getting along really well and have hung out several times when she comes to Antigua (she lives in Guatemala City).  Last night the two of us and Kyle went to have some real Guatemalan food.  We went to this little taco joint and ironically got a burrito-like thing called a “Gringa” which is what Guatemalans call girls from the U.S.  It was really really good and we got it with a pineapple soda called Tiky that apparently is only in Guatemala.   However, last night I felt pretty sick and this morning Kyle is pretty sick so it looks like our stomachs don’t even like the illusion of cannibalism.  But before the sickness set in Karla stayed and helped me correct my Spanish for my presentation.  It was so incredibly helpful to have a native speaker helping me who also had worked at the hotel and understands all its inner workings.  I am giving the presentation this Thursday, then I am going to Semuc Champey for the weekend, then I have my marketing project presentation on Tuesday and then I fly home that Thursday.  My time here seems to be wrapping up really quickly and it is crazy to think that it is almost over.  I am definitely looking forward to going home but I am also kind of having a mid-semester-in-Guatemala crisis.  I just want to soak up everything here and not miss a single opportunity.

Just a couple of Gringos eating some Gringas

TIKY!

Kyle, Me & Karla

Mom, Jenna & Monterrico

This week I got to go from being the tourist to the tour guide.  My mom and my roommate Jenna from Spring Arbor came to visit for the week of Thanksgiving.  It was so cool to get to show them all around Antigua and getting to experience Guatemala with them.  I was able to take them to all my favorite places in Antigua and introduce them to some of my friends here.   Marta was so excited to have them here and they definitely got some special treatment.  On Sunday we went with the group to Earth Lodge for the afternoon.  Earth Lodge is way up in the mountains and being that our transportation was in the back of a pick-up truck, I think my mom was less than convinced of my safety.  However, we all made it there and back in one piece and had a really good time.  Both my mom and Jenna got to go to the market with Marta which not even I have gotten to do. I am not sure how but somehow they communicated with each other even though neither my mom or Jenna speak Spanish and Marta doesn’t speak English. 

                For Thanksgiving my mom decided to make a traditional Thanksgiving meal.  Being that we are in Guatemala we had to adjust the menu a little bit.  We had roasted chicken, red beets, green bean casserole, dinner rolls, and instead of apple pie we had a traditional Guatemalan dessert made out of a vegetable called guiskil.  Marta said that this was the first time in her 21 years of hosting students that she got to have a Thanksgiving dinner.   

Earlier in the week we also went to Camino Real where me and Kyle are doing our practicum for dessert.  We got to take everyone on the grand tour and introduce them to some of the people we work with.  My mom and Jenna had to go back to the states on Saturday but it was so great to have them both here and I am really glad they were able to come!!

                On Saturday we went to Monterrico which is a beach on the Pacific Ocean.  Because of all the volcanoes in Guatemala the sand at the beach is black from the volcanic ash.  The waves at this beach were the most powerful waves I have ever seen.  We would be about a good 10 feet out of the water and when a wave came it would pull you right down.  I think that it is called a rip current because it literally rips you off your feet.  It was a little frightening to have no control of where my body was going.  After getting plunged onto the ocean floor over and over I finally had to take a break.  We had lunch at a little resort on the beach.  It was really incredible to be on the beach swimming two days after Thanksgiving.  After lunch we went back out to swim.  Some of us girls were standing in the shallow water when one of the girls screamed for one of the guys to get out of the water.  She had seen at least 10 sting rays in the wave that went over his head but luckily he did not feel any of them.  After that we all decided that being out of the water was a better decision so we went sting ray watching.  We followed the little buggers all down the beach.  When a big wave would come we could see their silhouettes in the water.  It was really creepy to think that we had all been just swimming with the same creatures that killed Steve Erwin.  It was certainly the most exciting day at the beach I have ever experienced.    

Livin' Life

Since I have been here it seems like I have had one once-in-a-lifetime opportunity after another.  I am getting to do so many things here that most people will never get to do in their entire lives.  Just two days after climbing an active volcano I found myself mingling in a group of over 200 very important people from all different countries.  For our business internship me and Kyle are working at a five star hotel in Antigua called Camino Real.  The director of the food and drinks department at Camino Real wanted us to see how an event is catered so she invited us to a cocktail party put on by the hotel.  Going into it all we knew was the location of the event and how long we needed to be there.  The event was at a church with a beautiful outdoor courtyard surrounded by ruins.  We got their long before the event was going to start and got into the ruins without even being questioned or having to pay the fee.  We have found out that gringos (Americans) in suits can pretty much do whatever they want and no one will even try to stop them.  We got to help the chef of a restaurant in a five star hotel prepare all sorts of delicious foods for the guests.  Then we got to watch some traditional Guatemalan dances.  At this point we still had no idea who all the guests were and what they were all doing there.  We started chatting with a man from Surname who was the CEO of a large company.  He told us that these were all representatives of different countries who were part of a week-long convention about tropical lumber.  He told us there were people there from all different countries like Mozambique, Malaysia, Peru, Costa Rica, Guiana, Chile, the U.S., Mexico, Cameroon and many more.  I have never before been with so many people from so many different places and I certainly never expected to find myself at an event of such high class and prestige.

                Even after we fulfilled the amount of time we were required to be there I could not tear myself away from such an incredible opportunity.  We ended up talking to a Bolivian couple who had lived in many countries all over the world and the wife spoke five different languages.  They have family in Detroit and relatives working in the White House.  They were the sweetest couple and really encouraged us in our pursuit of Spanish.  They also invited us to visit them in Bolivia and go with them to see a hotel cut out of a dried up salt sea in the mountains.  When we finally left the wife, Ana Maria, gave me about seven hugs and said she would be waiting for us in Bolivia.  When the night was over I think we were both a little star struck and in disbelief that we got to be in such an incredible situation.  Altogether it was an amazing opportunity and I am so grateful for my time here and all that it has exposed me to.   

(I don’t have pictures from the event but these are of the hotel)

The entrance to the hotel at night

The Lobby

One of the 6 courtyards

The Restaurant

A $55,000 statue

This is a room

A dining room in one of the rooms

The biggest Jacuzzi in Central America!

Us and Roselyn, the boss of reception

                About halfway through our time here a little café called Por Que No? (which means why not?) opened right around the corner from our house.  Since then it has really become almost like a second home for a lot of people in our group.  The owners Oscar and Carlos are incredibly sweet people and take such good care of us.  Carlos’s wife Carolina also works there and their baby Martinee is usually around too.  On any given night you will find at least one Spring Arbor student there.  It is also a really great place to meet other students, travelers or Guatemalans who are not really into the typical night life in Antigua.  Because it is right on the corner I always stop by and say hello on my way to or from home.  They always ask how my internship and everything else is going and like us to check in at least a few times during the week so they know we are okay.  It is so nice to know that I can always go there and feel safe and loved and it really is my home away from home.

Our Por Que No? friends

Carlos, Martinee and Carolina

The other night me and Kyle got to go to a town just outside of Antigua called Jocotenango.  Our friend Nathalie that we met at Camino Real lives there and we had a little movie night at her house with some of our other co-workers.  She is leaving to tour Europe for a month so it was kind of a goodbye party for her.  Her house is really nice and being there, eating pizza, and watching movies is the most American I have felt since I got to Guatemala.

This morning at breakfast there was another earthquake!  It is probably not good that I get so excited about earthquakes here but they are so cool!  It is something that I never experienced before coming here and it is just a really strange feeling.  Hopefully this one didn’t cause any damage anywhere else.

This Saturday my Mom and my roommate Jenna are coming to visit for a week!  I am so excited and I have been planning all the places I want to take them and things I want to show them.  It will definitely be cool to be the one giving the tours for a change.  I am so excited that they will get to experience a little bit of life in Antigua!