We arrived in Guatemala City on Saturday around noon; it’s a very small, but pretty airport. While flying in, I got a decent feel for what the city looked like: slums, mostly. I saw that a few houses had collapsed, as if there had recently been a mudslide. Seems like a lot of the homes and buildings are built on really steep hills. All of these buildings are so colorful, though, and each of them is unique in one way or another.

We caught a shuttle to our hotel, and rode for 3-4 hours. The roads weren’t as bad as I expected them to be, but they were nonetheless extremely underdeveloped, and super bumpy. Traffic was absolutely nuts... crazier than New York drivers, but no where near as pissed about it. It truly was strange. I witnessed so many drivers cut off others, but saw no anger anywhere. Guess they’re concerned about other things there.

During the drive through the city, I saw that a lot of advertisements were painted on buildings and homes. Ads for something called “Tigo” were EVERYWHERE. “Aqui estoy contigo!” they all said... I think it’s a cell phone provider. Whatever it is, it’s taking over down there.

There were a lot of political ads, too. … on any medium you can think of. Billboards, buildings, painted on roads, rocks. You name it. Their political parties are identified by colors, which is interesting.

Once out of the city, I noticed how much the terrain varied. Literally, from mile to mile, it looked like I was in a completely different country. Some areas looked rainforest-y, others were barren, some looked irrigated, a lot of farms, a lot of mountains, some almost-desert. It was disorienting, but very beautiful.

We reached Zacapa, and our hotel there was gorgeous. Geckos were everywhere (squee!). There was a pool and a bar (double squee!). It was profoundly different from its surroundings. Bit like an oasis in the desert... it was just so much nicer than everything else in the area.

We got to know a few of the people from other areas. A lot of the students were from Washington State. I think I made quite a few really good friends; many of them were medical students, but there were two journalism students and a handful of speech and hearing majors.

From Sunday through Thursday, we did construction work in a village called Gualan. Because we were in such an underdeveloped area, we had little choice but to do things very simply (which, in this case, makes for much harder work). We needed to dig holes (big holes, mind you)-- we used shovels. We needed to mix cement-- we used shovels. We needed steel to support the columns-- we cut the rebar, tied it, and welded it ourselves. It was a lot of rough work, and we all have blisters and sunburns to prove it... but it was pretty rewarding to see the progress.

During down times and breaks, we were able to play with the kids that lived there. Each of them was so sweet and unique. They would make this “ch, ch” noise, to try and get our attention, as opposed to saying, “Look at me!” or “My turn!”. It was absolutely precious. One little girl, Elvira, particularly grew on me. By the end of the week, she would be reaching for me to pick her up when she saw me.

The food we had each day was so good. There was this green chili sauce sitting out with every meal, and I swear, it was good on anything. And there was so much fruit! Bananas, papayas, mangoes, pineapples, melons, watermelons. It was all so fresh, and soooo good.

And the beer was pretty awesome. Cerveza! Tried quite a few different kinds. Gallo is a popular brand down there. As the week progressed, it seems like we drank more and more each night, haha. The last four nights, I think everyone was rightly out of their minds. Silly times.

Friday morning, we made our way to Antigua. It was a five hour drive, but seven hours for us, because our bus broke down. We managed to make it fun, though. A few of us sang to keep ourselves entertained, and we eventually found ourselves in that old, beautiful city.

That evening, we had a nice dinner and went out exploring. We went to a bar called Frida’s, where I had a Long Island Iced Tea.. things got a little crazy, haha. A few friends challenged three Guatemalans to a game of pool, and they won. We decided that we should go dancing... but each of the nearby clubs had a cover charge. So, instead, we sat down on the sidewalk, one of the Guatemalans pulled out his guitar, and we sang. Anything and everything we could think of and he could play. We got to know these three guys; they were each Mestizo. We hung out at their hostel a bit, sang some more. One of them was really impressed by the fact that I knew all of Stairway to Heaven. Another one of them was a little flirtatious with me, but I truly did enjoy getting to know him. Eventually, we made our way back to the hotel (after much confusion about where in the city we actually were).

Saturday morning, we got up extra early and took a shuttle to Lake Atitlan. Reportedly the most beautiful lake in the world, and I believe it. It’s nestled between three volcanoes, and is so blue, so clean, so, so pretty. We paid a guy to boat us across the lake to a small town called Santiago, which was still very Mayan. We explored the market there, bought coconuts from a guy who could handle a machete like a champ, and haggled a bit. On the way back to the boat, we changed into our swimsuits. We got back in the boat, went out to the middle of the lake, and jumped off. I don’t even have words to describe how incredible this was. The water was freezing, the current was strong, and we all screamed with shock after coming up from the dive. And it was wonderful. I’m not sure that I’ve ever felt so small, or so alive.

That evening, we rode back to Antigua, and had one last hurrah at a nearby hookah bar (which was embarrassingly better than any in Louisville). Got up the next morning, said our good-byes, and we were off.

Russ and I listened to his iPod on the way, and this was actually one of the funnest moments of the trip for me. He has excellent taste in music and isn’t nearly as tone deaf as he thinks he is, haha. I feel like I got to know him a lot better, just in sharing the music.

And now, I’m home... left with these memories that I can already feel slipping away. I hate how fleeting this was. The fact that my life is so utterly mundane doesn’t really help, either. But I feel like I’ve made a lot of good friends during these past few days... I hope these relationships are more real than the trip itself now feels.