How I Gave Myself a Bloody Nose and Ended Up in the Back of Someone's Pickup Truck

Great title right? I really drew you in? Well, you're going to have to wait a little longer to find out about that, because I'm going to start at the beginning of the day:

Well, the sunrise wasn't exactly ideal considering that the clouds from the storm hadn't fully moved away by 6 in the morning. I got a few decent pictures and did enjoy being alone for a while, just sitting and watching the waves crash onto the black sand beach (I know, I sound deep don't I? haha). I went back to sleep at around 6:30, exhausted from back-to-back nights of 4 or less hours of sleep, and didn’t wake up again until breakfast at around 8:00. I had another delicious crepe (or two) for breakfast along with a cup of phenomenal Guatemalan coffee and watched the day clear up until it finally got sunny.

We checked out at around 11 and brought our stuff with us right out onto the beach. The sand was ridiculously hot (I guess it makes sense- black attracts heat or whatever the scientific logic is) so we had to run up to where the waves reached in order to cool off a bit. I threw my stuff down and ran into the surf. Speaking of the surf, going surfing was originally one of my plans for this country. But after arriving at Monterrico and hearing about the intense rip tide (from which a guy had apparently almost died the day before), I decided it wouldn't be in my best interest to do so (see Mom, I make smart decisions sometimes!). Abstaining from surfing didn't exactly keep me safe, however, as the waves were still rougher than many red flag days on the Jersey shore minus the lifeguards to label them as such. So yeah, I got a minor (possibly a little more than minor) bloody nose after getting rocked by a wave (which actually was more my fault than the wave's because I got it from overestimating the depth of the water while diving under a wave and basically slamming my face into the ground- I know, fun picture, and yes, I know I'm a dumbass) and a few more scrapes to go with my collection from the volcano. Not wanting to let something so dumb stop me from enjoying the ocean that I am tempted to jump into every day on the ship, I went right back in after getting cleaned up and proceeded to stay in and around the water until it was time to find a ride back to the ship around 2:00.

Sendher came to the rescue on that front, getting his friend to drive ten of us the hour to the port in the back of his pickup truck (for a nominal fee, of course). Sendher and Tiana rode with us because they wanted to see the ship, and I have to say I haven't been so entertained on a car ride in a while. The driver, whose name I didn't catch, blasted songs out his back window so that we could hear, playing everything from "Lady in Red" to Puff Daddy's rendition of "Every Breath You Take" to Savage Garden songs I last heard in grammar school. We all sang at the top of our lungs, conscious of nothing but the wind flying by and the locals staring at us amusedly (is that even a word?). Once again, I felt as amazing as Charlie does in the Perks of Being a Wallflower, the word for which I won't actually write again in the interest of not making it meaningless due to overuse.

We all realized it as we walked toward the gangway for the last time, looking at our home for the past three and a half months. It was always comforting to come back to a safe place after a few days in such foreign environments, and we all swiped in for the last time knowing how much we'll miss it. The general consensus among the students on the ship is that we'd like to go home for a few weeks to see people and relax and then come right back and do it all again. I guess, in a sense, I'm doing something like that because I'm leaving for Georgia soon after returning home, but it doesn't really feel like the same thing. Oh well, another great adventure right?

So I decided that my biggest mistake of the day, just in case you were wondering, was forgetting to reapply sunscreen to my face after wiping the blood off, the result of which ended up being a face the color of Rudolph's nose for about three days.

And on Guatemala in general, I definitely saw a lot of similarities between it and the Dominican Republic. Once again, I thought the warnings from SAS and the State Department were a bit over the top, though I understand why they have to be so. The places and people that I saw of the country were culturally rich and incredibly welcoming. Originally, I was disappointed when Costa Rica was dropped from our itinerary and Guatemala was added, and I certainly was not looking forward to our last port the way I was to others. But I am now very glad I got to go, as it added to my overall experience in more ways than one. It also provided a sound conclusion to the voyage, as we both began and ended with Spanish-speaking countries in addition to being exposed to approximately twelve other languages in between (depending on trips within countries).

In terms of travel in general, I decided for sure in Guatemala that it's much better to have a general idea of things you want to do. There should be a general checklist of plans, but no set itinerary, because in my opinion, that can only create stress and cause problems when one thing takes longer than expected or you're worried about time, etc. Obviously, if you have no idea what's going on, it's great to have someone directing you with a schedule in hand, but if you want to have a chill time, definitely go with the checklist method.

So that's that: my last entry from a port. I'll probably have some kind of wrap-up entry to post in another few days, and then plan to keep this up while I am in Georgia this summer. I hope you're all doing well, and would still love to hear from you over these last few days at sea. It's so hard to believe the semester is already ending. It seems like such a short time ago we were sailing away from the dock in Nassau.

One last note: Apparently some members of my family have been spreading the link to my blog around a bit, so I just want to take this opportunity to say that I hope you don't judge me too harshly by it based on the ignorant comments I make and the grammatical errors that are included. I don't proofread these entries before posting them because I try to get them up as quickly as possible so people at home know what's going on in my life while they're not hearing from me personally. So yeah, overall, sorry that they're not very polished, but yeah, guess that's it.

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