!!!Orale Guatemala!!!

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My Adventure Crossing The Border Into Guatemala

After a great evening of sharing travel stories with my friends Monica (Spain), Haus (Turkey) and Claudias (Italy) and listening to music by candlelight I decided it was time to say goodbye to Mexico for now and cross my first border to Guatemala. As I woke up early to catch the first bus to Comitan- little did I know I was about to endure one of the most difficult days of my trip.

While waiting for the buses I stopped at the comedor (restaurant) in town to hang out and get some breakfast. I had two bananas and two oranges (that one of the local girls in town sold to me after traveling over four hours to the market in Ocosingo- the closest place where one can obtain fruit from the pueblo) that I planned on eating in addition to the usual beans, tortillas and coffee that I had grown so accustomed to eating for every meal. I knew I was in for a long day when it took me over an hour to eat a single banana while waiting for the bus- my appetite had banished and I felt like my body was about to experience an intense fever. I ended up giving the rest of my fruit away to the guys that worked at the comedor as my body was rejecting any thought of food. I probably should have stayed in La Realidad for another night and rested up a bit, however my stubbornness got the best of me and I was determined to make it to Guatemala. I was dreading another camioneta ride at this point and did not know if I would be able to stand up in the back of a truck for another four plus hours on the bumpy, rough roadways of Chiapas without losing the previous night's pasta dinner (while it tasted SO GOOD after endless meals of tortillas, beans and eggs- the secret to Claudias' sauce was the half bottle of vegetable oil he dumped in there- he had to get creative since the grocery supplies in town were so limited). Thankfully, an old bus pulled up and I was lucky enough to find a seat for the first leg of my journey- which was probably the longest ride of my trip. I knew I must have been running a pretty high fever since it was well over 90 degrees out and I had an intense bought of the chills- so I just sat there with my eyes closed and my head tilted back until we finally made it to Las Margaritas- where I had to catch a colectivo (van) to Comitan for another hour ride.

During the torturous last hour of my four hour trip I had one of the worst cases of Montezuma's Revenge I had ever experienced- all because I had inhaled probably over a quarter bottle of that vegetable oil the night before- and to think at the time I had never tasted pasta so good but now I was paying for it. To make matters worse, no one knew where to find a public restroom and I distinctly remember a kid responding to me saying "la realidad es quien sabe" (the reality is who knows) which really ticked me off at the time. I could barely work up enough energy to walk around with my pack in the heat and ended up walking around for another half hour looking for a bathroom. Luckily, I finally found one at the colectivo station and realized I was out of toilet paper- this is when the back pages of my guide book came in really handy.

I boarded the colectivo for an hour journey and was experiencing the lowest of all low points of my trip- at this point I was just telling myself to take things minute by minute as Montezuma was creeping up on me and I could barely gather the energy to load my pack onto the van. I survived the hour ride by telling myself how lucky I was to be traveling on a paved road this time and that I was not stuffed into a vehicle shoulder to shoulder with people breathing down my neck- as is so common in public transportation in Mexico.

I was dropped off in Comitan and this time had to find another bus to Ciudad Cuauhtemoc- which would basically drop me off right by the Guatemala border. However, once I disembarked the colectivo I could barely gather up enough strength to walk the 15 blocks to the next station for my connection. I had to resort to giving myself pep talks every couple hundred feet in order to reach my destination "come on George, one block at a time, you can do this, you have already made it so far today." However, after walking at least 15 blocks, I asked someone where to find the station and they would say, "oh it is really close, about five more blocks from here." This happened another time as well after the first 20 blocks, people would give me the same response "oh yeah, you are really close now, just five more blocks." Who knows how far I walked that day but it was quite an amazing feat given the state I was in.

Finally I made it to Ciudad Cuauhtemoc and caught a cab that took me to customs and immigration- which I cleared with very little questioning (good thing they did not find the orange that was still in my pocket from breakfast HAHAHAHA). I walked across the border as the roadway drawbridge was raised representing my arrival in Guatemalan territory into the town of La Mesilla. Somehow I managed to walk around for another hour looking for a hotel and finally found a place for $3.50 (25 quetzals) with a cushioned mattress bed, four walls and a door with a huge hole in it that was duck taped shut- which felt like a five star resort!!! I do not think I had ever been so excited to sleep on a cushion mattress after so many nights of sleeping on pieces of wood or people's floors. That night I passed out for 12 hours and woke up the next morning feeling 100%!b(MISSING)etter!!

Quetzaltenango

I woke up the next morning and took one of the famous "chicken buses" I had heard so much about from La Mesilla to Huehuetenango and then transferred again to Quetzaltenango. The buses in Guatemala are like night and day when compared with the air conditioned, ultra comfortable buses I was used to taking in Mexico. Now I found myself stuffed into an old school bus from the US (with crazy looking pimped out decor- see picture below) sharing my seat with two other Guatemalans along with my pack- which leaves very very little breathing room. How ironic is it to think that growing up taking these buses to school everyday how rare it was to even have more than two kids to a seat and there I was now grown up and sharing my seat with two other grown Guatemalans and my huge backpack with people stuffed into the aisles until everyone is literally on top of each other- quite an experience!!

I finally made it to Quetzaltenango (also referred to as Xela- pronounced shay-la) and the first thing I did was write emails to everyone back home who by now I'm sure were all extremely worried about me, seeing as I was so disconnected living in a world without communications for almost two weeks. So I wrote a few emails and then found the hostel (for $3 per night) that would be my home for the next week- Casa Argentina.

The main reason I decided to go to Xela was due to its many Spanish schools and volunteer activities. I ended up selecting a school called Mama Tierra, which truly gave me an awesome experience as I took five hours of one on one lessons per day over a five day period- all for less than $100!! I do not think the school ever saw such a dedicated Spanish student, as I was so enthusiastic about my classes that I was the first student to ever request weekend classes!! My teacher Jacki was excellent and showed me around town a bit and took me to the famous Cevicheria 23 comedor with some famous Gallo Cerveza to wash it all down- what a great time!

On the weekend the teachers showed all of us students at the school a good time out on the town. We went to get some local food and shot some pool at a billiards place. They started filling me in on how life is like in Guatemala and warned me about how dangerous certain neighborhoods can be. They said there is gang activity all over the place and often town residents in zones the gang members have infiltrated have to pay a "gang tax" to support the drug trade and organized crime or else they are often threatened with violence and even death. They said most of the gang activity is in Guatemala City and to be "very careful" if I planned on visiting the capital. They said that all this is due to a lack of education and such a high unemployment rate that people must resort to these terrible acts in order to survive. On the contrary, they boasted about how great of a place Guatemala is to learn Spanish- how they speak the clearest, purest Spanish of any country with the exception of maybe Columbia- and were extremely proud that the country's tourism industry is booming as it boasts countless impressive sites.

I met many great people in Xela and it was very hard to leave after spending a week in Guatemala's second largest city. Many of the other travelers I met at Casa Argentina were all about bringing positive changes into the world and were doing their part to make it happen. Being around so many great people that were doing so many admirable deeds further enhanced my drive to give back. I ended up getting the contact information of a school in San Pedro De La Laguna (located on Lago de Atitlan- what many regard as Central America's most beautiful lake) from a friend where I was ready to pursue some English teaching volunteer work along the next step of my journey.

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