Advertisement
Published: December 22nd 2016
Edit Blog Post
So, let me catch you up on the last few days before Guatemala until now.
-1 day before my flight (Tuesday), I did Body Attack again, in the morning. This instructor- I heard somewhere she won some body building award. It was a tough class!!!
-I tried to finish last minute chores and cleaning. And the Ghost Shrimp didn't come yet (they called me after I already left for my cousins that night. I found out later. Errrrrrrrg). So I drove to Walmart for something close to Ghost Shrimp, and the trouble began there.
-My wallet wasn't in my purse!! i drove all the way there with no wallet and I was short on time wanting to get to my cousin's before dark. I had no choice, I had to drive back. I focused on all the small positive things that I could, to get through my frustration.
-The office people had my wallet. Turns out it fell out of my purse on my way to the car. See, the handle of my purse is the same as the zipper that opens it. I usually see when things fall out of it and I missed this one.
Imagine if I really lost my wallet the day BEFORE Guatemala!! While still in the United States!!
-To save time, instead of going back to that Walmart, I went to Petco, the one the chat guy told me the day before had Ghost Shrimp. On the highway there, a mile befre my exit, I was stuck behind a slow truck...sticks and leaves were flying onto my windshield! From where?? THE ROOF OF THE TRUCK. It was like STAR WARS except instead of stars constantly flying at you, it was sticks and leaves. I started laughing and laughing- it would be funny to see. I got there and they said No, they didn't have Ghost Shrimp or anything alive for a betta fish to eat. I called 2 other walmarts around that area and the first one put me on hold for 20 minutes- I kept counting in my head to hold on for longer, and they never picked up the phone again to tell to me if they had Ghost Shrimp. I heard some background noise so I knew they didn't hang up. So I finally hung up. The second one didnt know what Ghost or Brine shrimp were
and she made me feel like I didn't know what I was talking about. I was ready to reach through the phone and punch her. I had reached my limits and drove home again. I changed Guapo's tank and fed him flakes, hoping he will survive 12 days, and then it was already dark out. And then I drove to my cousins.
-At their house, we celebrated Shabe Yalda (Iranian celebration of the longest night of the year) with deeeeelicious lamb and potato tadik!!! And watermelon and pomegranite!!! And boardgames (we spent lots of time trying to remember the details of Takhteh Nard (backgammon) that we learned over Thanksgiving break (by the way Parisa, I remember the splitting rule for the dice now when moving one piece for the total sum of the dice- remind me to show you when I'm back!).
-I played a crazy checkers game where I was sure to lose with my two little pieces remaining, and I turned it around and beat Alex!!! Thank you for being a good sport hahah, I didn't want to forget ?
-Well today was another crazy day. (It's Wednesday, the day of my flight to
Guatemala).
-Solmaz woke me up 3:30am and i got to airport and gate on time. I was too excited to feel sleepy yet.
-My seat on the plane was closer to the front- I could watch people load the luggage and direct the pilot- they looked like plane doctors. They seemed to have great communication by just observing their behavior, and one patted another's back after getting into position to guide the plane to back up- looked like a trusting team. It would be good if healthcare professionals had that kind of safe feeling amongst each other.
-In my first flight, really down to earth and friendly ladies next to me, and after we talked easily, I fell asleep and didnt wake up until the plane hit the ground again.
-The connection flight was delayed. And my Guatemalan program coordinator gave the wrong information on where to meet the transportation service people. I hadn't prepared for not being able to find wifi in the airport if I couldn't find these people. I asked so many people for help, what else could I do? Lots of them were helpful, and a bunch were not helpful. I tried
some muscle relaxation when I felt stuck. I tried again and again. Somewhere in the middle of the mess, I met two girls playing and advertising for pan flutes- it was like water in a desert to hear those flutes. I shared my coconut snacks with them and tried to explain in my broken Spanish what the book I was reading was about when they asked (called How to Study Without Stress). Finally someone lent their phone and I described what I was wearing to the transportation people and at last we found each other!!!
-It was too late to take a bus to my host family by that time. But we fixed the schedule together so I can stay at the hotel tonight in Guatemala City. This lovely lady, Lorena, gave me all sorts of delicious teas. Cinnamon, Hibiscus Flowers, the calming one Pericon (Spanish for St John's Wort), and the classic tea: Té Negro!!! I LOVED this one- the taste was almost like a sweet wood flavor- I loved them all though and couldn't say which is my favorite.
-The chicken dinner I had was the juiciest chicken I think I ever had. Well now I'm
going to sleep, will be up at 5:30am to make it to the bus this time!
Sweet dreams, buenas noches
Advertisement
Tot: 0.183s; Tpl: 0.014s; cc: 6; qc: 43; dbt: 0.0448s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb