One Crazy Ride…

Every ride on the camioneta is a different adventure. In fact, I am considering creating a separate blog especially for camioneta rides, since I am almost always going somewhere on a camioneta, and each ride usually involves a crazy story or adventure, if not misadventure… That being said, my latest camioneta ride was no exception. I went to go visit a volunteer just outside of San Marcos (a town called San Antonio Sacatepequez), which is located in the western part of the country, also known as the occidente. How to describe the occidente? Hmm, in one word: COLD. In two: VERY COLD. However, maybe that is just my thin SoCal blood talking because it rarely gets below 40 degrees farenheit out west. And for those of you asking, “Isn’t Guatemala supposed to be warm and tropical?” My simple response is: “NO.” However, every region of this country seems to vary, so parts of it are, indeed, warm and tropical (what one might expect), and other parts, well…not so much! Have I mentioned that besides weather extremes, this country is also subject to sinkholes, hurricanes, storms, landslides, earthquakes, volcano eruptions, and probably every other type of natural disaster imaginable? (Don’t worry—I am fine! So far anyway…!)

Anyway, for someone expecting warm, sunny, even tropical weather, 40 degrees was a big surprise for me, and my body just wasn’t prepared for the cold. Although, I am not sure where I will be placed for my two years (I find out Thursday, keep your fingers crossed that I get a site where I will be happy for 2 years!!), I have it on good authority that I am most probably going to the west (and now I am regretting not bringing more winter clothes. Though I am grateful that I packed my long underwear! Phew!) So, currently I am trying to mentally prepare myself for two years of cold. (Well, summers are temperate, so hopefully my thin-blooded body can handle it…and yes, I do realize that I somehow survived 4 years on the east coast…I honestly don’t know how. I think it made my body weaker because I totally can’t handle the cold like I used to…or maybe it is old age? Hmm…)

Anyway, getting back to my camioneta story…So after a three day journey to the West, I was back on the bus, ready for my 5 hour ride home, when all of a sudden a lady decides to sit next to me with her baby. This was fine until the woman decided to start breastfeeding in MY personal space. I am all for women’s rights, etc., and sure, breastfeeding in public is fine with me as long as the breast is NOT in my face. Might I add that the highway I was on was pretty windy, with steep curving paths, so while this lady was breastfeeding with one breast already in my face, she was also slamming into me with her child who happened to be kicking me while suckling. NOT. FUN. Also, just a tad awkward…Excuse me ma’am, your breast is in my face and your baby keeps kicking me…might you consider breastfeeding on your side of the seat instead of in my face? I definitely did not learn how to say that in high school Spanish…!

Anyway, in an attempt to look away from the giant breast in my face, I happened to look up and see the reflection of a MIDDLEBURY sweatshirt in the big mirror that is always at the front of blue bird school buses (I actually owned this very same sweatshirt from my alma mater before it got stolen—who knows maybe it was mine!) The sweatshirt was being worn by an elderly Guatemalan man! That pretty much made my day. (I know, for me it totally is the simple things in life that end up making my day! I am strange like that.) All over Guatemala there are thrift-stores called “Pacas,” which carry second-hand merchandise from the United States. Seeing the Middlebury sweatshirt on an old Guatemalan man reminded me of how small this world actually is, and through globalization, it is increasingly shrinking.

It also reminded me that life is one crazy ride—maybe even crazier than a camioneta ride…! Though that is still TBD…!