This past week I was visiting home in sunny LA, and I must admit that it was nice to get away from the daily frustrations of Guatemalan life such as chuchos chasing me when I try to jog, bolos passed out in front of my house in a pile of their bodily fluids, creepy men harassing me when I walk around town, projects getting cancelled, my counterpart flaking on me, etc., Not to mention it was nice to enjoy the SUN. Seriously, the Guatemalan rainy season almost made me forget what the sun looked like…when I landed in LA I was like, “what is that big yellow-orange ball burning in the sky!?!?”
Anyway, being home, surrounded by delicious, DELICIOUS food, family and friends who know who I am, have known me forever, and know what I stand for and what I am doing with my life was refreshing. It is sometimes just nice to not have to explain who I am, especially in another language. It is nice to just be able to be who I am without having to justify or explain myself. I took that for granted before the Peace Corps. That, and regular bowel movements…
So, obviously it was hard to leave it all and return to Guatemala once again. The thing that made it less difficult to come back is the fact that I only have ELEVEN months left of my service, yet I still feel as though I have not accomplished many of my big goals. Sure, I have made it this far, which is an accomplishment in itself. Yes, I have made some great friends, both locals and PCVs, and I am feeling more integrated into my community. These are great personal goals that I feel happy to say that I have accomplished more or less. However, in terms of professional goals, I can’t really say I have achieved much. Yeah, sure this takes time and patience, and I haven’t been at my new site for a full 6 months yet so I need to give it time, but still I don’t want to become complacent in just showing up to the office. I want to get things done, despite the daily challenges I face in terms of work (ie: people flaking on me, projects getting pushed back).
The realization that I have only 11 months to get things done has made me feel like this is it. It is GO time. It is now or never. So, while it was hard to leave home and say goodbye to my family and friends yet again (though at this point in my life, everyone is used to me leaving for long periods of time, nomad that I am), I am ready to be a little more assertive to accomplish some of the professional goals on my list…I am not sure they will get done, but at the end of my service I want to at least be able to say that I gave it my all and tried my hardest.
My last day at home I was mentally preparing myself for my return, but what I did not prepare myself for was a HUGEASS storm that I was about to run into head on. It was so big that my plane could not land and had to circle the skies above the capital for about an hour and a half. The winds and rain were crazy, but as I hadn’t heard anything from Peace Corps about traveling, when I finally landed in Guatemala City, I found my familiar chicken bus, the Masheñita, hopped on and began the bus ride of a lifetime back to my site. I would just as soon forget it. So, while Quiché buses are notorious for being ridiculously crazy and I am now used to this, this was the most intense bus ride I have been on in this country. The good news is that because the weather was so awful, I didn’t have to sit sandwiched between two chubby Guatemalan farmers, on top of an indigenous women with her baby on my lap. My butt had its own seat next to an oddly smelling young Guatemalan teenager experimenting in the Hipster meets Goth look. The bad news is that I was literally in the storm and had some close calls. (Guatemalan roads are notorious for their landslides…eeep) Not to mention that the road to Quiché is super windy, with steep mountains overlooking cliffs. Let’s just say I kept my eyes closed for most of the journey and prayed to the Powers that Be…
Somehow, I survived the storm, made it back to my site in one piece, and I am just grateful to be alive. So I better make the most of my time here and get some things done in these next 11 months because life is crazy and this is an adventure and experience of a lifetime that I do not want to waste.