how the trip ended

If you watch American news, you've probably seen the sinkhole. Yeah. Things went haywire at the end of my trip. I've been back for a few days, but they've been spent sleeping and seeing people whom I feared I would never see again. So that's a bit dramatic, but getting out of Guatemala was such an ordeal, thanks to the natural disaster action in late May.

Thursday, May 27: I am obliviously having my last dinner in Xela, enjoying drinks with new friends and thinking about how I will be on an Antigua-bound bus the next day. Nobody is watching the news, so we are all oblivious to the fact that the Pacaya Volcano has just had a pretty huge explosion. Planes heading in and out of Guatemala City are halted as of 7:30 that night.

Friday, May 28: I head out, and people at school let me know it may be harder to get into Antigua because of all this. My philosophy on this trip has become to head in your eventual direction, even if you get stuck in route, because at least you will be closer to your eventual destination. We manage to make it to Antigua, and notice it's raining. A lot.

Saturday, May 29: It's raining so much because this is tropical storm Agatha. Streets in Antigua are flooded up to my knees. That's a substantial improvement over Xela, which is so flooded that people are losing their homes. We lose electricity. I am obviously not going to the airport tomorrow. Freak out and call my airline. The next best scenario involves flying out of El Salvador...Tuesday. I cry. I take the change of flights. I have been ready to go home and am really upset.

Sunday, May 30: Rain has stopped. In fact, it's kind of beautiful today. We sit in Internet cafes, sipping daiquiris, Skype-ing folks back home about how badass we are for surviving all these insane natural disasters.

Monday, May 31: Get on a bus to El Salvador. See Guatemala City on our way, still shoveling tons of volcanic ash out of the way. Encounter several detours on the way because of rock and mudslides. Make it to El Salvador just fine. Collapse in our hotel room all day.

Tuesday, June 1: Get to the airport 4+ hour prior to our flights and barely make it through check-in and security. It was insane. Everyone who had flights out of Guatemala since Thursday night was there. Just insane. Make it home around midnight. Notice my GI tract doesn't feel so hot.

Wednesday, June 2: Home. With amoebic dysentary. Start my Flagyl and feel sorry for myself. I can't even have a cocktail to celebrate being home.

******

Overall verdict on the trip? I'm glad I did it. It was useful, usually. My Spanish is vastly better. I got to see a country I'd never been to before, and it was beautiful. I met lovely people. I'd do it again with my current knowledge: don't do homestay, make sure there are not too many people in the program when I go, make it a bit shorter but more focused overall. Travel to the parts of the country I missed this time (Livingston, Flores, Coban).

But right now, I am so happy to be home that I can barely handle it. Now I can return to chattering about school. Today, however, is a rare sunny day. It is made for a leisurely stroll to the library and the farmers' market, then reading the paper while lounging in the sun.