I'm not going to lie, there was a lot of preparation work involved, as part of what I had agreed to included developing the curriculum for the business development workshop. There were times when I didn't want to do it. There were times when I felt this was not my "baby", which made the late nights I spent working on it seem even later. In short, my attitude was lacking. Not because I didn't want to, but because while I felt I was doing good, I didn't yet feel it was my passion.
Down to the deadline, as things always go for me because I live to procrastinate, I was scrambling to mentally accept that I was headed to the 3rd world for a 10 day vacation sans kids (and a petrified BK). The BK had been asking me for a month if I was excited, I kept saying I hadn't really thought about it. In fact, it didn't really hit me until I was still trying to find permethrin (thank you Sports Authority - no thanks to Walmart, Target, and REI) to repel bugs, a mosquito net, and other various sundries with less than 2 hours to go before heading to the airport.
These are the sweet faces that I kissed goodbye. The Beaver Cleaver version of this story would read that I had such conflicting emotions about being away from my family for so long. The Real Me version was grateful to have some free time for reading and sleeping through the night without interruption - even if it was on a sleeping pad under a mosquito net on a cement floor. My favorite moment of a trip away is that moment when you get through security and find a seat waiting for your flight to leave. I am so utterly devoid of anxiety at that moment, that I wish I could bottle that calm and down it every afternoon at 4pm.
I arrived in Guatemala City around 6am local time, greeted by the radiant smile of my friend. After a late night that included a midnight connection in LAX (worst airport ever!), and a rather uncomfortable night's rest on a plane, it was a welcome relief to see her familiar face. After heading to the hotel and ditching my bags, I opted to spend the day in Antiqua with a couple of the other families. I should mention at this point that Family Humanitarian Experience is just that - an experience for families to do service together. One caveat of course is that the children be older than mine. This meant that I was traveling alone while others had their spouses and usually one but sometimes 3 or 4 kids with them. I should have assumed that only really amazing people vacation this way, so I shouldn't have been so initially closed off to meeting people, but that is my natural tendency. Going to Antigua with a bus full of people I didn't know was a major step for me. One that paid off handsomely.
Antigua is a beautiful town, not too far from Guatemala City and very touristy. This was actually my third visit, and since I usually forget most things, a lot of it seemed new. After the bus ride, I had become pretty comfortable with the families in our group and was having a great time getting to know these families who are now some of my favorite and most admired friends. We sat through a very boring tour of the jade museum (who knew / who cares) that also sold tasty chocolate which I just remembered is still in my fridge (not for long), a relatively interesting tour of an old monastery that crumbled during an earthquake and which is connected by underground tunnels (in which there are still human remains including bones of children - creepy) to the other monasteries in the city. We wandered the streets, ate a the local version of KFC, and bought souvenirs from the local kids who followed us around. We made it back just in time for a delicious dinner at the hotel and the orientation. One night of good, quiet sleep in a very nice hotel room before the real "vacation" began. Stay tuned....
1 comment:
YES! I'm so happy you are finally posting about this adventure! You've already got me craving to do some stretching outside my comfort zone. I can't wait for the next installment!
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