Meet the Spanish Jeffersons

The first day in the San Marcos (La Laguna) area has been a long and eventful one. I write this at 8pm from my new bedroom, fighting off sleep and the moths and mosquitoes who are dive bombing my computer screen. I am exhausted and the altitude has been playing tricks with me all day - I have had a headache for the past 6 hours, and when I've been walking up and down hills it has felt like I've just run a marathon after spending 3 years on the couch with no exercise.

Might as well tell you how I got here....

We departed Guatemala City this morning at 9am after a breakfast consisting of eggs, refried beans, fresh tortillas, and a liquid that was a blend of cream and cheese (but wasn't cream cheese). When Brooke told the waitress that we will not be having ham or coffee with breakfast her eyes nearly bugged out of her head. Fair to assume that the vegetarian diet is a novel idea around here. We ate up and took a cab to the bus depot, where we hopped on a bus heading for Lake Atitlan.

The bus was your standard developing-country 'chicken bus'. The riders ebbed and flowed throughout the 5 hour journey; sometimes the bus was quite empty and there were also times that we were three to a seat and my legs cramped. Also fair to assume that nothing in this region will be made to my size.

We arrived in San Marcos La Laguna around 3pm and hiked to the Soul Projects base camp, where we met Angelene, who will be our yoga and meditation instructor. We ate lunch on a pseudo-patio overlooking the lake and had a lovely time getting to know each other. For those of you keeping score at home, that brings our group to 5 for the 10 weeks - Robyn, Layla, Brooke, Angelene, and Steve. The fact that I'm again the only guy does not bother me, but it is a bit comical. Something tells me, though, that with this group there won't be a lot of talk about shopping or boys. After lunch we were able to reorganize our packs, removing from them anything that was specific to the forest portion of our trip. We were able to do this because we were about to meet our home stay families! These people will be our Spanish familias for 3 of the 7 days a week, for the next 10 weeks.

Once packed up we got to walking into town. (I realize I am being quite sparse with descriptors here - I know there will be plenty of time for that in the coming weeks). There are three host families, one for each of us, meaning that Robyn and I will be staying apart for these nights. I do realize the benefit of this, especially considering the point of this expedition is to reflect and grow on your own. I also understand that mooring each of us in an island of Spanish is the best way for us to learn how to swim. If we stayed together Robyn and I would likely lean heavily on each other when we encountered tough times and that would limit the benefits of this experience. That all being said, Robyn and I rarely spend nights away from each other and this is definitely going to be a challenge for us both (but likely more for her - she takes up a lot of the bed for such a tiny person!). We also learned that we are the first couple that Soul Projects has ever welcomed, which may have something to do with their approach of splitting us up. I digress. We walked into town and dropped Robyn off at the midpoint of a hill, to a family that seemed lovely (we exchanged 'holas'). Robyn's nerves were written all over her face, not for her safety but because neither of us knew much Spanish and we were about to get a crash course. I gave her a goodnight kiss (at 4:30) and then walked to my new familia.

Carmine and her sister live with their parents and numerous children in a two bedroom house with one running water tap and electricity strung through the rafters via extension cords. My room is detached from the main house and is actually owned by a very nice man named Sebastian. It is a single large concrete room with a tin roof, 3 openable steel windows, 4 plastic chairs, and two bed options. I pulled both of the available mattresses onto one bed and now have a reasonable semblance of a comfortable place to rest. But I doubt it will matter - did I mention that I am exhausted at this point?

I had dinner with Carmen and 3 of her children in one of the bedrooms. There was a place setting put out only for me, which was an interesting experience. I was asked to sit and eat - I had a bowl of soup made from chicken noodle soup broth (no meat though) and onions and spinach(?). I was also given a plate of rice and fresh tortillas and bread. I ate the first portion of the meal as a freak show while the children laughed and pointed at me. They tried to pronounce my name properly and seemed to be generally in awe of me, which was a very strange experience. Luckily Carmen poured herself a bowl of soup too and joined me for the latter part of my dinner. I tried to speak to her as best I could and asked her simple questions, typically via pointing, in order to speak about SOMETHING and also to learn some new words. The children, meanwhile, did their best to get my attention by running around the room, jumping on the bed, and being as loud as they could.

There is a little boy and girl, about 4 each, and an older girl, about 7 I'd say. The younger girl's name is Brisa, and the older is Karina, though I'm likely mangling their pronunciation and spelling. The little boy's name is Edgar, but the final R seems to be pronounced as if it's being choked on - "Edgarhk". He was amazed by my eleven o'clock shadow, apparently not used to seeing facial hair on a man growing so evenly and symmetrically. That got me noticing that not many of the men here have facial hair. The boy also was pulling at my arm hair for the same reason, which made me laugh. After dinner there was more Spanish 'eye spy' but the little boy at one point crawled up my leg and right into a leg ride (simple bouncing). Well, I should've know that that would open a new can of worms and sure enough it was about thirty minutes later that the final leg ride was granted and i was able to stand up and walk the new cramps out. I thanked the family profusely and made my way back to my room, where I got to experience my first 'storm under a tin roof'. It sounded like someone was throwing millions of rocks against a metal bowl, which was placed directly on my head. Luckily it subsided quickly and I then got to watch the storm move out across the lake, lightning illuminating the backdrop and punctuating the end of my first day here in San Marcos.

Carmen and her family have been extremely gracious to open their doors to me and agree to feed and care for me. I can tell already that I'm going to grow very fond of all of these new family members in the coming weeks. I sign off amidst barking dogs and singing insects, which I hope will serenade me off to sleep. Luckily I have my earplugs close.