Happiness on a volcano

This post was going to be written the night I came home from the hike. That was the plan. But I have not been able to put what this trip did for me into words. Something changed, or I did. I don't know what it is or how significant it is, but I definitely feel different after coming back. It is not just the dead quads or the people I met. I wish I was more elequant. Oh well, here goes:

To spend the weekend away was a very last minute decision. On Thursday, Ken Grob (7^th grade science teacher, husband of my classroom's neighbor, adventure seeker, nice guy) casually asked me if I was interested in going with a group from a local climbing gym to hike a volcano (Acatenango). My initial response was that I already had plans (I had signed up to help at a CAG service day), but the more I thought about it, the more I wanted to go. So I made it work. I found someone (thanks Brian) to watch Sidney, informed the person in charge that I would not be attending the service day, and called Diego who was in charge of the trip (thank goodness he speaks English). At this point I just thought it would be a fun weekend away from the city.

At about 12:30 on Saturday, Ken and I walked from my condo to the climbing gym. I was a little nervous about walking there with a big backpack, which felt like a “please rob me” sign, but we make it with no issues. We hung out for a while waiting for everyone to arrive, and I found a magazine in their shop that had an article about the Colorado Running Company store in C/S. Crazy! I took it as a good sign :) We loaded on the bus about 1:30 and headed out to the hostel. Much of the ride involved us talking to a guy who was a graduate of CAG. He is now working for the UN as an interpreter (Spanish/French) for the Guatemalan army stationed in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. A very interesting guy.

We arrived at the hostel around 4 and spent time throwing a frisbee, attempting a slack-line (I managed three steps!), and getting to know people (at least the ones who spoke English). We had a pre-hike meeting around a camp fire where I managed to understand all the key points; thankfully their Spanish was slower than most :) After the meeting we ate a “tipica” dinner (eggs, refried black beans, toast, fried plantains) before we headed to bed. Bed was in a room of 10 bunk beds. It felt and smelled a lot like camp and was perfect!

Our wake-up call came at 3:15 and we were on the road by 4. Our transportation was a “chicken bus.” I do not know why they are called that, but they are these crazily decorated busses usually covered in playboy symbols and naked ladies. This particular bus also had flashy lights that came on when the driver used the breaks. At 4am, on a windy, dirt road, such lights are absurd and hilarious. We arrived at the trailhead about 5:00 am. At the trailhead I realized that my camera was missing (I had hooked it to my bag at the hostel and it was no longer there). This is a new camera I was given as a gift before I came. I am annoyed that I did not take better care of it :/

The "lead" group

We started hiking and split into three main groups. The entire group had 35 people and there was a wide range of fitness levels. I hiked in the front group with Ken, another guy we know from ultimate named Vince (he works for the UN), a number of Guatemalan men, and one other female. The morning was beautiful and I was soaking it all in. I spent a lot of the hike listening in on conversations and figure out what was being said. Whether or not I was successful was mostly dependent on who was talking and how steep the trail was.

At about 11:00 Ken, Diego, Vince, and I reached a false summit. We caught a glimpse of the true summit, and took a few photos before the clouds arrived. We did not see the sun again until near the bottom. In fear of worse weather arriving, we headed for the summit. The last part was steep with little to no trail, but our group of seven made it to the 3,976m (13,045 ft) summit with few issues. We enjoyed the “cumbre”, walking around the caldera, eating some snacks, waiting for everyone else to arrive, and hoping for the clouds to clear. Everyone that started, made it to the top, including two eight year olds. One eight year old was a guide's son; he has hiked Acatenango over 20 times, the first time at age 6. I was impressed.

One of the 8yr olds

The whole group on the cloudy cumbre

A break during the decent

After about an hour, we headed down. Towards the top, the ground is covered in a thick layer of soft, volcanic rock. It is sand like, and the best way to descend is to run and ride the slides. It was a blast and when I starting realizing how great this trip was. For some reason, when the ground got harder, the running didn't stop and it became the way to descent the entire volcano (I blame Ken). I was not wearing running shoes and had a decent sized pack, but was not about to let the boys have all the fun. So I just kept running. It was amazing. I spent most of the decent chatting with a guy named Julioandre who is another CAG graduate and the manager of the local North Face store (they were a sponsor of the trip). He is a very interesting guy who has been involved in trying to get more trail running and adventure races in Guatemala. It was a fun way down. We then headed back to the hostel, ate some soup and headed back to the City.

So, the trip/hike was really not unlike ones I have done back in CO, but it felt so different. Maybe it just meant something different. It has made me more confident in the fact that I can do what I want to here. It makes me more excited about being here and the adventures that my time here could hold. I have made some good friends at CAG, but I really wanted to find people that love what I love.; people who want to explore the area outside of the city, who want to sleep on old uncomfortable mattresses in a room with 20 other people, who will get up at 3am to climb a mountain. Maybe it is just the possibility that I have found these people. Whatever happened, it is now up to me to keep it going. I need to go outside my comfort zone and find more adventures even if I don't know anyone else going. It is not easy for me. I worry too much, and jump too rarely. I guess it is about time I fix that... :)

EARTHQUAKE!!

Woo Hoo, another post. Well, today was a special day so I could not resist. Today was the first day I felt an earthquake. It was not only the first time I felt one while in Guatemala, but the first of my life. Crazy I know. 

Here's how it went down:

I was with the students in a class called X-Block. X-Block is this fantastic 30 mins twice a week where we get to teach whatever we want. All of the teachers picked a topic and the students signed up for what they wanted. I am doing no-bake cooking! Some of the other teachers are doing broadcasting, knitting, crafts, and card games. So this is another class that would never go over in the US, but we think is fantastic!  And today was our first day. I was having the students sign up for the day when they are in charge of bringing the ingredients, recipe, etc when my projector starting swinging like crazy. I recall a few students pointing at the projector and hearing a number of “whoas” before I felt anything. What I felt was mostly dizzy, sort of like the feeling you get when you are back on land after being on a boat for a while. My students asked me if it was a real earthquake (not sure why as I am sure they have all felt many more than me). I told them “yes, now get under your desks.” They did so quickly and then counted to 60 as we practiced a few weeks ago. After the 60 seconds, we evacuated to the baseball field. After waiting out there for 10 or so minutes, the students were dismissed to lunch.

I went back to my classroom and looked up the earthquake (www.usgs.gov) to see what magnitude we just experienced. It was a 4.8. I am sure it is not the appropriate response, but I found the whole thing exciting and was quick to tell the teacher next door everything I had read. A minute or two after entering her classroom, she exclaimed “oh shit, here we go again” as we started shaking again. Not only did this one shake a lot harder (5.8), but it lasted longer. It probably only lasted 20 seconds rather than 10, but it felt a significantly longer. As the students were still at lunch, we only had to evacuate ourselves (much easier). We met and lined up our students and then waited somewhat patiently for the administration to give us instructions. While waiting my students told me that if there is a third it is usually really big and called a terremoto. I thought I was learning some cool Guatemalan lingo or at least a legend that had a great back story. Nope, terremoto is just the Spanish word for earthquake, whereas most of what happens they just call tremors!

In the end the administration decided to dismiss the students at 2 rather than 3, mostly because there were already a number of parents waiting outside the school to pick up their children. So that left an hour in which I was supposed to teach class. Well, lucky for me, I teach earth science! It was a great teachable moment. So we looked at maps, talked about why earthquakes happen, etc. About 20 mins into class, the students claimed there was another tremor. Well, I did not feel it, thought they were just making it up, and at this point it was pouring outside. So we did not get under our desks and we did not evacuate. Turns out the students were correct, there was another quake (4.8 again) and I am a bad teacher.

There have been two more since (4.5 at 2:30 and 4.3 at 6:30) that I did not feel, but my house is pretty solid and low to the ground. So, it is interesting that my post from yesterday was about routine and then I have a very un-routine day. I do find the whole thing interesting which I know is probably not the best reaction. Maybe it is the scientist in me, maybe it is that it is a brand new experience, maybe there is some human nature in the excitement. It does make a great story after all :)

The USGS map of today's tremors and "terremoto"

Routine

As expected, I am not very good at keeping this up. I am not sure why, but I will work on it as some of you have asked (that makes me happy because it means people are reading!). So I have been here in Guatemala for almost six weeks! That is crazy. Generally it does not feel like I left Colorado all that long ago. And yet I feel like I have a found a routine that you can only get in after being in a place for a while, and, somehow, it does not feel all that different from what things looked like for me in CO (minus the dance which I miss so desperately). 

My weekdays usually start with a short (20 mins) run with Sidney around my gated area. I usually do five laps which I think is about a mile and a half, but I don't really know (see green circle on map below). I then shower, eat breakfast, etc. I leave for school at 6:30 and walk up the hill with a first grade teacher that lives in the same condo complex (it is called La Hoya). It takes us about 10 mins to walk (the school campus is outlined in white, I hear it is huge for an international school!). I then get all my stuff ready for the students who come at 7:30. After school I always have something. Mondays are volleyball practice, Tuesdays are professional development days, Wednesdays I run, Thursdays I have volleyball games against the other international school in Guate (InerAmericano and Colegio Americano Maya), and Fridays are also running days. Exciting huh?? I would like to fit some sort of fitness into my Mondays or Tuesdays. We have a pool on campus so I could swim when it is not raining, or there are some people that do a Jillian Michael's work-out video on Mondays at 4. I'll figure it out.

Even my weekends have become routine-ish. Saturdays usually involve shopping at the market (they have great fruits, veggies, tortillas, etc for really cheap) and then the grocery store for everything else. Food is generally good here, I am just adjusting to not having all my fake meats :) But that is probably good for me, I just need to watch my protein intake a little more carefully. I will then often meet up with friends for dinner or hanging out on Saturday night. Then Sunday is a lazy morning followed by ultimate frisbee at 11. We play anywhere from 2-3 hours and then I will often stay at school to get some work done.

There you have it; my Guatemala life in a nut shell. It is nice, comfortable, predictable, and pretty good. I guess that is the problem. Things are not supposed to be comfortable here, I am supposed to be challenging myself, I am supposed to be having amazing new experiences, I am supposed to be growing every day, I am supposed to be learning Spanish! When I first arrived I was told that it is easy to get in routine. That really is the truth! And routine is nice! I guess my next goal will be to get past that routine. I like the comfort and predictability of it, and who doesn't? I think it is human nature to like knowing what is coming, what to expect.  But that is not what I came here for, and I don't want to leave wondering where the time went. I don't even want to go home for Christmas wondering that. So that is what I am going to do, and you all are going to be there to hold me accountable. I am going to explore more; I am not going to not take a taxi somewhere because they seem like the only people here who don't understand my Spanish; I am going to find someone to watch Sidney so I can go away for the weekend (should probably be high on the priority list); and I am going to come home with amazing stories, pictures, adventures, and minimal regrets. At least that is the goal :)

Green circle - the large area around my house.  White circle - the even larger area of the school