I
have always been a floater. Through different stages of my life I
have had one or two friends from each part of my life and only one or
two total that I felt really close to. In high school I had sports
friends, IB friends, dance friends, and the friends I was closest to
who did not end up fitting into any of these groups. I got along
with most people and would bounce from group to group but never felt
as though I fully fit into any of them. Here in Guate that floating
has not changed. There are people here who have their group. They
go to dinner every Friday, if one is going out, they all are, if
there is a break, they know who to call. At least this how it
appears from my end. And in a place where most people don't stay
for more than three years, it makes sense. For me, when I do hang
out with these groups, it is great, but I never feel like I fully
fit. I'm not being critical, it is just how it is. I don't think I
am the only one who feels like a floater here, and I am starting to
think that being a floater is not a bad thing.
Last
weekend was a three day weekend and a group of us took advantage and
hiked up Volcán Tajumulco
which is the tallest peak in Central America. The trip was through a
group called Quetzaltrekkers (www.quetzaltrekkers.com) and was
amazing. It was initiated by a few teachers at CAG and I was happy
to receive an invitation. They are all people that I knew and many
of them I regularly play ultimate frisbee with; but it is a group of
people that I had had very few conversations with prior to the trip.
They knew I liked to hike so invited me along. This is were floating
is a good thing: I know a lot of people and they know enough about me
to know when I would enjoy something and 88% of the time they invite
me to come along. Here is my trip report of the hike and then I will
come back to the floating topic for my grand conclusion :)
Tajumulco
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| Sun setting over the clouds |
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| Sunrise |
It
was a my favorite kind of weekend; one that involved hiking and getting out of the city. There were seventeen of us on the hike, nine
teachers, three guides, and five others who are traveling through
Central and South America. Of the nine teachers, only one of them
had I been hiking with previously and only two that I had had spent
much time with. The trip started in a town called Quetzaltenango
(Xela for short - not sure why though) and we rode some "chicken
busses" (old school buses that get packed way past capacity and
take you where you need to go for very little money) to the trailhead
and then headed up the peak. It was slow going as we had full packs
and Guatemala doesn't really understand the concept of switchbacks,
so got pretty steep. But we made it up to our campsite at just over
13,000' in just over 4 hours. And then headed to the top for the
sunset. I had been looking forward to watching the sunset and rise
from the top. The sunset was nice, but not as spectacular as it had
been in my head mostly due to clouds, but the sunrise did not
disappoint. It was freezing (literally) at 5am, but I was so excited
about taking pictures and absorbing any and all views that I barely
cared about my fingers not working as well as they usually do. Once
the sun was up, we started our hike down.
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| Cleaning up trash :) |
All
hikes I have been on in Guate have been trashy. Others have been
worst than Tajumulco was, but I decided to do my part and bring down
some trash. I made the suggestion to the others on our hike that if
they picked up just one bottle it could make a difference. I was
thrilled to then see a pretty big clean-up effort. Trash bags were
pulled out and filled, extra pockets in backpacks were stuffed, and
many people hiked the last few miles carrying three and four bottles
in their hands. I did not expect it and was very happy.
Once
we got back down we took two more chicken busses before arriving back
in Xela. My OIG (only in Guatemala) moment of the trip was on the
first of those two chicken busses. They truly pack as many people in
as they can. I was sitting in the very last seat (luckily I had
taken dramamine). Sharing my seat were a Guatemalan couple and their
two children (yes all five of us on one seat) and on the seat to my
left were three men. But that does not fill a bus, so there was also
a man standing between the two seats. Well, toward the end of the
ride, the man standing between the two seats started falling asleep
and every five or so minutes his head would nod enough to slam into
the top of my head (he was pretty short). Had I not been wearing a
hat, it may have been a horrible experience, but it was so ridiculous
that I find it hilarious.
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| Campfires - good place for a chat |
Despite
the crazy chicken busses, I enjoyed the entire trip. What shocked me
is that the most enjoyable parts of the weekend were the
conversations and getting to know the people I was with. I like
people and love hearing stories, but this surprised me; I usually
enjoy the hike more.
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| Lunch - another good chat time |
So, I
did not find a new best friend on this hike, nor do I feel like I
found my "group," but I had an amazing time and got to know
some interesting people better. I am making some good friends here
and they are, once again, from different pieces of my life here which
means no close group of friends. I like the idea of having a group
of people I am close to and can count on, but that has never been
who I am; probably someone I never will be. I think this weekend
helped me understand the benefit of being a "floater,"
though. If I stuck to the same people all the time, there would be
a lot of people out there that I would not get to know and learn
from. Hopefully I am starting to grasp that floating might just be an okay way to live.
