Floating and another volcano

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

Sun setting over the clouds

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.

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.

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.

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.