not a traveler

I've never really considered myself a traveler. That may sound weird, considering how many places I've been. But I've always moved to a foreign place and then traveled a bit from that place. Right now I live in Xela I'm certainly not a permanent resident but I have a routine. I'm learning my way around, I'm learning which places make the best coffee, I'm learning which places are 'tranquilo', I'm learning how much a taxi should cost from one place to another, and of course I'm learning Spanish.

This weekend I took on the role of traveler. I put some essentials in my backpack and with other couchsurfers got on a chicken bus headed to San Pedro La Laguna. San Pedro is a picturesque town on Lago de Atitlan. Lago de Atitlan is a huge lake surrounded by volcanoes. (Pictures are coming soon to Facebook, I promise).

Here I'm a traveler. The only purpose of our weekend is to enjoy the lake and be 'tranquilo'. I want do all the touristy things. I want to say in hostel with other foreigners and have the travel experience. I'm even writing postcards this weekend because I feel like I'm actually traveling.

I wrote the above portion yesterday but didn't go online to write it up here. So now I'm 'home' in Xela at my internet cafe with my friends from School. I'm just hanging out doing what I do feeling like I'm ready for the routine to start again tomorrow. Tomorrow is just another Monday here in Xela with Spanish classes at 8. I'm back to my 'real' life. I prefer this form of travel to the travel that takes you so many places so quickly.

Planning and Packing

I am not really a planner, I'm much more of a spur of the moment kind of person. It is actually hard for me to focus and plan this trip for more than two weeks. Once I decide to do something I want to do it. My trip seems spontaneous, but that is the only way I do things.

Just after I started looking at new jobs I also started looking at flights. Somehow the massive amount of time I have now and the small amount of money made me think that perhaps I had a way to travel. (Traveling is like a drug - once you've gone to a foreign country you need to go again and again. I need to get my fix. Honestly, this fix is going to be different than anything I've ever done before.) I looked at some programs in 'safe' and 'easy' places that I had already been, like France and Spain or Switzerland but the pull of something new and different (and practical) brought me to Xela. Xela (the nickname for Quetzaltenango) is the second largest city in Guatemala with about 300,000 people. It is also not touristy, except for Spanish language classes. I should actually learn a lot of Spanish while I'm there! From the day the idea was born in my brain to the day I bought my ticket was 8 days. Eight days to decide that I am ready to change my life, again.

I have been planning, but I have not yet begun packing. Packing is something that I like to do at the last minute. I enjoy that rush not knowing if you'll fit everything in or not and then making it (almost all the time!) and then finding out that you didn't bring the plugs you needed but you did bring that really unnecessary green sweater. I like that thrill.