Traveling. Like literally the action of traveling. It started two days ago, taking a night bus to Amsterdam. The bus got in an hour early which is super cool, especially considering the three passport checks I had to go through... kinda annoyed because I think I got a stamp at every one and that’s definitely not necessary... sorry Mary probs but these are my feelings. Got the plane to Houston, such a long flight- Singapore was definitely longer, but this one was much less enjoyable. KLM versus United. And all the people around me were rude and so unaware of it. BUT we made it and I was there in the US Midwest/south so I had to uber to UPS to ship off a textbook and I walked to Walmart, truly looking like a hobo with my backpack and no sidewalks. I bought some few remaining travel items, as well as some Cheetos to bring to the office. Then I ubered back to the airport to get to a bus stop. The city bus was the most unmarked and unappreciated thing at that airport, and they didn’t even have a ticket outpost (the bus/metro company offers to be put in stores/shops with cash benefits for the host) just a horrible way to welcome people to your city. So that meant the bus was cash only- $1.25. What person coming from an international flight has $1.25 exact change?? So dumb. BUT I got on the bus and during the 45 minute ride, I was the only white person to step on board (besides another tourist), and one of two females. That’s a huge sign that the system sucks- it’s not equal. There’s many reasons for this- inefficiency, prices, route planning, traffic integration, etc. but things like this signal a failing system. I hope it’s being worked on.
But I digress.
(I’ve been spending too much time with my coworkers)
I made it downtown, thinking that the heart of a city is it’s cultural hub and didn’t think of the super likeliness that it’s a business center and goes to sleep at 6pm. I still worked my way around, and got back to American urban life, but wound up at a park near a convention center. At this point my phone is dying, so I’m trying to google Starbucks n such to get an outlet, but everything is closed. I got super lucky and found some outlets at the park, so I bought a sandwich and sat there until McKenna was done with work. Beautiful evening. Called some friends. Finally ubered to a chick fil a (hallelujah) where McKenna was, and she kindly drove me back to her place. She’s staying with a host family in Houston, and they have the most grand and beautiful house!! I got my own bed and my own room and my own shower- it was incredible. And McKenna herself is SO SO kind and amazing, I really had a great time and was so lucky :)
We woke up early the next day to drive to the airport (again, SO nice of her to drive me), and I was through security at my gate. I think maybe 50lbs was lifted off my shoulders I had been stressed for a while about making all these connections. I just had to wait for the rest of the group. They finallyyyy came and we were off. I sat next to two Guatemalans (one was from there, the other’s parents were from there). The native, he was older, was going back home for the first time in ten years because his younger sister died in the volcano, leaving her children orphans. He’s going to see if they can get the adoption process started so he can take one or two of the kids to live with him in the States. The other was just visiting for the weekend- his family is all visiting extended family, and so he’s surprising them by joining for a few days. We all talked the whole time, and I think I gained back all of my small talk/Midwest nice skills there. (Coming from Germany was weird)
We get to Guatemala City and go through customs and all- we bypass bag check by some miracle so that was sweet. We meet up with Mark and two other students who came from Atlanta, and we were off. It took about 5 hours to get to Joyabaj, but the drive was a good initiation back into this setting. We have a lot of long bumpy rides on switchbacks ahead of us.
2025-02-11