Welcome Back to Guatemala--3 Months Later

I’m here! I’m safe! I appreciate all of the thoughts and prayers as I get started in Guatemala. Despite some crazy travel predicaments along the way, I have felt everyone’s support so earnestly that I have yet to be discouraged…

Read on for some Guatemalan excitement:

Day 1, Tuesday: US Airways left my luggage in Charlotte, NC and I had to wait in Guatemala City an extra day.
Day 2, Wednesday: The roads were too muddy to take a truck up the mountain, and I had to wait another day.
Day 3, Thursday: I eventually caught a ride with another missionary family who live in a village halfway to my home, “Pinalito,” and I jostled in their overstuffed Suburban for two hours.
Day 4, Friday: With my backpack, water bottle,and some M&Ms to spur me on, I hiked the 2 remaining hours to Pinalito with a donkey carrying my duffel bags.

The road was treacherous, the rain has washed the once passable road into deep gullies and landslides.
(This is a picture of Melanie, my roommate, rounding a bend.)

Upon arriving, I found that my apartment has a very leaky ceiling and a rat invasion!

Day 5: SUNDAY: I went to church and, when the pastor invites me to the podium, I tell the tiny congregation that although my friends and family in the U.S. think that I am crazy, there is nowhere I would rather be than HERE, in Pinalito, Guatemala, spending a year with them. Their smiles are huge. It is all worthwhile.

With that said, here are the beautiful advantages to my wild arrival:
It was a pain to lose my luggage... but several other people on the flight also lost their bags, and so I had a team of tourists to sightsee for a day. What a great way to start out in Guatemala! We went to the Museum of Anthropology, and I read about Mayan culture, and how the indigenous people live. (Useful information, considering I live among them!)

In addition, I met a team of American missionaries that will be working very close to my village this week. They invited me to come and learn more about their program, for they have already started an orphanage, Christian school, and nursing home.

It was also great to meet the missionary family that lives nearby… It’s so nice to have someone to speak English with, and learn about Latino cooking, i.e., “It is SUPPOSED to smell like that?"
Bottom line, my arrival in Pinalito was just amazing. Although the roads are terrible, with all of that rain comes a lot of GREEN! The mountains are a sight to see. Before I even reached the village, there were children running around shouting my name, women offering tortillas as a “welcome back” present, and a general hubbub of excitement. And although the rats are pretty gross… ok REALLY gross… my roommate, Melanie, and I have decided to get a cat. And leaky ceilings? Well, let’s just say my minor discomfort really puts things in perspective… the villagers barely have roofs at all. Their doorframes are held together with stolen barbed wire… they cannot BEGIN to afford caulking and ceiling tile.