Guatemala: Epilogue

My trip is over, but there are many little things that I wanted to mention.

On Parenting:

• Breastfeeding does not seem to be subject to the debates that I hear in the US. If your kid is hungry, you feed him, even if it's while you're crammed into a Chicken Bus with 50 other people.
• Stroller sightings were few and far between. Most parents carried their babies in slings. I imagine this is because many parents are using public transportation or walking precarious sidewalks. Strollers aren't practical.

On Transportation:

• Lots of people have cars and motorcycles to get around, which sometimes made it tough as a pedestrian. The side streets are very small and the sidewalks are unreliable. Stop signs are optional.
• Public transportation has a variety of forms. The Chicken Buses are everywhere for longer trips. There are also lots of people driving vans as if they are buses. Someone will pop his head out the side door as he approaches to ask if you will want to board. If you say no, they just close the door and keep on driving.

On Food:

agua pura

• Eggs are for lunch and dinner, not breakfast.
• Fresh tortillas are a staple and my family served them with all of our meals.
• I noticed a lot more consumption of juice, and you can buy juice in a small clear plastic bag.
• You can also buy pure water in a clear plastic bag.
• I ate avocado a couple times in Guatemala without any allergic reaction. I came back to the states feeling confident that I could eat avocado again. I was wrong.

• In Guatemala it is easy to drink a lot of coffee (pronounced cah-FAY in Spanish and CAW-fee in Laura). It's common with breakfast, lunch, afternoon breaks, and dinner. I occasionally read these studies, like "PEOPLE WHO DRANK 5 CUPS OF COFFEE A DAY SHOWED THE FOLLOWING HEALTH BENEFITS". And I would always think, "Who the hell drinks that much coffee?" Well, I think I drank 5 or 6 cups one day and then felt in need of a huge break from it the next day.
• Also, you have to specify that you want milk when you order a coffee. Milk was not always available either. I learned that I like black coffee more than I had previously thought. This came in handy when I returned home and my milk was bad.

On Community:

• People are out and about all the time and almost everyone will greet you with "buenas dias" or some equivalent pleasantry. 
• The workdays are longer, but tend to be more relaxed. People will stop by to say hi or spend some time relaxing. Start times are not nearly as strict.
• One of the employees for the restaurant, Aurelia, has become part of the family. I think she gets room and board as part of her pay.

On Games:

• I played Connectivo Cuatro and SET while staying with my family.
• Danilo regularly solved his Rubix cube.
• Pablo and I played baseball using some balled up napkins and a plastic pipe.
• I had a piece of yarn for Cheetos that Glendy picked up to show me tricks, like Jacob's Ladder. This brought on memories of the hours I spent playing Cat's Cradle in Middle School. I showed her how to play.
• They had a stuffed Care Bear.
• One time I was about to enter the garage from outside, but heard someone entering the garage from the house. So I waited off to the side. It turned out to be Danilo and I gave him a scare. This made us both laugh. Craig and I play this game all the time (though usually we're only pretend scared).

On Italian:

• My Italian speaking skills helped and hurt on this trip.
• At first I pronounced five as cinque (chinkway), which is the Italian word. Then I said cinco (sink-o), which is the Spanish word. Then I said sinkway, which is a blend of the 2. 
• When I had a sore throat, I wanted to ask for salt, so I went with the Italian word - sale (soll-ay), which worked because the Spanish word is sal (soll). 
• My Spanish instructor told me I spoke Spanish with an Italian accent.
• Even for words that are pronounced exactly the same, the spellings are different, such as che/que or montagna/montana
• And words that are spelled exactly the same often had different pronunciations, such as piscina (pee-SEE-nuh in Spanish and pee-SHEE-nuh in Italian) or cena (SAY-nuh in Spanish and CHAY-nuh in Italian).
• At first I would think about what words to say and my brain would tell me the Italian translation. Then I took the Italian word and my brain had to find the Spanish translation. 
• I don't want to lose my Italian skills, but I also want to become much more fluent in Spanish. This makes me think I'm going to have to work extra hard to maintain all 3 languages. Luckily, I have a super cool Italian friend who plays Tetris with me on the internet and I work with someone who speaks Spanish and un poquito ingles.

On communication (and miscommunication):

• We talked with our family about where they were from and Chris asked if Danilo was born in the lake instead of at/near the lake.
• I described my cats as picante (spicy) instead of pequena (small).
• When teaching Daniela English adjectives one day, I taught her the word smart. "Smart?" she asked. She walked away and got her phone and laughed. "Smart phone?" "Si, si!" I laughed. Then I walked away and got my basic phone and said, "stupido phone!" 

On Getting Home:

• I started my trip back to the states by getting a shuttle at 5:45 am. I arrived at the airport around 9:00 am and then spent some time doing not much of anything until my flight at 2:00.
• I flew to Atlanta, where I spent a lot of time going through customs.
• When I was in the Phoenix airport getting ready to leave, security flagged my bag for my metal spork. They searched my bag, found it, and said it was okay. So when I flew into Atlanta, I took my spork out so I wouldn't have to get searched. They took it. Grr.
• I saw 4 movies during my round trip flights: Ted 2, The Martian, Inside Out, and Brave. I recommend all of them. Ted 2 was hilarious, The Martian was interesting, funny, and visually enjoyable, Inside Out was creative, funny, and made me cry a little, Brave had a sub-par story but the scenery, Irish accents, and Irish music made up for it.
• I caught my flight from Atlanta to Phoenix and arrived in Phoenix just before midnight.
• I caught the light rail and walked home from there, arriving at my door just past midnight.
• Craig had locked the doors. Even my sneaky way in for when I was locked out was not an option. Luckily, I was able to wake him up by pounding on the door. He said, "You're going to put this in your blog aren't you?" I wouldn't have, but since he asked I kind of had to.