Getting to Guatemala, by Sheer

One of my big first steps to making this journey happen was leaving my job. I knew for many months that this was my plan, but knowing it internally is not the same as actually seeing it materialize. Throughout May I thought about how and when I could tell my students that I wasn’t going to be teaching the following year, and that I was instead going on a grand adventure. I thought about it every day, but ended up not telling them. I just couldn’t find the right words. Maybe I felt guilty in a way, too.

I did, however, speak of my trip to many of my colleagues, and I was pleasantly surprised with the warm reception of my crazy plan. So many teachers I spoke with were super supportive! It was a bittersweet goodbye to the classroom for me. I had so many beautiful moments with my students this year. But I believe that this trip will only make me a better teacher, should I return to the classroom afterward. Actually, I believe that traveling can make anyone a better person. Maybe this is an ideal I maintain, but it is something I live by. Seeing new places requires a kind of openness.

After leaving my job, I spent the month of June fostering a dog I fell in love with (whom I finally found a happy home for) and studying like a mad woman for the GRE, which I finally took on June 30th. Why did I subject myself to relearning algebra and memorizing over 500 new vocabulary words? Well, I plan on applying to grad schools soon, so it was a good time to get the test over with. This picture basically sums up the month of June for me:



July was super eventful, as Ryan wrote about. Let me skip to the part of our lives that led up immediately to our departure from Houston and arrival in Guatemala. Tuesday, July 27th, was our last full day. We ran around the city like crazy, trying to get everything done. Ryan managed to sell his Saab that night, which was pretty hilarious. I can’t believe how many things we left until the last minute, but I also feel like even if we’d accomplished those things weeks earlier, there would have been another long list of errands to run. It’s just not easy to leave the country for a year.

Our final night was wonderfully spent with good friends, and full of big smiles. Ryan and I also both had some lovely goodbye phone conversations with friends and family. I was already feeling really sad about missing everyone. And I can’t forget to mention that I fell in love with Houston in our last weeks there and drove myself to a state of nostalgia even before the trip began. That is just me. I absolutely hate saying goodbye. I’m not good at it and I hate it. It's ironic because I love to travel, and a huge part of traveling is moving on and letting things go.
This was the moment before we gave our last hugs to Ryan's brother, Keven:



After saying goodbye to Keven, we finally got to packing up our backpacks and taking care of little things. We slept for less than two hours! Then, on Wednesday morning, before the sun rose, Kira and Austin (our lovely friends who opened their home to us our last few nights in Houston) drove us to the bus stop. Hugs and goodbyes were exchanged, and then Ryan and I were on the bus to the airport, and our world--as we knew it--was behind us. How strange it is to be able to so clearly pinpoint the moment of departure from a former reality.

Although there is a very easy straight flight from Houston to Guatemala City, we went the cheap 12-hour route, which involved a 5-hour layover in Panama City. This is what I looked like in the Panama City airport while Ryan drank beer:




After arriving in Guatemala City late that night, we made our way here to Antigua. Two and a half years ago, Ryan and I spent a week here during the festivities of Semana Santa, so it was fun to walk around that first night in the darkness in a practically semi-conscious state remembering this street and that street and of course Parque Central.

We were surprised and happy to find the night to be sweater-weather. Ryan put on his long-sleeved wool shirt and said, “I didn’t think this would be the first thing I’d wear here!” The crisp, cool air with the nearly constant breeze is definitely something we welcome after the oppressive heat and humidity of Houston.

Despite being exhausted our first night, we couldn't wait to use our head lamps for reading in the dark, quiet night! :)




I don't know how to describe the beauty of this old, colonial town. Yes, it is super touristy. But it is remarkable nonetheless. In the words of Lonely Planet: "In all the long, boring discussions about where the 'real Guatemala' is, you can be sure the word Antigua has never come up. This is fantasyland--what the country would look like if the Scandinavians came in and took over for a couple of years....But you'd be a fool to miss it."

We are staying at a super cheap hostel that is colorful and alive, and whose highlight is by far the awesome rooftop terrace. Here are some views from the roof of our hostel:






I could probably write for another hour about our walks around the town and little moments here and there, and how it feels to be free. But this entry is already long and I certainly don’t want to bombard our readers on the first day!