Yel Kaye – Travel Blog, Writing and Photography

I can conclude, at this point, that this summer was extremely good for me. I think that devoting four months to research and learning and, well, doing cool shit has helped me solidify the feeling that, at the ripe ‘ole age of twenty-five, I am finally verging on self-acceptance. When you can decide to learn a language just for the joy of it, or jump off a cliff into water inside a cave with no safety equipment, race through novels like reading is going out of style, or dance for hours with a handsome man, who cares if you are “too” emotional, irresponsible, spontaneous, crazy, passionate… Most of my neuroses over the last few years have revolved around the fear of never finding someone who would accept who I am and also who I’ve been. Somehow logic is starting to win out over neurosis, and I am realizing that anyone who is apt to judge me isn’t really my type.

Anyways, with that cheesy self-reflection out of the way, I suppose I better actually sum up my past few weeks. I have really settled into my day-to-day life here and made friends. I am not ready to leave, because life for an extranjera here is good. I had an uncomfortable realization today while chatting with my spanish teacher today. I keep on lamenting my having to leave, and saying that I plan to come back for a longer stay. When people ask me why, I say it’s because I like the lifestyle. But I realized that when I say that, I am really referring to the gringa lifestyle in Xela, which is not really a Guatemalan lifestyle at all. Sure, I have a few Guatemalan friends and acquaintances, I speak Spanish a lot and I am learning to salsa. But surely my life here seems annoying and opulent to most of the people around me. What’s more, if I came back next summer I will probably want to get a job. There are tons of foreigners here working in foreigner-oriented bars and cafes, and I guess the ethics of taking a job away from locals is a little questionable.

I have been doing a little bit of traveling around here, but not much. I’m not going to Tikan or Livingston, and as it turns out I am too lazy and probably athsmatic to do any major treks. After three months of traveling, though, I don’t really care to go and see everything just so I can say I did. I have been going to the places I feel like, when I feel like it. Last weekend was the best trip, for sure. I am usually not that into group travel, but I’ve done a few tours with the school anyways. Luckily, the four day trip to Semuc Champey had a great group of people. Including our notoriously womanizing (not me) tour guide and a funny bus driver, there were fifteen of us. Twelve hours in a bus there and back will pretty much test the limits of camraderie, and we managed to have a great time both ways, mostly thanks to truth or dare, “never have I ever,” our inability to describe dirty things in Spanish, and warm cans of Heineken. Semuc Champey is sort of like a natural waterpark. In the course of two days, I jumped from a twenty foot bridge into a river (many times), went tubing, swimming, swinging into the water, spelunking. Oh, and we also visited the beautiful limestone pools that make the area famous (I am lazy, so look it up if you want to see.) But more than the stuff we did, it was just the vibe that made the weekend great. Lots of those silly little moments with temporary friends – the stuff backpacker memories are made of, I guess. For instance, after jumping off the bridge for the fourth time, a few of us swam downstream to the hotel. There were two tubes between four of us, so we linked up into a human raft and sang Afternoon Delight (for no particular reason.)

Anyways, I stand by my original statement in calling this country 20-something Neverneverland. Sure, while I am learning Spanish and salsa and living with a family, at times I am barely having a cultural experience. But there is a feeling of fun and wonder in this country that makes me really not want to leave.