The trip to Monterrico is pretty short, only two and a half hours. I was especially happy when we started talking to two people in the shuttle with us and learned that they were both Peace Corps volunteers. I had seriously considered the Peace Corps before I decided that it was just too long for me, so I was really interested in hearing what their experiences were like. The girl was a public health major from the Bronx (the first New Yorker I've run into here! There were high fives all around). Her position here is pretty similar to mine; she's giving health workshops to adults and kids out in small, rural villages. She said that the people aren't really interested in what she's teaching about, which is definitely not how I've felt here at NPH. She also said that she feels really unsafe here and has had to move four times to different villages because of violent crime (including rape and attacks on the volunteers). Then the dude who was with her piped in and said he also felt that it was dangerous here. He said that the Peace Corps has strict rules for the volunteers here to keep them safe. They aren't allowed to use the chicken buses, visit the capital, Tikal or even Lake Atitlan. Save Tikal (which I'll be visiting in January), I've been to all those places. I go to the capital frequently. I'm on chicken buses almost every day! I told them that the Peace Corps was totally overreacting and things aren't that bad, not by me at least. I've never felt unsafe in NPH, and the biggest fear I've had here was getting mugged, nothing much different than being in NYC. Needless to say, Tracey was a little wide-eyed by the time we got to Moterrico and I had to do a little damage control.
(I want to say two things about that conversation real quick. First of all, it makes me sad that they have such a negative view of Guatemala. The people I've met here have been incredibly friendly and generous. It's completely normal to meet a new person and be invited to come to their home for dinner that night. Folks are just good people here. I hope they get to see that side of Guatemala before they finish their time here. My second comment is this: man am I glad I didn't join the Peace Corps! Yeah, its nice that they get paid a hell of a lot more than I do (Q3000 a month compared to my Q400, plus they'll t get a resettlement package when they get home, but you know, I don't think I'd trade spots with them. NPH takes good care of us and they trust that we're adults who can tell when we're in a bad position. I would hate being confined to the campus and not being able to travel or even go into Antigua for a cup of coffee. You can't strip away all freedom just in the name of safety.)
Anyway, we got to Monterrico unscathed and proceeded directly to the hammocks. I have almost no pictures to show of our time there because it alternated between napping, reading and drinking smoothies. Oh wait, here's Tracey drinking one
And here we are when we went for a five minute stroll down the beach. So...bright...
We weren't completely lazy though. Monterrico is famous for being a hot spot for sea turtle egg laying. We paid a local guy to walk us down the beach at night and look for turtles. You can probably guess by the lack of pictures, but we didn't find any. We're a little late in the season right now. It was a great walk though. The moon was out and it was really nice listening to the waves crash. There aren't any shells on the beaches here, so it was comfortable walking in the sand. We ended up walking for about two hours before coming home and crashing.
After our beach trip we headed back to Antigua just in time for Thanksgiving dinner! We went to an American-owned restaurant and sure enough they had a turkey dinner on the menu. MMMMMMM IT WAS SO GOOD. I can't wait to eat a ton of turkey when I'm back in the states.
And there was pumpkin pie! I LOVE pumpkin pie.
Live music is always nice, too :)
Friday was Tracey's last day here, so I showed her around Antigua a little bit. We took some nice pictures at the famous church, La Merced.
Nice carved door. I really want to get into wood carving.
We cooked a nice dinner at home and then just chilled. She's now safe and sound back in NJ. I'm so glad she came out. I had an awesome time and it was a great excuse to get some traveling done. It's also great because it made a whole week of my time fly by! I only have 55 days now!! That's less that 8 weeks until I'm home drinking eggnog and watching TV and going on dates! So excited!!
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