Last Stop: Guatemala

“When you’re traveling, you are what you are right there and then.  People don’t have your past to hold against you.  No yesterdays on the road.”

– -William Least Heat Moon

Back on a Plane

After two months stateside, I left the US in early April for my last foreign destination of this year of travel: Guatemala.

I’d be lying if I didn’t say it felt bittersweet leaving the US this time. After spending two months at home, I expected to be excited to jump on a plane for one last passport stamp. When I was home, I felt a lot of life stresses coming back. But I also felt more sadness than expected as I packed my six outfits into an oversized backpack for one last time.

The truth is I miss people. People I know and love. Traveling will always be a passion of mine, but it just can’t compare to people I care about. A year of travel excitement later, and I sure do miss the hell outta a lot of amazing people.

When I first came home in January, I wasn’t quite ready to be done traveling. I trust I’ll be ready after Guatemala, but then again, you never know. Travel brings new experiences, and introduces you to new people and a new version of yourself in ways you can’t predict and don’t expect. First step is showing up. From here I’ll wait and see what happens.

Why Guatemala

Short answer: I chose Guatemala because I’m doing Yoga teacher training here. Eleven months of continent hopping, and it’s about damn time I do something to help me get a JOB when I get home. Life isn’t all play (says my bank account right now).

I’m spending three weeks yoga training in the small town on Tzununa on Lake Atitlan. The lake is a four-ish hour bumpaliciously thrilling ride due west from Guatemala City. There are several small towns around the lake, each one with its own unique mix of local Guatemalans, normal backpackers, and hippie, chakra-sensing, yoga-loving travelers. While here I’ll learn how to downward dog and handstand my way to a 200 hour teacher certification.

But First…Antigua

I didn’t want to dive straight into Yoga school straight upon arrival, so I came to Guatemala a few days early to see the sites.

After giving it some thought, I opted to skip spending time in the metropolis of Guatemala City. I live in a big city. I’ve traveled to many cities. I’m over them. As soon as I arrived I got on a shuttle heading to Antigua.

Antigua is in central Guatemala, a few hour drive from Guatemala City. It’s the former capital of the country and is a UNESCO World Heritage site. It’s famous for its well-preserved Spanish Baroque influenced architecture, several ruins, and (of course) colonial churches. This is Latin America after all.

The city is not exactly representative of modern day Guatemala, and it’s not exactly old time Guatemala either. It’s old and historic, with a few updates.

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Antigua has a beautiful small town feeling.  I like that everything is walking distance here.  Fifteen minutes walking in any direction from my guesthouse and I’m at the edge of town.  It seems like I couldn’t get too lost, but I still do, because all the streets look alike and I can’t tell where I am until I run into a park. The city is far from overrun with tourists, but there’s a healthy visiting population here. It’s history and proximity to Guatemala City make it the most visited locale in the country.

City Exploring and Volcano Hiking

Most of my touristing in Antigua centered on wandering around town. I walked up a steep hill to see Cerro de la Cruz. Actual translation – Hill of the Cross. Again, so very Latin America.

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While here, I took pictures of all the churches, and ate all the tortillas.

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Aside from looking at old buildings and crosses, the other big thing to do in Antigua is hike a volcano. Guatemala has 37 active volcanos. Several are within driving distance of Antigua. The most common two to hike are Acatanango, which involves a strenuous two day overnight hike. Cassie of six months ago would have signed up for this one, but nowadays Cassie is tired and about to spend three weeks in yoga training.

Option two is Pacaya Volcano. The hike itself is steep, but lasts only a few short hours. The drive and the hike can be done in half a day. If you get tired or feel lazy, you can rent a horse to tredge up it. I’m not that bad. I still hoofed it all the way up on my own two feet.

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The cool thing about hiking an active volcano is that it’s an active volcano. No, I didn’t see actual lava. By the time it flows down the mountain to where it’s safe to walk, the hot stuff isn’t the molten liquid of national geographic fame anymore. BUT. The ground is literally smoking hot and the descending lava keeps the mountain continuously falling over on itself. Even crazier is how the falling rocks sound like a sack of tin cans rolling down the mountain. I have not experienced that before. People bring marshmallows to roast on this hike. For real.

Cooking Guatemalan

The last thing I did in Antigua was to take a cooking class at the Tortilla school of cooking. Because why not. I like to eat. I also like to cook. I’m returning home to a real kitchen soon. Added bonus: this class included four glasses of wine. Winner, winner, chicken dinner. Literally.

I was in a weird mood before I got there and was a few minutes late, but it didn’t matter.  The entire class consisted of myself and a couple from Vancouver.  The chef of the class was this very tiny Guatemalan woman named Olalie who was no more than 4 foot 6. She had a super sweet smile and equally sweet demeanor. Olalie moved away from her home town and family a few hours away to work in this cooking school. She moved alone, and didn’t know anyone in Antigua upon moving here. This is not very Guatemalan of her.

Olalie spoke no English, but wasn’t afraid to interrupt our chit chat to tell us what to do and boss us around the kitchen.  I like this about her.

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The class included an english translator, Nikolas, a volunteer from France.  He and his girlfriend left France last December to travel the world for a year and are currently volunteering at this cooking school six days a week.  They don’t get paid anything, and are doing it simply for the cultural experience. I get to meet such incredible, interesting people while traveling.

We made four dishes in the class. A famous Guatemalan soup-stew called Pepian, a rice dish, beet root salad, and this awesome plantain dessert consisting of plantains with a chocolate filling. 

Out of all the dishes, the plantain dish is the one I’ll try making at home. I’m always guilty of buying plantains because I love them. Only problem is I have no clue how to cook them correctly.  But this dish was easy, and super tasty.  Boil plantains in water with some cinnamon sticks, smash them up, fill with chocolate, and fry.  Happy dessertting. 

Added bonus: the cinnamon plantain water is so tasty to drink after.

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I also learned how to make fresh tortillas.  Not the taco bell kind, but the Guatemalan grandmother kind.  So easy, yet making them made me feel so very skilled in international culinary arts.

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Making Friends

Words can’t express what a fantastic experience this cooking class was.  I practiced my Spanish quite a bit with both the instructor and the translator.  Best of all, the Canadian couple, Mic and Naddy, were SO nice.  We stayed after the meal talking until the cooking school closed and kicked us out. We chatted about mental illness, career choices, life choices, having kids, dealing with death, and taking risks in life. It was like wasting time with old friends.

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The couple is in their early 30’s. Naddy’s father passed away a few years ago, and on his deathbed he told her, “when are you going to stop being sad”. She was engaged at the time, and subsequently left her fiancée after realizing she didn’t want to be married, have kids, or do all the things she felt pressure to do in life. Fast forward a few years, and she and her then-friend Mic decided to date, live a child-free life, and she’s conquering her anxieties which include a strong fear of flying on airplanes.

HELLO? She’s in Guatemala.

I loved her for sharing all of this with me. Almost as much as I love her for telling me I have a young looking face.  I loved Mic for talking about why he decided to become a vegetarian, and how he changed his entire career because he didn’t want to waste years living life he didn’t enjoy.

This is why I like traveling.  Memorable experiences and memorable connections in memorable places.  You’ll never be the same again.  I’ll never be the same again.