I'm writing this on the plane to India, but I probably won't have a chance to post it until we reach there and settle in..
Leaving Guatemala has me thrown off. I am a mixed bag of emotions. I really think we had embraced the notion that we were living there, not just passing as visitors. We knew the guy in the market who sold good bananas for cheap - he was in the corner by the church. We figured out the seemingly obscure hours of the lavanderia and panaderia. We knew which tortilleria we favored, and where the bank and post office were. The neighborhood dogs seemed to know us. We felt a little like Guatemalans, I think. It's hard to just turn away from that.
Leaving Maya Pedal itself felt a little like leaving home, which was unexpected too. When we were there we were nearly always in good company with the people who work at the shop, friends and family of the shop who stopped by often or came to play soccer with us in the evenings, and of course our fellow volunteers. Saying goodbye to the Maya Pedal staff was particularly sad because we are certain we won't return to Guatemala any time soon, and even if we did, we no longer expect that Maya Pedal as an organization will be alive (I may write more about this later).
So we said a sad goodbye to the physical space of Maya Pedal, too. It has a long history and has housed volunteers like us for at least 15 years. There are little paintings on the walls, a hand-written volunteer manual, a guestbook with fun and weird and inspiring writings. A bookshelf full of books left by others. The reason it felt a little homely was a result of years of others who had come before us and made it that way. I'll miss all that.
We also had made friends with the volunteers at Bici-Tec which is the organization that separated from Maya Pedal a few months back, but remains in Itzapa. Saying goodbye to all of our fellow volunteers was sad,
but somehow we were all certain that our paths would cross again one day. Things tend to work out that way. I realized soon that people at Maya Pedal who had only known for short time we got to know fairly quickly - I suppose that happens when you're always within earshot of each other and share all your meals and the small confinement of a bathroom, workshop, and kitchen. :)
I was split, too, about the one night layover in LA en route to India. The reality is, I miss home. I look at my passport sometimes and get weirdly patriotic, I miss our friends and family, and sometimes I remember the comforts of home like our own bed, walking around barefoot on our carpet and drinking water (and brushing teeth!) from the tap. I was split on whether having one night of some of these comforts and being able to see a good friend (Hi Lena!) would make me long to be back home (an emotion I dread right now for more than one reason), or actually recharge my batteries and get me excited for India. I don't actually have a clue what it turned out to be. Maybe that will be clearer later, maybe not.
By the way, I'm writing all this in quite a fog. I really don't know how many time zones we've crossed or what time or date it is anywhere. I do know that we took the flight from Guate City to LA, then LA to Frankfurt, now Frankfurt to Bombay, and eventually Bombay to Bhubaneswar. Our last guess was 30 hours of travel time so far. My watch is still on Guatemala time but I couldn't tell you if it's AM or PM there.
Anyway, despite being a little emotional about leaving Guatemala, I really am excited about India. Let's see what the next chapter of our little adventure brings.
That's all for now. I'm just looking forward to reaching our destination and having some sort of vertical surface to sleep on.
More on India later! Adios!
Leaving Guatemala has me thrown off. I am a mixed bag of emotions. I really think we had embraced the notion that we were living there, not just passing as visitors. We knew the guy in the market who sold good bananas for cheap - he was in the corner by the church. We figured out the seemingly obscure hours of the lavanderia and panaderia. We knew which tortilleria we favored, and where the bank and post office were. The neighborhood dogs seemed to know us. We felt a little like Guatemalans, I think. It's hard to just turn away from that.
Leaving Maya Pedal itself felt a little like leaving home, which was unexpected too. When we were there we were nearly always in good company with the people who work at the shop, friends and family of the shop who stopped by often or came to play soccer with us in the evenings, and of course our fellow volunteers. Saying goodbye to the Maya Pedal staff was particularly sad because we are certain we won't return to Guatemala any time soon, and even if we did, we no longer expect that Maya Pedal as an organization will be alive (I may write more about this later).
So we said a sad goodbye to the physical space of Maya Pedal, too. It has a long history and has housed volunteers like us for at least 15 years. There are little paintings on the walls, a hand-written volunteer manual, a guestbook with fun and weird and inspiring writings. A bookshelf full of books left by others. The reason it felt a little homely was a result of years of others who had come before us and made it that way. I'll miss all that.
We also had made friends with the volunteers at Bici-Tec which is the organization that separated from Maya Pedal a few months back, but remains in Itzapa. Saying goodbye to all of our fellow volunteers was sad,
but somehow we were all certain that our paths would cross again one day. Things tend to work out that way. I realized soon that people at Maya Pedal who had only known for short time we got to know fairly quickly - I suppose that happens when you're always within earshot of each other and share all your meals and the small confinement of a bathroom, workshop, and kitchen. :)
I was split, too, about the one night layover in LA en route to India. The reality is, I miss home. I look at my passport sometimes and get weirdly patriotic, I miss our friends and family, and sometimes I remember the comforts of home like our own bed, walking around barefoot on our carpet and drinking water (and brushing teeth!) from the tap. I was split on whether having one night of some of these comforts and being able to see a good friend (Hi Lena!) would make me long to be back home (an emotion I dread right now for more than one reason), or actually recharge my batteries and get me excited for India. I don't actually have a clue what it turned out to be. Maybe that will be clearer later, maybe not.
By the way, I'm writing all this in quite a fog. I really don't know how many time zones we've crossed or what time or date it is anywhere. I do know that we took the flight from Guate City to LA, then LA to Frankfurt, now Frankfurt to Bombay, and eventually Bombay to Bhubaneswar. Our last guess was 30 hours of travel time so far. My watch is still on Guatemala time but I couldn't tell you if it's AM or PM there.
Anyway, despite being a little emotional about leaving Guatemala, I really am excited about India. Let's see what the next chapter of our little adventure brings.
That's all for now. I'm just looking forward to reaching our destination and having some sort of vertical surface to sleep on.
More on India later! Adios!
How exciting to be starting a new chapter. I can't wait to read about the adventures in India and all of the cool people you meet. Have a blast and come home soon. (that was my selfish side speaking. I miss you!)
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