Jason arrived but his bags did not. I should have known that my friend’s misfortunate happenstance would predict the remaining two weeks of my time in Central America. Rain poured, cab fairs were hiked up, and cell phones were stolen (yet again).
This may sound like a downtrodden end to my summer abroad and away, but despite all of these unlucky instances, it was by far the best summer of my life. In what other time of my life will I be able to say I visited 5 countries, hiked 4 volcanoes, played in 3 waterfalls, toured 2 coffee plantations, and was 1 very very lucky girl. I feel like I can do anything I dream.
Everything was a bit of blur those last two weeks as the clock was racing and I was trying very hard to reach Guatemala City by September 1st. The teacher strike in Honduras did not help and left me and Jason high and dry in San Pedro Sula, a city that only merits about 6 hours (if that) of activity. During our two days there we did catch up on American cinema….
After finally leaving San Pedro Sula, we reached our real destination for Hondruas- Copan. What a lovely little town! Nevermind the number of tourists, what Copan has is beautiful Mayan Ruins that some say are better intact that those in Mexico. It was a neat experience to walk around the Mayan’s temples and their stadium.
Guatemala did not get its deserved attention as I only had just a few days in Antigua before I flew out. But, I did get acquainted with the city which is also another fun town and a hotspot on the tourist route along Central America.
Now that I’m back in the U.S. and back in my office as I write this infact, I’ve had enough time to reflect on the last three months and the many countries and communities I was incredibly lucky to have seen. Wow! A trip like this is difficult to describe in words and often when people ask me about it I kind of look dumbfounded and don’t have much exciting opinions and fascinating tales to offer. It’s not that I don’t have them or didn’t experience earth shaking moments, it’s that words are not quite adequate enough. I would be better off playing a playlist with selections from Thom Yorke, Beethoven’s 9th, and Feist (1…2…3…4… tell me that you love me more….) I came to teach in Panama, but what I received in turn was so much more than a fun volunteer experience.
I will offer this one piece of advice to all you would be travelers, entrepreneurs, volunteers, and risk takers: do it. Just do it.
