My parents have been set loose in Guatemala until Thursday.
Warn the policía.
Kidding. We had a good time, especially at Tikal. Last Tuesday, I chicken bussed it all the way
to Guatemala City to meet up with them (cost me all of $4 for the three hour
ride, but the downside is the muscle soreness that comes from holding on for
dear life the whole time), and we flew to a town called Flores and stayed the
night there. We left to see the ruins in the morning, and we thought we were
just hopping on a shuttle there, but it turned out that there was a tour guide
coming with us and we could choose to go off on our own or take a tour of the
park. We decided on the tour, to get some history out of it.
It was a great decision because our tour guide, Samuel, grew
up in what is now the park area, and so he knew all the jungle trails and
shortcuts, which allowed for us to see way more wildlife than we ever expected.
Spider monkeys, anteaters (and anteater babies!), toucans, wild parrots, and
lots of other cool birds. We even came across a tarantula on a tree near one of
the ruins, and Samuel thought it’d be cool to put it on my neck, as he’s
telling us about how they can smell your adrenaline levels when you get nervous
or scared. Which then started a little feedback loop in my brain because I
started getting nervous about trying not to get nervous, which is difficult
when a giant spider with fangs is inching closer and closer to your jugular
vein. My dad tried it on for size too. I think it liked his jungle shirt I got
for him in Africa because it seemed like it wanted to just hang out there for a
while.
As for the ruins—amazing. We were able to climb some of
them, and the views were incredible. And I think Mayan history is super interesting.
The amount of stuff they knew about astronomy back then was insane. And of
course, only god knows how they were able to build those temples back then. The mysteriousness of it all is what makes it so interesting. So
I’m really glad I had the chance to go there with my parents. And we met some
nice people on our tour from California and England—most of their names escape
my memory except for Captain John, the 76 year old boat captain, but my mom
aptly nicknamed the British people Kiera Knightly, Captain Underpants, and
Blondie. Not to their faces, of course... but they were all really nice, and for some reason all really wanted to be
best friends with my dad.
Having my parents visit Pana was fun too, although with all
of us staying in one room…as the Guatemalans would say, “el huésped y el pes
hieden al tercer día.” (Again, kidding. I learned that from my Spanish teacher
yesterday and wanted to use it.)
They explored Pana on Friday while I was having a nutso day
at work trying to catch up from 3 days of being gone, and then over the weekend
we went to the nature reserve in Pana and then went to San Juan, San Pedro, and
Santiago on Sunday. It was nice seeing San Juan and San Pedro because I hadn’t
gotten over there yet. San Juan is very quiet and quaint, and we got to see a
little bit of their Corpus Christi procession through the streets, which was
cool. San Pedro is a little bit more touristy than San Juan. It’s a lot like
Pana, in that it’s where a ton of foreigners hang out and there’s apparently a
big nightlife scene there. We went there for lunch, and then it started pouring
while we were there but we had to get back to the boat, and then we went to
Santiago in the monsoon-like weather while everyone else was running for
shelter. We eventually got back to Pana soaking wet and cold, but it was a nice
day nonetheless. Mom and Dad left on Monday for Antigua, and are heading home
on Thursday. It was really nice seeing family, although we were of course
missing Stephie, and were wishing she could have come too.
Since they left, fun things have happened. Like, I found out
there are rats in my apartment. I knew $65 a month was way too good to be true.
Monday night I heard something outside my door, like a bag
rustling, and I brushed it off thinking it was the wind or I imagined it or
something. I came out of my room not long after and found my loaf of bread had
a chunk bitten out of it, right through the plastic. I assumed it must have
been the dog downstairs (Chino) sneaking up into my apartment, because he’s
done that before, and he’s eaten two of my dish sponges since I’ve moved in, so
I wouldn’t put it past him to eat my bread. I went downstairs to see if the
door was open from him coming upstairs, but it was shut completely. I hoped that maybe it still could
have been Chino, and my neighbors just shut the door for me. Wishful thinking. I left
the bread out on the table during the day yesterday to test my theory, and made
sure the door was locked and there was no way Chino could get upstairs.
I came home to half of the loaf of bread gone. With bite marks
all over it. I told my neighbors, and they think it’s probably rats or an
opossum or something. I considered calling Karyn to see if she’d let me stay at her place, but I thought about it and I don’t think there’s any way those little
bitches can get into my room. I just have to start keeping my food only in my
room and in the fridge where they can’t get at it and always keep the door to
my room shut and I think I’ll be fine. I’m just grossed out that they were on
my table/counter. Going to start bleaching that regularly.
Also, the rats came right on cue right after my roommate
left for a month. I guess they didn’t want me to be lonely? I’m calling my
landlord today to see if he can help me with this problem, otherwise I’m trying
to decide if this is a problem worth moving out over. There’s a room available
at the house where two of my coworkers live, but it’s just that this place
saves me so much money that I can’t wrap my head around paying twice as much if
I move in to their house. And electricity and internet on top of that. It’s
still very cheap compared to rent in the US, but keep in mind they don’t pay me
here and I have yet to find a job for when I return home to calm my anxiety
about running out of money. So until that happens, I might just stay here with
my new furry roommates.
…ughhh.
No comments:
Post a Comment