I'm here

Man I'm writing a novel here it seems like. Please bear with me, I'm paying to write this. Here's a review of my first week.

The Guatemala City airport is one of the cleanest I've ever been in. Seriously!
Grabbed my enormous bag and headed for the shuttle. No problems there either. It was about 10pm. I checked into my room. It'd been a long day. So you know, the resort I was heading to provided first and last night accommodations in the hotel. (Oh, yeah. Resort you might ask? Momma gave me one of her expiring timeshares to use as a Xmas present. I have mom and Marriott Interval to thank for my first week in Guatemala. The resort is on the Caribbean coast, near Puerto Barrios.)

Morning came and I went down to the business office to figure out how to get to the resort. I reserved a seat on the 2pm bus from CG (Ciudad de Guate). The girl asked me "¿Solo?" and I said yes. She thought it was weird I was there alone and traveling alone but then said it wouldn't matter once I get to Amatique Bay. I walked around the neighborhood a bit and got some lunch.

During the cab ride to the bus station it began to sink in how limited my Spanish is. 5-6h on a bus with Spanish dubbed US movies, I was finally in Puerto Barrios. The landscape from CG to PB goes from desolate arid land to lush green with palms and banana trees. It was also pitch black as we rolled closer to our destination. The tinted windows didn't help, but it was darker than I've seen in a really long time. Immediately, I was bombarded by taxi drivers offering to take me anywhere. The cab driver was very helpful but again I was reminded about how limited my Spanish is. The divide was growing.

I checked in alright into my huge apartment before going for food. I was the only one in the restaurant! It was about 9pm, but it still didn't make any sense why I was the only one there. Me and 5 servers. I ate alone. The loneliness was really starting to set in already. I walked around the resort a bit (I'd bathed in DEET before hand because I didn't know what to expect. Want to read something scary? Read the back of a container of bug spray with DEET) before one of the guards with a shotgun (have I mentioned this yet? No? They're everywhere I've been so far. The guards with shotguns that is. The assault rifles in the airport were one thing. Shotguns outside banks or bus depots, or restaurants is another. Mom and Dad, are you scared yet? Just kidding. HaHa!) helped me find my apartment again. It was scary dark there.

Next morning, I was the only one in the restaurant for my resort priced meal. I was starting to think I'd stepped into a zombie or horror flick. Waiter said (in Spanish mind you cuz that's how I asked) everyone's at "la playa o la piscina". 2 couples there....A grand total of 4 people at the big pool and beach. What the eff?? About now, feelings I've never had before started percolating pretty strongly. I was lonely. I met one of the couples and these feelings subsided some for awhile. They were older and from Bend, OR and really nice. We chatted for a while about a bit of everything. Then I got back in the hammock for a bit longer. I tried to remind myself while I was sitting there that I had to start somewhere, might as well be someplace safe and secure like a resort set up for mostly US peeps. I decided to try to get to PB to buy some food since I had a kitchen and check out the town.

It wasn't trivial getting into town. They have a pretty good racket going there. But, I suppose the place was set up for families and not parties of 1. Again I was reminded about my limited Spanish. I got dropped off at the central market near a grocery store. I got my food for the week loading up my backpack. Remind me to touch on the plastic bags later.

Then I went to the market to look around. Ok. To all of you that have walked around a mall or down the street in the US have a frame of reference for what people's reactions are when I walk by. Not only because of my amazing looks (thank you Mom and Dad), but because of my height. This time, I got the full experience myself. As soon as I stepped out of the cab, people were gawking. Going through the market was over the top. First, there were things hanging way too low for me to get by without ducking at least 6-12in. Guatemalans are short. Really short. Second, people would just stop whatever they were doing and stare. They'd get their friend's attention and talk about me. All eyes were on me. At first it was comical. By the end of my time walking around, I was beginning to feel incredibly awkward. Normally, attention about my height isn't a big deal to me. Statements and questions like "You're really tall" or "How tall are you?" or "Do you play basketball?" are the norm. This was way beyond anything I'd experienced in my life. If this is anything like being a different color in a white man's world, then it feels awful, and I don't think anyone was saying anything derogatory.

I bought a few things, doing my best to haggle in really awful Spanish, but I got out of there feeling pretty good about myself considering.

I went back to the super market to get some leche for cereal, and my fortuitous luck, the cab driver that took me to town was there waiting for 3 Mexican girls (Ciudad de Mejico. Marica Lizette is one of the nicest Mejicanas, let alone women I´ve ever met. These women/girls don´t compare) on holiday, staying at my resort, buying groceries. In the cab, they were full of questions for me asked mostly in Spanish. The questions kind of subsided when they found out I'm 29, and not 19 like the cab driver had told them. For the record, this is the first time I felt any kind of confidence about speaking Spanish. I was thinking great, built in Spanish instructors for the week. Wrong.

This week went by and I started to feel like a prisoner (well as much as I can feel like a prisoner given the fact that I wasn't actually in prison). I spent my time working out, trying to review Spanish from my limited Lonely Planet phrasebook, and planning where I'd go next. This got boring, so I'd watch tv which was either dubbed in Spanish or had Spanish subtitles. I tried to justify watching Law and Order: SVU (which I think is a dumb show but only after you've watched many many many episodes) since it had Spanish subtitles and at least I'd be exposed to the language. Yeah, I could've gone to the beach or the pool, but the beach really wasn't a beach but on a lagoon (real marshy, algae infested water. No white sand beaches or clear blue water like I'd anticipated) and no one would hang out at the pool. I tried to interact with the Mexican girls but they were funny. I couldn't figure out how they operated (they'd speak great English if you're wondering). We'd converse a little about this or that, then nothing. Just walked on by me. I was getting really tired of this scene when Brent and his brother Eric showed up. They were on vacation from Atlanta and they had the same sentiments as me about the resort and the PB area. At least there were other people to talk to now. At this point I also met Federico and his wife Eliana (they're originally from Columbia but live and work in Tampa, small world) through the couple from Bend, OR (whose names I don´t remember now). Too bad I didn't meet them earlier because they and the Bend couple all went to Livingston and up toward Rio Dulce which I would learn later are really very nice.

Right now, I'm beginning to doubt myself about taking this trip and wondering what I'm doing here. Being lonely is kicking my ass. Too much time to think and not enough time doing things. The week is ending though, and I'm ready to see some shit. I heading to Flores tomorrow to see Tikal. The largest Mayan city in all of the Mayan "country". Don't worry. I'm sure it'll get better.