Another random day in Guatemala

 I know I have been back for a week and I still haven't posted a non vacation post. It totally amazes me how long it takes you to recover from your vacation. My body is still recovering. I seem to be tired all the time and I just cant seem to get very motivated to do much. But this week I think will be better so I can resume my real life posts. But until then enjoy another post from my vacation complete with more pictures.


OK so at day three in Guatemala here are a few things I have already learned.

1 this city was so not made for people who are super klutzy. All it is cobble stones and dirt roads and huge gigantic holes in the streets and sidewalks, which are already totally unleveled and sometimes so loose that the second you take a step it totally gives out. So if you are not paying even the slightest bit of attention to where you walk you will fall. In the first three days I have already totally fallen over like 6 times I have skinned both knees and torn a hole in my favorite jeans.  I turned both my ankles already and once I fell forward so hard into a wall that I can’t lift my shoulder up above my head with out excruciating pain because I had to brace myself to not fall so unexpectedly.  Oh and if having to watch the crazy pot holed streets wasn’t work enough, then they throw on these crazy iron bars along the sides of  all the buildings and windows, that seriously are perfect head level and seem made for having your head run into. So I have a huge egg on the side of my head from running in to one of them sadly more then once already.  And it’s only been three days, that a pretty good record for even my level of clumsiness.

I hate seeing all the stupid wild dogs around. Ok this one is hard for me because I came here knowing that this is how countries like this view pets and I came expecting that this is what I was going to see. But being in the middle of it all, I just want to cry every time I see one come limping by me. Because I know that in some other place in the world it would have such a different life.  It a strange thing when you see dogs, cattle, and horses on the sides of the road picking apart garbage and eating it. Or when you see a pack of wild dogs turn on each other and attack on f its own because I bet they haven’t eaten in forever and that was the only choice they have.  Oh and yes that is what I ended up seeing today and it was horrible and I never want to see it again.  Its ad knowing that millions of these animals get hit by cars or develop tumors of cancer and never in any of it get to experience what having a real home would be like. I mean I know that I am in the vet field and I know that in the US we do above and beyond for our pets and I know that so many other countries view us as the stupid ones for being this was with animals. But I can’t help but feel a lot of sadness that these poor animals don’t get to dream about having a better life. They just deal with the crappy card they were dealt and that’s all.

How come people don’t die more here either? Ok so seriously I have almost been run over while just walking around on foot. I mean nobody wears a seatbelt and seriously the driving is so insane. Its also seems like the best and easiest way to get around in this town is by motorcycle and you can bet that no one wears a helmet. Heck I see these tiny kids on the back of these bikes weaving crazily through traffic that are so young they can hardly grasp the driver.  No seriously it’s totally insane and I mean I feel like more then once I could easily have been ht by something or seen one of these random kids fall off something and get killed. How come it doesn’t happen more?  I mean in the US people die all the time from not wearing seatbelts and we go out and pass a huge law and spend a million bucks to plaster the country with that lame “click it or ticket” motto. I mean why haven’t people done that here yet? If anyone needs a seatbelt and helmet law its crazy ass central and South American countries. Guess what they are also not wearing a helmet. Oh and also here the women totally carry shit around in huge baskets on the top of their heads. I mean where is my mom when you need her? How come they don’t seem more traumatic neck injuries? Are Guatemalans just born with thicker neck muscles and a better since of balance for motorcycles? Must be.

Not speaking Spanish sucks huge ass, but being with three other people who do speak fluent Spanish sucks ass even more. I mean if it was me by myself I think I would be forced to ask more if they speak English. But since I am surrounded by Spanish speakers, then I feel so retarded having to be the only lame non speaking one, so I try to just make due. But it’s annoying because I don’t know who I should ask for about the translation. I could ask my aunt or her friends that are right here, although if I had been alone I would have just asked the people in the store if they speak English, so I’m torn in which direction I should go. But what I find weird and probably totally unreasonable is that part of me kind of feels like maybe my aunt should speak more in English so that I am not so left out, although I don’t think its fair to think that way either. It’s not her fault that I don’t know anything about the language of the foreign country I chose to come on vacation in.  I guess the thing is this is that stuff I was talking about where I have to start to challenge and push myself. I just have to step out of my comfort zone and be like “habla English?” And if they say “no” then not freak out and not depend on the three women around me who do speak the language to translate for me. But instead just suck it up and figure it out on my own. I will probable get to that point but for now I am timidly breaking out of my aunt’s wing and coming into my own.  Just wait until I am returning home I bet I’ll be a Spanish speaking fool.

This day we took a trip to a cool lake a little bit out of the city and spent a few nights in the town. On the way there we stopped for lunch at this amazing hotel with these huge gardens and birds all around. That's where the pictures are from. It was a awesome place and so pretty.

Grapefruit tree!!

 One of the famous temples we visited  on the way there

Look at this view

The grounds were so pretty

There were birds just loose and chilling all around

You could take a boat out on the lake

Or get in by Helicopter cause it had a heili-pad.

Its so hot I wish I could have swam in this pool.

that's the hotel in its own little lakeside valley