So Friday was Charlie`s last day at Familias de Esperanza. We met up for drinks later that night.
Drinks
And I guess even without the full blown beard I`ve managed to maintain my scrubby bum-like appearance. While we were walking around, we saw a group of volunteers that had helped at the organization for a week or so. “Brian, you shaved!”. And these people had not seen my beard, they were talking about my 5 o`clock shadow that I had let go for a bit too long…
Want to feel 10 years younger? Grow a beard for 3 months and then impulsively shave it off one night.
Photos to come….
So due to popular demand I have uploaded a few pictures of myself.
Before (Jan 18 2009)
Now (Feb 25 2009)
My time here in Guatemala has really had a profound impact on me as a person. After more than a month of camioneta rides, mariachi music, and constant Spanish, I feel much more at home here. In a very short time I feel that I have been able to adapt to the people and their culture. I also consider myself to be much more of a seasoned traveler. I am tougher, more aware, and a bit more street-smart.
So I went back to Guatemala city (via comioneta/”chicken bus”) for the weekend. To my dismay, upon arriving, Marti informed me that I would be getting a haircut with her son Giovanni on Saturday. Rather than turning down the offer, I felt that it was maybe necessary to tame the twirlygigs that had begun to form at the base of my future mane. Although this has seriously set me back with my hopes of attaining the super beard of a beatnik vagabond, I feel it is sometimes necessary to take one step backward to go two steps forward…
Saturday came as a very busy day. It began with helping Giovanni and Tono assemble a complicated desk (without directions). This proved to be a good test for newly learned vocabulary (above, on top of, below, etc). After desk assembly, I drove around town with Marti and Carlos running some errands. While driving back, Marti and Carlos asked me if I would like to go to a fiesta. To this I replied, “Si… cuando?”. “Ahora” they said. Giovanni and his wife were basically ready to leave back at the house. They then asked me if I had nice clothes… Of course I did not. I ended up wearing Carlos´s. The shoes were a bigger problem since nobody in the entire country of Guatemala has a size 10 or 11. I ended up using Giovanni´s father in law´s. They were a ·tight· fit, but did the trick. Everything besides the shoes and sportcoat fit well (if I stretched my arms out in front of me, the cuffs of the shirt would pass the sleeve of the sportcoat by about 3 inches).
The fiesta turned out to be a wedding at one of the nicest Hotels in Guatemala. The driveway for the hotel alone snaked up a mountain next to Antigua for (literally) 2 kilometers. The road alone was beautiful and the view was accentuated by a guard with a shotgun.
The hotel was nice and the view of Antigua wasn´t too bad either
There ended up being alot of people at the party
There also ended up being alot of people Dancing and Dancing (click)
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nb1dYwisA9M[/youtube]
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBoUk2Re3Ps[/youtube]
Needless to say, my dance “skills” are pretty weak, even when aided by the powers of alcohol. The moment the music started, it became very apparent to me that I will need to work on the dance moves. Learning to dance has now become a priority that is 2nd only to learning spanish (and probably getting a job). I was also told that a pair of new (dance) shoes is a must since there are so many fiestas in Guatemala.