I arrived in Guatemala two weeks ago, to begin four weeks of immersion-based Spanish instruction. I thought it was prudent to try and learn some Spanish, as the next 5 months would be spent in Spanish-speaking countries...

    This third week of school was spent at the sister school to my school in the city of Xela (pronounced "Shayla"). This smaller outpost is located up in the coffee region in the middle of a hundred-acre Finca. Coffee-beans are growing all around the one-house campus, and I start by morning by grinding beans that grew on the bush outside the window; were roasted in a cinderblock-building 100 yards down the hill, and immersing them in the coffee-sock with water piped up from the creek (and then thoroughly boiled).
    Yeah...people are poor, in terms of paved roads or in-house kitchens, and e-mail is just a fairy tale. But people laugh more in a day than I generally see back home (of course, ALL present company excepted).

    One of my new travel-friends here and I were talking about this while on the bus. Her theory was that people's high spirits had to do with the fact that there is more physical contact with others here than in the states. Since there’s more personal contact, you’re bound to feel more connected to others, and thus more likely to connect about things a laugh a bit. There may be something to that, especially if you just consider the bus-rides themselves:
    You're packed onto a bus seat made for 3rd-graders with at LEAST 3 others. My personal record for one seat is 9 people. And even though you are all smashed up, no one is acting like it's a personal affront. In fact, it's sorta homey. And even walking around on the streets and you are just more often in contact. So maybe there's something to that theory. Try it out: Go hug somebody, and tell me if it works.

    The finca-region is beautiful. Soft, golden light all day, and in the evenings there are great clouds of lightning bugs. It generally rains HARD in the afternoon, and then can clear to a stunning sunset with lightning storms on the horizon and stars peeking out between the thunderheads.

    After a week in the fincas, I hiked up Tajumulco--the tallest peak in Central America, but by a climber’s standards just a domed pile of chaucy-rubble. But it was an absolutely amazing experience…we were blessed with the most phenominal sunrise and cloud-mix I could have hoped for.

    I went with a group of about 15, with an organization based in Xela that uses the money earned through these tourist-treks to fund a school and medical clinic for street-orphans in that city. The guide’s toughest job is dealing with a huge group on the busses, as the climb itself is just a hike. But it makes for a very fun and conscious group of like-minded folks, and it’s a great way to support a very needed program.

    Now, back to Xela…