I've settled into an Airbnb space in the village of Santa Catarina Barahona, about 20 minutes southwest of Antigua. Being out in a village makes time in Antigua fun and exciting. Sometimes I get off the bus there and feel like a kid arriving in Disneyland. If I had accommodations there, it would all get a little old due to how hectic and congested it can get with Guatemalans and visitors alike crowding the streets and sidewalks.
This is not meant to be the kind of travel writing that's all about amazing adventures and fascinating encounters with the "natives", or finding a new romantic "love interest". This is more about moving into a new space and finding it has no windows or that a cold spell means there's not much to do in the morning besides read under the covers. It's these moments where a kind of deconstruction of how we come to judge things happens, and I've found it leads to empowerment .
It's about those moments of disconnection (that feeling of being away from all that's familiar and unable to fit into what's happening in the immediate environment ) being flushed away by the way small interactions with the locals reconnect you to the human experience and who you-in-particular are. I suppose many people would run from this experience, but I see it as a way to more fully experience the miracle of my presence on the planet as a human being.
I occasionally reflect on how challenging experiences get integrated into the perspective I take on experiences that follow. "Oh, I've been here before..." And that creates a huge sense of capability.
As the seeking of positive experiences prepares the brain for a better future, so too does accepting challenge result in higher chances that future exciting opportunities will be embraced, at least in my case where I have a tendency to avoid over-stimulation.
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Countries with undeveloped infrastructure, like Guatemala, often don't and can't maintain natural areas for recreational purposes. This means if you want nature you have to risk going into areas that may be unsafe or go to private areas where there is always a cost to enter. There are two of these areas in the vicinity of Guatemala where I can go to hike/run, and each one charges around $8 USD. This isn't a lot of money. It's not like paying $20 as some U.S. national parks do, but when you consider that open space can be so easy to access for absolutely nothing, it can seem like a lot. Just to be somewhere free of traffic and concrete requires a monetary payment.
One option for being in nature is the beach. Guatemala has a beach along the Pacific Coast, and so I've reserved a three-night stay in a popular destination for surfers called El Pardeon, where I can dally along and watch/listen to the waves. It's around a 3 hour drive depending on traffic. Of course dashing into the waves will happen as well. Only four more days til then...
I encountered two hikers (not together) a male and female, on a recent outing. The young woman had just returned from a two hour one-way hike alone up a mountainside and said it wasn't too rough. I'll probably look for company before I do that! Sometimes I encounter these young women travelers and remember my first trip here in the 90s. I wasn't that young, but certainly in spirit I was. I wonder if people find each other the way we did in pre-internet times. It was soooo much better then. We'd talk about our lives with no distractions, no messages, feeds, notifications, or headlines. Now, it seems people turn away from face to face interactions with the people they're present with and escape into their digital lives. It's quite a phenomenon.
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Recently, the 2005 Prius that Lyrica and/or I have driven since 2011 was officially junked. It's the car Lyrica's dad did the initial financing for back in 2011, which we then paid off together. Then it became Lyrica's when she started college. The refurbished hybrid battery she and Keanu installed is shot and it makes no sense to replace it in a car that old, with that many miles. I fell into a big cloud of sorrow. That's the joy, honestly, to go with what ever comes up without judging. To ride it out, to get up and keep on when you feel like it, not when others or the experts say you should.
This makes going back to the States and re-establishing a residence of my own more challenging. I'm not quite prepared to say I want to deal with all that's going on there. It feels great to be removed from it!
Occasionally I imagine what time with a close friend or cousin would be like here. It would be fun, awesome, relaxing. I challenge anyone to come have a most memorable adventure!
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These pics are from a nature preserve and from just outside the Airbnb I recently went for a few days of refreshment-
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