My first three weeks in Guatemala have been nothing short of
amazing. The weather is perfect every
single day. The nature is
breath-taking. The people are warm and
welcoming. My colleages are incredibly
helpful and warm. The work climate is
positive and focused on the kids. The
kids are fun and engaging. The ability
to travel virtually every weekend to beautiful locations is intriguing. In short, I love it.
That is
not to say that Guatemala City is some heaven on Earth, in fact, far from
it. The traffic is something that cannot
be described. There are no left turn
here and every road is one way. Often,
to get to a store a block away you would have to drive two miles around a
ravine and following the one way roads.
On campus, the nature is amazing and the air smells like a Florida
morning in spring, but the city as a whole is smoggy. There are seemingly no emission standards for
cars, or if there are, nobody bothers to get them checked. Crime is a major issue here. It’s not rampant, but you have to be aware of
where you are and if it is wise to be walking in that location. We are very fortunate to live in an area
where there are many places that one can walk safely. The wealth gap here is startling. There are some extremely wealthy and so many
living in squalor.
I am
still learning so much about this country and its people, but so far I love
it. Having said that, I also miss my
friends, colleagues and students from Majuro last year. I wish all of them nothing but the best… and
just because I am loving Guatemala doesn’t mean I’m not missing Majuro.
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