Author: Sydney Forte

I am on a flight back to the United States as I write this final blog post. I’m glad I was able to take part in this program, and sad to see it end.

I’ve stated this before, but initially I was a bit scared of how this trip would go for me. It would be  a long time away from family, and I was worried it might be difficult to get the emotional support and comfort that I normally count on from them when I am down or lonely.  All of you were so kind and friendly toward me, giving me what I needed to get through this trip, and for that, I am really grateful.  I wouldn’t have had as much fun as I did without you guys!  There were so many things I liked about this trip!  It is difficult for me to choose any one thing over others, but regardless, I’ll try to share a few of my favorites here.

First off, there was all the animals in Guatemala and Belize!  I know you guys probably noticed me taking a lot of pictures of stray dogs as we visited places, but that isn’t what I’m talking about.  Instead, I want to focus on the bevy of species that inhabit both Guatemala and Belize.  There are too many to list, and I loved observing them in their natural habitats, as opposed to more artificial ones erected in places like zoos. If one were to take an animal like the nurse shark, or the keel-billed toucan from their natural environment, it might be that the new environment that they are placed in would not cater to the individual needs (i.e. diet specifications, shelter) of their species quite as well.

In regard to the environment, I’m glad that Guatemala and Belize are not as urban or industrialized as you see in bigger countries like America or China. If Guatemala or Belize were to go down the path of more industrialized countries, it could spell calamity for the biodiversity of the region.  Not only would there be fewer spots for the animals and plants to inhabit, it would also cause their food sources (as in other animals or plants) to be killed off as well, leading to even more destruction of valued species.  In this era of rapidly growing population, rapid modernization, evolving technology, it’s reassuring to know that not everyone has forgot about the beauty and importance of the all of these species that we share our world with, and that these people strive to maintain it.

I also really appreciated the pace at which life went at in Guatemala and Belize. It’s very different from what I’m used to in America!  While I am reviewing a mental list of things I need to do and places I need to go on a near-constant basis at home in America, I found myself doing considerably less of that while in Guatemala and Belize.  Even though I still made myself set aside time to do more mundane things such as assignments or taking my clothes to the laundromat, my scheduling and deadlines felt a lot more flexible.  If there was something that I failed to accomplish on a given day, it seemed like I felt less guilty than would normally be the case, and I was able to more quickly make peace with the fact that I could just get back to whatever needed to be done tomorrow. From this, it became more apparent that while getting things accomplished and meeting deadlines are important, it isn’t the end of the world if I end up falling short sometimes. While I may still feel some anxiety about not being where I want to be in some aspect of my life, that feeling is only temporary, and life has a funny way of working itself out in the end.  If I just slow down once in a while, it not only helps me see the big picture of what is going on in my life at a given point, but also gives me time to make new observations and pick up insights that I might not notice otherwise. While it is hard to say whether these new observations and insights will help me achieve goals I am working toward at the time, who knows?   Maybe instead they will lead me down a completely different path where I might achieve even more than I had originally hoped for while doing that rushing thing.

Before going on this program, I had heard that studying abroad could be a life-changing experience. Now that I have experienced this trip, I would say I agree 100%.  By studying abroad, you are able to not only experience a whole slew of places you hadn’t previously, but also form new viewpoints that occur to you only by being outside your normal sphere.  While I wasn’t sure I would be comfortable with this program at first, I know now that I shouldn’t have worried. This was an amazing eye-opening experience for me, and I feel like it’s going to impact me as a person for a long time to come.

Hey guys! I can’t believe that we are halfway through this program, time sure flies!  It’s really difficult to get to ALL the many experiences I’ve had here in Guatemala, but I’ll try to at least get through some highlights!

The first weekend we were here, I stuck around Antigua, and didn’t do much except settle in and get comfortable. This was nice because it allowed me time to adjust to completely different surroundings than where I had been just a week before.   As you all know, however, there was an awful eruption at Volcan de Fuego that Sunday.  When the eruption occurred, I honestly thought little of what was happening, or how things looked outside.  I had become accustomed to frequent popping noises outside, and given the dark skies and the fact that it had rained on a near-daily basis since we arrived, I figured it was just another storm.  However, I quickly became wary when the “rain” hitting the roof sounded more like hail, and it was difficult to see outside my window.  My homestay mother explained there was a volcanic eruption, and ash was raining down as a result.  She didn’t seem too concerned with what was occurring though, so I was under the impression that it wasn’t that big of a deal and that I was in no immediate danger. I didn’t come to the full realization of how bad the eruption was until I saw international news reports coming out about it roughly six hours later.

  

While I sympathize with anyone who endures any natural disaster anywhere, I think that actually being near this disaster zone, and experiencing or suffering its repercussions, is entirely different.  After the eruption occurred, I couldn’t help but think about what could have happened had I gone hiking up near Volcan de Fuego that weekend. Because of my proximity, I felt more impacted by this event than by other natural disasters that I see all the time on the news.  I was grateful that I was situated where the volcano didn’t pose an immediate danger, and that I didn’t have to experience the trauma that so many others had to go through.  I also felt more obligated to do something to help those who had suffered.  I bought a couple of items (toothpaste, canned food) to send to those who were left much worse off from the volcano.  I have to admit that if I had been in the United States when this happened, I may have done nothing to help (though I’m not a bad person, promise!).  But this situation made me more likely to want to try to help people whenever and wherever they may be suffering, because obviously these kind of national disasters can happen to anyone at any time, even to me.  And I would want people helping me!

Another highlight of this program was the trip we took to Lake Atitlan two weekends ago. There were so many different experiences I enjoyed during that trip!

While it may seem weird, one of my favorite parts of this trip was the beauty we came upon as we arrived to Panajachel and the surrounding areas.  I think that areas with bodies of water are always beautiful (even though we were told that the water here was kind of gross!) and the view here did not disappoint!  I also really liked the boat rides we took every day from Panajachel to different cities.  While I was a little nervous on the boats at first (a subconscious fear of the boat sinking), that was soon replaced as I came to appreciate the feeling of not being able to predict what would happen while on the boat.  It was fun to experience things that I didn’t expect –like the boat hitting a wave and causing it to jump mid-air for a few seconds!  I also got a lot of enjoyment looking at the surrounding scenery while riding the boat.  As someone who has lived in Austin her entire life, I don’t see massive mountains and volcanoes in the background of my city too much, so I find their grandeur to be simply awesome.  It seems almost as if these towns and cities are at the mercy of these mountains and volcanoes as they display their true power, and at the mercy of the dominance of nature.

I also found I really appreciated the strong connections that these towns and the people we met (including in Antigua) have to their past.  Back home in the United States, the hectic pace that life runs at makes it seem that the past is hardly thought about, and doesn’t especially impact our daily lives.  I personally like to reminisce about the past, it gives me context for my life.  It helps me to see what others have done in the past or what I’ve done in the past, and how far we’ve all come.   I feel glad knowing that there are people and places that like me value their history.  Here I’ve seen I’m not the only one who feels tied to the past, sees it as a part of who they are, and actively uses and learns from it as they move into the future.