Well, guys, I made it here.  Let me just say that it is wonderful to be back.  I like traveling a lot, but I like homecomings even more…and so far this one has been great.

My epic journey started when I left home at 2am yesterday…2 flights, a taxi ride, a 4.5 hour bus ride, and 20 min walk later, I find myself at the same hostal I lived in last summer.  They remembered me!

Okay, I could go on and on about how the supermarket plays bachata nonstop or how Mayan women walk down the streets in typical dress with baskets balanced on their heads and how the microbuses (old dilapidated vans with little boys hanging out the window yelling destinations like “parque parque parqueeee! and rotonda rotonda bolivar rotondaaaa!) will take you anywhere in the city for 1 quetzal (about 15 cents), but let me tell you a bit about the people I’ve met and talked with…

Who: Guatemalan woman next to me on the plane.  Has 2 small children with her, one crying on her lap, one jumping on the seat beside her.  When the stewardess hands out customs forms, the woman explains to her that she cannot read or write.  I fill out the forms for her.  Her little girls are 3 and 4 years old and were born in Georgia.  I look at the woman’s passport to write down her age.  She’s 24, only one year older than I am.

Who: Otto, a Guatemalan gentleman sitting next to me on the bus to Xela.  We talk about pretty much everything, I am questioned as to why I don’t like ceviche and told that I should not miss the markets at Chichicastenango.  I’m so busy chatting, that I almost don’t notice the American man sitting across the aisle…who happens to be Dave, a guy I met at a salsa show last summer!  He’s on his way to Xela after being in the states for the past year…just like me.  Vaya casualidad de la vida!  Talk about coincidences.

I’ve also talked to one of the Quetzaltrekker guides from last year that I knew, gone back to the school to see the kids and teachers (and was promptly put to work taking 5 boys back to the group home…more stressful than it sounds), stopped by to see my old salsa instructors, and randomly walked into a guy I knew from the laundromat last summer.  Like I said, I love homecomings!

Tonight there’s dinner at the QT (Quetzaltrekkers) office with the kids from the group home.  And I’ve also signed up for my first trek with QT, so I’ll leave tomorrow on a 6-day hike through small pueblos in the mountains.  Hooray, Guatemala!

www.quetzaltrekkers.com