This purpose of this blog is to share my experiences while working and living in Antigua, Guatemala. Please enjoy!

Friday, May 20, 2011

The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page

Since I've been living in the hostel, we have formed a tight-knit group. Last night we all bought food to barbeque on the upstairs terrace - peppers, mushrooms, onions, corn, zucchini, chicken, steaks - and the Swiss couple (literally the nicest people ever), made a pasta salad and another one with cucumbers, onions, cheese, avocados, and tomatoes. Too good.

I've been so impressed with the amount of traveling this group has done, and feel like no words describe the benefits of doing so more than those of St Augustine. Hearing all of their stories, seeing their pictures, and understanding the global lessons they've learned inspires me to continue adventuring as much as possible. Alluring as world traveling may be, I'm reminded of the advice I got from a young Argentine guy I met when my dad and I were traveling in Mendoza. When I asked him if he'd ever been to the US, he'd said no. It wasn't that he didn't want to, but it was important to him that he got to know his own country before exploring too many others. I thought that was so interesting, especially because I'd never really looked at traveling from that perspective. Since then, a goal of mine is to do a cross country trip around the US, as there are still so many places I've yet to go - Colorado (my sister lives in Denver), Chicago (where my other sister lives), California and all the west basically, the deep south, LOTS. Hopefully I could find a travel companion, take my nice new camera along, and make it a point to do this after my graduation in 2012, before the world ends anyway.

Today some of our group is leaving - Sean is still here for a couple more months, and the Swiss couple is leaving tomorrow. Despite the frustration I feel from losing friends just as quickly as I've found them, I'm reminded that I now have that many more people in my network - friends that no doubt will accommodate me if I were (and hope to!) ever travel to their homelands.

In terms of work, yesterday I started doing some research about other artisan groups Nest had recommended throughout Guatemala. I plan to contact them today and hopefully I can go next week to visit a couple of them to learn first-hand more about them and their products. I'll update a list of some of the groups I plan to visit soon! So far, I'm especially interested in the groups around the Lake Atitlan region. A couple of my friends will be staying in that area as well so hopefully I'll be able to meet up with them, explore the area, and understand the crafts of and develop the connection with these potential new Nest artisans.

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