Learning Spanish

The Traverse and the Reunions: Returning to Ketchikan (2)

July 23, 2019July 23, 2019 First Person ForeignAlaska

“Alaska lulled me here on some sort of fantasy.” I thought as I ran up and down the hills of the residential streets. I pushed myself to scale them because I am trying to keep[…]

Living on the Border 3: Soy libre / I am free

July 3, 2019July 3, 2019 First Person ForeignBeauty

I didn’t even see it coming. I never know how I am going to feel as I turn left into the parking lot of the Benedictine Monastery with not a cloud in the sky. With[…]

Ready or not, USA (1)

April 26, 2019April 28, 2019 First Person ForeignChanges

Now, I imagined this day a million ways (my departure) and none of them could have prepared me for what it actually was. Dropped off by friends, then up ’til the last second in the[…]

TOURING GUATEMALA (2): 2 Forgotten Gringas, Little Caesar, Treasures of Tikal and Tuc-Tuc Traffic

April 15, 2019April 19, 2019 First Person ForeignBeauty

In Flores, we woke up at 4:15am for our 4:30 bus and, de hecho, we were outside at 4:33am in the dark. It’s hard with la hora chapina to know if 4:30 is 4:30 or[…]

T-Minus Guatemala (Peace Corps Ending): Ringing That Bell

April 10, 2019April 10, 2019 First Person ForeignChanges

I’ve imagined the bell-ringing since the third week of service. An RPCV (return Peace Corps Volunteer) finished her service as we were starting ours, and she had a ceremony and she was kind enough to[…]

T-minus Guatemala (Peace Corps Ending): The Wednesday Takes It All

March 24, 2019March 26, 2019 First Person ForeignChanges

On Tuesday night, I couldn’t sleep. A mac track of tasks hit me: packing for a travel day the next day, packing for leaving forever, plus all the work I had to do tomorrow. All[…]

T-Minus Guatemala (Peace Corps Ending): A Double-Feature, My Last Work Monday and Tuesday

March 24, 2019March 24, 2019 First Person ForeignChanges

Dios Mío. There aren’t other words. But this is a blog, so there are. On my second-to-last Monday in site (the 18th) I got myself out of bed, showered, coffee-powered and out the door to[…]

T-Minus Guatemala (Peace Corps Ending): Translating For The Master Stylist

March 21, 2019March 22, 2019 First Person ForeignBeauty

On our last day, our group of 16 stood in a large circle while the youth gave us palabras de agradecimiento. They also gave each one of us Estadounidenses little gifts to take home, recuerdos[…]

T-Minus Guatemala (Peace Corps Ending): Taking My Chances on the Border of Guatemala at the Border of Service (3)

March 14, 2019March 18, 2019 First Person ForeignCompany

On the third day of my adventure to Huehuetenango at the border of Mexico, I woke up in a desert heat in a house of polite and friendly strangers-becoming-friends. It was Monday morning. In a[…]

T-Minus Guatemala (Peace Corps Ending): Lunes sin luces

March 6, 2019March 6, 2019 First Person ForeignChanges

I woke up in enough time to get dressed and go to morning school. I already felt the lethargy heavy on my eyelids but I kept going. I figure, every step I take is a[…]