Las pequeñas cosas

¡Buenas tardes, todos! It has been a crazy, exhausting, exciting week in Guatemala, and it seems like yesterday I was writing my last post (my room, in the mean-time, has changed from all yellow to yellow, blue, and purple). In the past week, I visited the most beautiful lake I have ever seen, passed through my first level of ‘intermediate’ Spanish, and did my first-ever headstand (without any help!).  

My first-ever honey stick! I had no idea these little tubes of deliciousness existed. Yummm.

Since my last update of finally feeling like ‘me’ when I speak in Spanish, I have had some good days and some bad days. Half of the time, I feel like I can say anything I want to express, and other times I feel like I need to glue my Spanish-English dictionary to my hand. However, I have had a few more moments of great Spanish conversation, and like my good friend Mike reminded me, I am making progress  poco a poco (little by little).

I started with a new Spanish teacher this week, Jose Carlos, and I really like him! I am continually amazed by the quality of teachers they have at the Spanish school, and it is nice to switch every couple of weeks to experience some different teaching styles. I’m now on Nivel Intermedio II (Intermediate II), and will be starting the most intimidating part of Spanish, the subjunctive, in a couple of weeks.

This weekend, our group took a trip to Lake Atitlan in the mountains. And, all exaggerations aside, it was one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. After a three-hour ride through curvy, bumpy roads on a “chicken bus” (how they got this name is debated, but it is essentially an old school bus with a lot of character), we arrived in one of the twelve pueblos (towns) that surround the enormous lake. We got to know the boat taxis (lanchas) that shuffle people between towns pretty well as we visited four of the pueblos in three days. In addition to relaxing a bit, sleeping in a tree house, and zip lining through the jungle, we volunteered at a hospital for a few hours to help them prepare an outdoor area for grass. The weekend flew by, and our busy schedule caught up to us on the bus ride back Sunday night: everyone was asleep most of the way!

During sunrise on Sunday morning at the lake, we saw a rainbow that looked like it was literally 'erupting' from a volcano. The picture doesn't begin to do it justice! 

I usually find one experience throughout the week especially impactful, and this week was no different. I would have never guessed this week’s moment though:

It happened at yoga.

Yoga is not my thing. Don’t get me wrong, I really enjoy it and have found it to be a nice way to start out a couple mornings each week down here. However, it is not something that comes easily or naturally. As I watch the instructor bend in ways that I didn’t know the human body was capable of doing, sometimes it is easy to get discouraged. But, I have a good group of friends here that go regularly, and I enjoy the company and the challenge. I have been improving lately, evidenced by my new-found ability to touch my toes. But last Thursday, I did something I never expected I would be able to do: I did a full-on headstand, without any help from a person or wall, in front of the entire class.

I felt more satisfaction in this small moment than I have felt in a long time, especially as I struggle to learn Spanish and adjust to life in a new place. The last six weeks have brought a lot of challenges, and my headstand at yoga reminded me how important and healthy it is to recognize the small accomplishments, like conjugating a verb correctly. Or understanding a microbus route for the first time. Or not getting lost on the way home. I realized that life instantly gets richer when you aren’t afraid to recognize the small successes that might seem dorky or unimportant. When it comes down to it, the human body and life alone are some pretty incredible things, and I think that and the small accomplishments deserve more attention than we often give them.

Part of our zip-lining adventure in the jungle at Lake Atitlan. 

And with that, I’m off to watch a highly-anticipated Super Chivos (Xela’s soccer team) game against our rivals from Mexico. Vamos!

Hasta próxima vez,

Nico