End of story

I figured it is only right to finish this story with a picture of mine:

This picture was taken with the help of my Spanish friend Alfonso. The person sitting there is me, and behind me is the village of Yalambojoch, seen from top of the centre where I lived and worked for a month. It was taken just a few days before my long return home.

The trip back went very well, and was in itself a very short yet incredibly exciting adventure. Thanks to my Spanish skills and Barcelona-inspired spontanity I met loads of interesting people while I visited, after in-between sleeping in Huehue, the more tourist-filled places of Panajachel and Antigua, enjoying coffee after coffee and fantastic, luxurious and varying meals. And then I flew home without losing one single thing in my heavy luggage, arriving at Stockholm safely and happily for finally being home.

As any more details of this would sort of ruin the point of this voluntary blog, that is all I will be writing about that. The point I most of all want to make is that this adventure was even more than I expected - fluent Spanish, spontaneity, discipline, teaching, just to mention a few things I have gained from it, accompanied with loads of excitement and new knowledge and understanding about these fascinating cultures of Central America. Truly worth more than I expected. And, like I believe I mentioned before doing the trip, truly the trip of my life.

Now, though, it's time to finally take a deserved break. I hope you've enjoyed reading my blog, and I hope you've also gained something from it, whether it be knowledge or just some fun.

Oh, and always, feel free to contact me if you're wondering anything!
Ciao,
/Sebastian Everett

Last few hours...

This is it. First of august European time, took my last cold shower here (quite comfortable now that I'm used to it!), and in only a few hours I will be on the bus to Huehuetenango. All my voluntary work is finally finished, and soon I will be enjoying visiting a lake called titlan-something (I didn't hear the name very clearly when they spoke it) and another place called Antigua before my flight home. If all goes well with the schedule and such, that is.

Having the last lesson of computing today was very special. It went great, I think, as I found a website with exercises for the three lone students that could come this last weekend. Although in the end they were so tired that we skipped the last one and a half hour after lunch, and I took some photos together with them as a memory. Right after that they gave me a really touching goodbye, thanking me personally for the things I've taught them.

Except for the sad part of leaving all the friendly people here though I feel quite happy to soon be on my way home, and of course relieved to get a real vacation from the hard work. Eleven hours of computing every weekend and a class of teenagers in music, all in Spanish, is really exhausting. So I'm looking forward to two more weeks of chill relaxing, gaming and hanging out with friends. And bragging about my trip to everyone, of course!

Now, off to the last part of my great adventure.

11 - Saying goodbye to Yalambojoch

Once again it is night. Even later than before, and I got lots to do tomorrow. But this might be one of the last, if not the last, update I will be writing here in Guatemala, because after this weekend I will be going from one place to another all week until taking the plane back to Sweden.

I've been partying around a bit since yesterday with the people I've met here, as the teachers of the school went home for the weekend. We had a really great meal, and after some fixing of computers I managed to get some music going from Rosa's (one of the Spaniards) USB. After “dancing” a bit on the kitchen floor they asked (ordered) me to sing some songs with my guitar, and managed to play at least one out of two songs pretty well. Got Alfonso to dance as well!

And today, after having my last lesson with my private student, Pascual, he showed us (after I had asked him to earlier this week), a local band which played in one of the churches. It is so that the bands here seem to always play in churches, and I also think every church has its own band. Pretty funny. Anyhow, we had a great time there, and I got to play some guitar as well with the band which was quite fun. They seemed really impressed by my guitar and gathered around it after the show, and were pretty amazed when I told them the price I paid for it in Sweden. And, well, it's actually a pretty cheap guitar, but I guess they don't have many guitar shops here.

After the concert (or whatever it was), Pascual helped me find the way back home as it was really dark and I didn't have a flash light. And, after the drunkard that had followed us said goodbye, I took farewell of my student. It was quite a sad moment, as you might imagine, since I don't know when or even if I will be coming back here. Not at all like it was in Peru, where it had not been as personal. Also when I said goodbye to the Spaniards I felt like I'm really going to miss this place, even just after a month. Inside it feels like I've been here longer, and the last two weeks seem like months.

To be honest, Sweden feels like a completely different world from here. I simply cannot imagine myself being in Stockholm right now, with all the stressed up people, all the luxurious materialistic stuff. All the safety. And good foods. It feels like that part of me is in another life, unknowing about places like these. Which I guess is a bit true, considering the difference in time, and the fact that I've learned so much here – from washing clothes by hand to planning lessons, from cooking Spanish tortillas to learning Chuj culture, and in between it all a lot of Spanish practising. And lots more, surely making this the trip full of life-experience that I had hoped for. To say the least.

So now, we'll see how long it will take until I can mentally land in Stockholm. Probably I will be flying around in the air long after my physical body has arrived into the city life again. I just hope the silent, Swedish bus drivers won't be mad if I start saying “Buenos días!” every time I step on.

Good night!

10 - Night time writing

It's night at the moment, I'm lying on my bed writing before I go to sleep. Figured I need to catch one of these moments in text.

It is an unusually quiet night. Almost every time there has been some music playing down in the village somewhere, making me crazy with its melodies and rhythms that so easily get stuck into my head. All that I hear now from outside are the dogs on the “street” (dirt road) barking at each other as if having some war of sorts, and the insects. Usually I hear frogs, but it hasn't rained for two or three nights straight (WOW!) so I guess they are waiting for water.

I've been thinking about if I like it here or not. Thing is, it varies a bit. One day I might feel like staying even longer here, and the other day I find myself staring at my calendar counting the days that I will get back to my safe home in Stockholm. And actually, I have an idea why.
Once the Spaniards got me talking a bit more and acting less like a Stockholmer, I seemed to truly enjoy the spirit of this village. I mean, obviously it doesn't have all the luxuries of home, and the safety might not always be the greatest, so that part doesn't make it any better. However, every time I walk down to the village, or even around the centre, there is always someone to greet and be greeted by Every time I stay at the centre, when the Spaniards are home, I have someone friendly to talk to, and without much difficulty understanding each other at all – given enough time, of course. And also, what happened this past weekend was that I realized that the students learning computers are actually more grateful than what they first seemed. After teaching them how to use email and Skype, I received a few messages saying that they are learning well, and one which states that it was “thanks to me”.

Then, finally, I felt like I truly had achieved something here. Being probably the only one around here who can manage all these programs fluently, I feel like my knowledge are worth something here. And that I am worth something. And that is of much higher value than any top grade I can get at home. Which also means that this trip was a success since that was my goal the whole time, to give something to those who need it.

So yes, sometimes this place can be really nice. I'm still a bit homesick though, but maybe because I'm freaking out a little about working as a music teacher. Teenagers can be really difficult... But, on the other hand, only three lessons more to go!

Talking about work, I really, really need to sleep or I will freak out even more tomorrow (having class at 8:15, eek!). So, ¡Buenas noches todos!

Extra: Living in Yalambojoch

So, finally, I remembered to make this update. I'm pretty sure I didn't yet write about how I'm living here, except for mentioning a few things every now and then. So I'd like to spend some time doing so.

First off, I'm living in the centre of education, which is on top of a big hill from where you can see the whole village. Ages ago here used to be some Mayan ruins, but they were destroyed because the military figured this would be a good spot to put up a bunker; simply bulldozed the whole thing Anyhow, it now looks more or less like one of those Japanese or Chinese places of study in the mountains – dojos surrounding an open area with a garden in the middle, and with red roofs and stone walls. Really, really pretty, which I believe is greatly thanks to Per's bricklaying skills (if you ask me he's a true architect, although an uneducated one).

I have a room in one of the visitor's houses, which has eight beds in total but only three in use at the moment. That doesn't mean it's very big, however. We have a small kitchen and a dining room which we share, with a gas-stove and oven. Mostly we have running water which we can use for washing dishes, and also for drinking if we boil it first (it's drinkable otherwise, but a little risky for your stomach). The water system is quite fascinating, as it requires no pumps whatsoever but runs on the elevation of the water thanks to the mountains (at least what I understood) – and the sewer system designed by, guess who, Per, filters the water when it flows downwards.

The bathroom is unfortunately outside the house itself, so we have to first get the key and walk down some stairs before we get to it. And inside there, well... Toilets without water, and reeaaally cold showers. Although I've been told they are even colder during winter.

So, what do I do here? I go to bed as early as possible, around eight if I can, and get up around six or half past six depending on how much time I need. Then I eat my breakfast, brush my teeth, and go to work. Between Monday and Thursday that means going to the teacher's room before having a music class, otherwise I'm having my computer classes during the weekends. And after that, well, I do random stuff. Either I do my duty and wash dishes and clothes, or I might get lazy and play games on my computer, or I might socialize with some people if there are any around. During weekends I'm mostly so very exhausted after more than five hours of computers class though, so I tend to mostly lie in bed in between cooking and buying ingredients in the nearby shops.

Speaking of which! The shops here are great; open every day, and just a two minute walk or so from the centre. Unfortunately they don't have much, but that makes it an even bigger surprise when you finally get to find some specific fruit or vegetables, for example potatoes or bananas. Oh, and there's no queue, you just go up to the shop, look around a little, and tell them what you want and they'll pack it into a little plastic bag for you. Sometimes their mathematical skills are a bit slow, but it's not like anyone's ever in a hurry here anyway.

That's pretty much all I can think of right now of my life here in Yalambojoch. Quite chill, and very non-European. Great for escaping big cities like home.

Nighty!

09 - Mayan ruins in San Francisco

Yesterday I finally got to walk out of the village for a while. I normally never leave the centre, especially not with my camera as this is not really the most secure way to walk around alone as a Gringo. So when the Spaniards invited me for a walk I happily accepted, brought my camera to finally get to take some photos (other than of the centre), and went out with them.

After going past some shops looking for some things to buy, we left the village to go to a place called San Francisco. That is, not the one in USA. This is actually a completely deserted village; the history of the people of this village, completely deserted and burned down and now just a green area without any buildings. Except for one, of course, which is an old Mayan pyramid out of dark grey stone. The same pyramid that is described in the book The Puma's Daughter (previously mentioned in an "extra").

I was really delighted when we could go past the barbed wire (there to keep the cows in, I believe) to go up to the pyramid, climb it and take photos. I took as many photos as my imagination could handle, from the top, from the bottom and from the way up and down. It was quite steep so I had to be careful, but truly it was one of the most fascinating buildings I've seen - completely empty of other tourists, and other people, only the cows and my Spaniard friends. And to again think of the book, and of the protagonist who sat on top of it seeing her village burned, looking from the same view as I was doing. And once again, of the reality, to imagine all the houses surrounding the pyramid years before, with so many people populating them.

There is so much history behind such a place, not just Mayan, and I could probably go on forever romanticizing it. But now, I need to take a rest, keep working with the long lesson plans, wash clothes and cook dinner. And probably some other things I can't remember at the moment.

Enjoy reading!
/Seb

08 - The music teacher challenge

I got so caught up in the recent happenings that I forgot to mention that I started teaching a class in music as well. Fifteen teenagers now struggle to understand my very, very different way of explaining and teaching music, and of course my still half-fluent Spanish. It truly is a challenge, especially when all I have is four lessons more.

The first lesson though must've been one of the most successful ones so far for me. Although I must say I was explaining it in a pretty weird manner; since I didn't really know how to explain the difference between the refrain and the verse of modern music, and even less in Spanish, I played songs for them and once explained by jumping up and down to show them the feeling of the energy you "unleash" at the refrain. Yes, it does sound quite insane, but I think it worked; shortly after I got them competing in groups who could guess the most parts of songs I played. Unfortunately though I only have the music I brought from home, and they had to cope with listening to System of a Down, Stone Sour, KorN and Rise Against. But they really liked it when I let them warm up with the song "Bounce", jumping up and down during the refrain and doing some sort of Ska-dance during the verse, the last two lessons. So I guess it's not too bad.

Besides this though, I feel pretty sad about the quality of the musical education here. They have a teacher who, although nice, lacks any musical experience at all, and all they do (or so I've heard) is work with this book which I think it utterly useless. It is like trying to teach about Mozart without hearing his music. I mean, what's the point? In music, without practical experience, it lacks any real usefulness. I guess that's why I tend to be a little insane during the lessons; I get the feeling they need to see the emotion of the music instead of just the talking!

So, we'll see how good I'll manage with that next week. Haven't got too much time left for teaching, so I guess it'll be pretty hard. But I'll try my best!

07 - Spanish invasion!

Okay, maybe the title is a bit too much. But I think it fits.

Just got two new people joining me up in the house where I'm living, and they're from Barcelona in Spain. At first I thought they would be quite difficult, as the first thing they told me was to "clean up" (I tend to live the lazy teenage way when alone). But immediately after that I realized that they are a really friendly bunch, and suddenly I noticed how much nicer things were when I had someone to speak to. Although it's still in Spanish.

They also tend to invite the other teacher at the centre, so suddenly when I went out of my room I found the whole bunch of teachers sitting there in our dining room, and they invited me as well. Seeing as I was just going to cook myself some pasta I was really delighted to join up with them instead. Although I keep getting reminded that my Spanish is still not entirely fluent, that must've been the best dinner here so far!

I got this comment today by one of the Spaniards, named Alfonso I believe, who told me in a bit of a funny way that if I want to learn Spanish I need to be more communicative and pressure myself more. Which I took as an encouraging, "Speak more, you silent Swede!", and immediately after that I found myself sitting down with Per and those two outside the door, eating peanuts and drinking some powder-milk. Realizing I was silent I tried saying a couple of things too, and it was actually an improvement! At least it felt like I was actually learning the language, not just trying to use it.

So yeah, I'm glad these Spaniards came by here too. Truly an improvement to the hermit-ish lifestyle I had this past weekend!

06 - And so the real teaching starts

Okay, now the action begins..

Just recently had my second and final computers lesson for this weekend. I feel terribly exhausted. Not only was it my first time teaching more than one person at a time, but it was also in Spanish, and some of them had never even touched a computer before. And on top of that, of course, it had to be five and a half hours (for two days straight!) so that I need to plan ahead A LOT not to make them fall asleep of boredom. I bet MY teachers didn't get such a hard assignment for their first teaching job.

Though I managed, and they seem to be learning something at least, which is what I'm here for. Only this last hour and a half I didn't have anything for them to do except “freely practising” what they have already learned, which seemed to make them pretty bored after an hour of writing into an OpenOffice-table (why can't they be more creative.. ;_;) . So I got them to try Mahjongg instead, a little Chinese puzzle game which comes with the normal Ubuntu 10-package. Indeed, gaming is one of the best ways to learn how to handle a computer. Especially when you need to practise your mouse-aim. Which, unfortunately, is a common problem in my class.

It is quite fascinating sometimes though, especially when I realized that I've grown up in a Swedish generation where everyone can use a computer in a basic manner. And when I say basic, I don't mean what I used to call basic – it took all week before most my students could open up a program without having to tell them every single step. The difference is pretty huge compared to when we had our course in digital art at my school, when the teacher can simply say “Draw a rectangle!” instead of going to every student and point out where to click, and right afterwards having to tell them to HOLD the mouse button down and WHILE it is down DRAG it and then RELEASE the button, to make the rectangle. Oh, and again, he didn't have to tell them to retry it three times because the students can't aim with the mouse.

One thing really surprised me though. At the class yesterday, I gave them a practical exercise. At the lunch break I unplugged all the computers, grabbed one which wasn't in use and when they came back I explained all the different cables for them. And then they got to plug in all the things by themselves. Although I was a bit afraid of anything breaking (I realized how crazy it was when it had already started), they actually managed this part better than many Swedes I know. I guess either my instructions were much better than usual, or these people are better at practical work than with software, which requires more logical and mathematical thinking.

I bet it's like Einstein said: Don't judge a fish by it's ability to climb a tree!

Extra: The book

(I will be writing these “Extra” updates as well as the normal ones. The difference between them is that these extras are more focused on one thing and will probably be more of interest for certain people)

I'm not sure if any of you recognized the word “Chuj” when I wrote it in the last update. Probably not, seeing as it is one of the native minorities of Guatemala (and I bet most people in Europe can't even point out on the map where this country is). But for those of you who have read the book “The Puma's Daughter*”, or in Swedish “Pumans Dotter”, the protagonist in that story is Chuj.

So, what's so special about that, except maybe that I and many of my classmates read it as a school assignment? Well, to be honest, this whole village is a great spoiler for that book. The story was not only based on the same culture as these people, but also the people themselves. The ones who fled from their home village in The Puma's Daughter were based on these villagers, and the same with Per and the project he started.
I realized this first when I asked him on the way here how he came in contact with this village, and he asked me, “Have you ever read The Puma's Daughter?”, and that was pretty much everything he had to tell me.

Since I hate spoilers myself I'm not going to ruin the book for you who haven't read it and explain it all, but rather suggest that you read it yourself (or at least ask someone who's read it!). But it's fascinating, isn't it? I got to know also that the author was here a couple of weeks ago, and when I met Per for the first time I met her at the same occasion.

*Since I've only read it in Swedish I'm not sure if it's been translated to English, but this is at least what I think it would've been called

05 - Dangerous roads

To continue with the things Per told me during the beginning of my trip;

When we were driving on the road to Yalambojoch, the things he talked about seemed more and more serious and shocking. After a while he pointed out this place that he had told me about, where a massacre had occurred; a big bunch, I don't remember how many exactly but at least more than ten, of people were killed at that field because of a war between the local cartels. The scary thing was not hearing it, since we Swedes tend to hear about such things on television a lot, but realizing that it's so close was quite shocking for me. It felt as connecting the two worlds, with secure Sweden on one side and the “horrible places we see on television” on the other, mixing it all together in my head. Because, in the end, it is still the same planet, and seeing as I basically went on a “tourist trip” which took me around three days and got me so close to this previous massacre, well... It is closer than I imagined.

And it's not just a one time happening. Have you ever seen a cross on the edge of a dangerous mountain road? Where people have died in Latin America by for example driving off a cliff, they tend to put up these crosses as a memorial. I saw them in the mountains of Peru, but in Guatemala was the first time I had seen it on flat ground. There, Per told me, the crosses were for those who died in battles between the cartels. And this was just a few kilometres from where I am now.

Hang on, it gets worse. Per told me he bought a gun himself for the time when he was threatened by someone because of I think some feud about land. I'm not going to say who it was since I am not sure how much I'm allowed to write without being threatened myself (Per got into trouble with some company he criticized once), but I can say it's someone on a pretty decent level of power.

One last thing before I stop scaring the guts out of my friends (I hope my mother isn't reading this, heheh). I was told there is this rumour, that certain Gringos (that includes me) are after stealing children and taking their body parts. So in certain villages you might get attacked if you're acting strangely. For example, there was a Japanese tourist who was going on a bus trip around the villages, and he was eating an orange with a knife. He saw a kid, and tried offering a piece of orange to him on the tip of the knife. You can guess what happened. He was lynched, the villagers killing both him and the bus driver, for a simple misunderstanding.
(I was told many regretted their actions later, which is understandable. They are still people, not savages)

So, well... This is a pretty exciting trip, isn't it? Of course, here in Yalambojoch they seem way more used to Gringos like me, and have in fact been very friendly so far. Still, I do not dare to take photos down in the village yet. I'll wait with that until later. Still got three weeks left now, aye? <:

¡Nos vemos!

04 - Getting used to village life

(Like I mentioned before, there's so much to tell, so for variation's sake I'll wait with writing about all the things Per told me about. <: )

Four days have passed since I left Sweden, but I still can't really shake the feeling of being out of place. And I'm not surprised, because this place is simply just.. So much! At least for a city dwelling computer nerd like me. I recently managed to get music going on my laptop (which, by the way, didn't work at all like I had planned. Bloody thing is just too dependent on internet), and when I turned on one of my CD's, in this case Korn's album Follow The Leader, I just got this great kick of happiness. Finally, something enjoyable that I can recognize! I then spent the last hour listening to System of a Down while trying out a new experimental black beans-recipe that I had made up in desperation of something tastier.

Life here in the village is very quiet at the moment, as you might imagine, although today a few interesting things happened. I finally started with my work, having a meeting with Per and some of my students at eight this morning. I was really nervous, partly because I'm still getting used to speaking Spanish most of the time, but most of all because it was my first real meeting with anyone from the village. To my surprise they were pretty shy, and although my short introduction to why I was there was probably pretty dull (I hadn't prepared one bit, didn't even realize I would have to make one), they seemed very grateful for this course in computers they will be having with me and someone else. Also one of my theories was confirmed, when one in the group told me they are Chuj and that Castellano (Another name for Spanish) is not their primary language.

After the meeting I had my second stroll around town trying to look for a place where I could buy tortillas and salt. It took a while and a lot of asking around, but after a while I finally arrived at this small house where I bought eight tortillas and a bag of salt, all for 3 Quetzales* which was the cheapest deal I have made during this whole trip. Then I went to my bed to relax as I felt completely exhausted, but was interrupted by Per knocking on the door and reminding me that I was 30 minutes late for my meeting with him when he was going to introduce me to another student of mine. So I immediately went there with him, and after some walking we arrived in this concrete house where I met this guy who looked a few years younger than me. Then after a short introduction Per went out and I spent a few minutes there talking with him.
It was quite a special moment. He doesn't actually go to school any more as he was relegated (don't ask me why), so I'm there to help him out finishing the studies he has left. So I sat there trying to do my best with my half-fluent Spanish and the knowledge and experience I have of teaching in Sweden (thank you Suzan!), while I was trying to ignore my thoughts about his concrete walls with climbing spiders on them and flies flying around. He seemed like a really nice guy though, and although he was “lazy” in his studies (yeah, who isn't?) he seemed enthusiastic about learning the physics I will be helping him with, which was hopeful. My guess is that he just lacks the discipline to do it all on his own, which is a very common problem that even followed me until the second year of my current school.

There was one thing that annoyed me about that moment, though. I couldn't stop thinking that it reminded me of one of those documentaries you see on TV; some journalist sitting next to a poor person with grey concrete in the background, listening to his or her story of poverty. Thing is, I don't want to think of this place simply as a run-down village in need of help. It is, despite some flaws, a very beautiful place with all of its nature and its very wilful villagers. If I'm going to be here to help I will be doing so as a person and not a prejudicial westerner.

¡Gracias por su atención!

*I have mentioned it before but it's worth mentioning it again: 1 Quetzal is around 0.8 Swedish KR, which makes 3 Quetzales worth less than 3 Swedish bubblegums.

03 - Back to reality

Just had my first real sleep ever since the night before I went away. Probably slept for around ten hours straight, going to bed relatively early since I'm going to have to change my schedule a bit to fit this village's routines.

Did I say village? Yep. I arrived here yesterday, after only a bit more than a three hours' travelling by car. During the whole trip from Huehuetenango to Yalambojoch I stayed awake, asking questions to the driver, named Per, who is also sort of the leader of this centre where I'm staying. There was so much to learn about this place that I didn't even once feel like reading the book I had in my hand, and so many things to look at from the window that I always kept my camera trigger ready to snap some photos whenever something popped up.
I guess the reason for that is because up until the villages, I had felt at least remotely familiar – in the capital with all its western luxuries, and Huehuetenango with its similar Cusco-feeling. But now, when I'm here in the village, everything is so very new and stunning that I feel like just lying on my bed and dissolving myself in my Harry Potter-book and letting all things in my head settle.

Per started off with some fascinating facts that I've read about in school about agriculture. It seems like the coffee plantations here are grown together with trees, in a mixed fashion, instead of the mono-cultural ways they do it in for example Brazil. This, I believe, is much better since it makes for a stronger ecosystem, although they might just be doing it to prevent the earth on the mountains from eroding and falling off the cliff.
Then I was told about a few traffic accidents while we were driving around on the road right next to a steep cliff. There was one bus accident, he told me and pointed his finger to the spot where it had happened, where the driver just forgot to turn and went straight down killing over forty passengers. Luckily it didn't really frighten me much as I had experienced the “roads” in the Andes in Peru. What was quite shocking, however, was his open way of talking about deaths in the area around there. You'll notice when I get to the later part of Per's stories.

We passed a little gun shop around halfway, and there I was told that with my tourist visa I was allowed to buy three guns at a time (with the exception of no automatics). The shop was also selling booze. I figured it made the perfect macho mix – guns and alcohol in one! Quite frightening morals, though.
In the same village, also, he pointed towards these people selling petrol on the road, scattered around everywhere for around one quarter of the way to our destination. Apparently they were selling smuggled fuel from Mexico, and three times when we passed certain roads he told me they were used as smuggling roads. The first one was full of policemen, who indeed weren't there to stop anyone from smuggling but were there to take bribes from everyone passing through. And this was just one example of how corrupt this country is. The second and third roads I believe were blockaded by the villagers themselves, demanding a very small fee (I think around 50-100 Quetzales*), making it cheaper than the policemen so that some might choose to take that road instead.

Yes, now in the beginning of my trip Guatemala certainly seems to be a country that lacks control over its systems. But I'll tell more of that later, since I figure it will probably be too much to write, both for you readers and for my poor European head. So I'll wait with the even more shocking things for later. For now, I think I'll enjoy my safe little haven here in this beautiful, calm village, and try to cook some black beans for myself. Hopefully they'll taste better this time..

¡Hasta luego!

*1 Quetzal is around 0.8 SEK or about 0.2 USD

From one city to another

Okay, so I'm ALMOST there. Just arrived at my last stop before Yalambojoch in a city called Huehuetenango, which sort of reminds me of Cusco, the city where I lived when I visited Peru. It's got these really stuffed roads with crazy drivers, small walkways and in the middle of everything a wonderful market with people selling all kinds of stuff. I really enjoyed the part when I realized how much food is locally produced, which is something that surely improved my cooking enthusiasm (despite lacking dairy products and soy sauce >: ).

Also, speaking of locally produced, here's something that will make many of my friends back in Sweden VERY jealous: Guatemala is THE coffee country of Central America! In fact, I recently tasted the most fantastic coffee in my life, which was a cappuccino in a local café. As soon as I took my first sip, I was struck by the thought, "Is THIS how coffee is supposed to taste?!" It didn't even have the slightest hint of bitterness! Locally produced and locally roasted, it is even so that I will be driving past that certain place where they grew just that coffee that I drank tomorrow. And I WILL take photos. (:

Except for this, not much happened today. I had a gigantic breakfast at the hotel, almost at awesome as the coffee, but then also breakfast is always awesome (although it's not every morning that you get a never ending buffet with around 10 different freshly cooked meals, countless cookies, loads of different types of bread, et cetera..). Then I had a really nice chat with the people on the bus station, almost all in (mostly) fluent Spanish. An elderly man gave me a cup of coffee for free when I was sitting there practising my guitar, telling me to play louder, and another guy was about my age and had a great taste for music. Almost felt like staying there for a while, but then my bus was going and I had to leave. Then I spent the next five hours half-sleeping, half-reading Harry Potter on the bus.

That's probably everything I have on my mind right now. And to the people who tried to comment but couldn't because you didn't have a google account, that's fixed now. So comment away!

Buenas tardes y noches!

A tight flight

Whew!

Here I am. On my hotel in Guatemala, and I'm still alive. It feels quite incredible, after traveling from one place to another twenty hours straight, dizzy from lack of sleep, having to carry all these papers around and trying to figure out what the hell the time is so I wouldn't be sitting eating a sandwich when my plane's flying away without me.

Many times it's felt like a dream. Sometimes just like a nightmare. Not the one where you wake up in the middle of the night because of something horrible happening, no, rather more like one of those dreams where you are going somewhere, and in the middle of it you realize, what the hell am I doing here?

Such thoughts struck me often when I looked out the window of the airplane, suddenly realizing I'm completely alone out there, going from one strange place to another. From arriving at the orderly Heathrow airport to being stuck for hours in the messy security measures of the United States airport in Miami. And then finally leaving there on the way to Guatemala City, I see that great sight that I've so far only seen in movies – something that added to the dreamish feeling – that is the fascinatingly beautiful Miami shores. The Caribbean. The teal colours of coral reefs (at least I think it is?), with boats and palm trees scattered around the landscape. And on top of that, the strange, costly architectural changes they made to the land, with those islands and bridges that are seemingly man-made. Or, at least I do not think nature makes perfectly oval islands and practical land bridges made of sand.

Then when I finally arrived in Guatemala, just an hour ago or so, I felt such relief. Especially after encountering so many strange, stressed out people in Miami (except this Spanish-speaking guy at the bagel-bakery, that was fun!) and then speaking to this really friendly Guatemalan woman, who really turned my hopes up for the social culture of this small Latino-nation.

Oh, and then the hotel. The most luxurious place I've stayed at so far, with marble stairs, elevators and wherever else they could put it. And live piano music. Fantastic. Before I checked in, I couldn't help but pause in awe when I saw that piano guy sitting there playing for everyone. Just stood there staring for a while. Then I got help to find my room and carry my bags, and then, well.. I'm here!

Though just for one night. Tomorrow I will get up early (sigh.. no sleep still) to get my bus ticket, and then it'll be a five hour bus ride to a place called Huehuetenango, which seems to be quite a big town in Guatemala. There I will meet directly with the person who I've been in contact with and who helped me plan this trip from the beginning, and he will take me to the village Yalambojoch where I'm going to live and work for this month. Looking forward to it!

Introduction

I don't have much time so I'll make introductions short.

My name is Sebastian Everett, I'm a 18 year old guy from Sweden. In a few hours I will be on my way to Guatemala, where I am going to work as a voluntary teacher in music and computers.

The place I will be staying at (if I manage to get there..) is a village close to the mexican border called Yalambojoch. There I will be teaching a few students, both youngsters and adults, some about video editing, music and computers overall. I will be staying in my own little room, kitchen and all.

Hopefully, this is going to be the most exciting trip of my life so far, and I will be documenting all the interesting things happening there on my own laptop which I call my iLinux (a macbook with Ubuntu and Debian as OSes instead of Mac), and of course upload it here on my blog. If all goes well, I will be writing interesting things about life in Yalambojoch and Guatemala, progress in my teachings, and aswell probably a few nerdy entries about music and computers for those who are interested. And, of course, I will answer any questions anyone might have which you can ask either in the comments box below, or to my email sebastian.vasser@gmail.com.

Now, it's time for me to say farewell to Sweden for a month and go on the long trip to Guatemala.
Happy reading!