Food, Bliss.

So we’re still at this hostel in Antigua. Every day is full of really fascinating aspects of the city. To the south, there is this gigantic dormant volcano looming over the town. It’s a big surprise when you turn a corner, and there’s this gigantic mountain that you’d forgotten about. It’s massive, but it just adds to the beauty of this area.

The food is fantastic here. We’ve eaten at a few places so far, and we’re kind of impartial to them, but outside of the downtown core there are a some little bar/restaurants where ex-pats hang out and get drunk. The food is really cheap and really good there, a decent meal that fills me up costs about 25Q which is around $4.30 US. And if it fills me up it’ll fill you up, because my teenage appetite is monstrous. I’m so busy eating and wandering around that I’m having trouble writing and posting. I’m trying though.

Something I’ve been thinking about lately is that food is a pretty big part of my life. I don’t think foodie is really the right term to describe my devotion. I’m more of a food-ist. Or food-ish. It’s another one of those things I consider to be my zen. Along with longboarding, dishwashing, and hanging out in airports. I love buying the food, carrying it home in my red backpack, quietly chopping the veggies and putting together the meal. Eating it isn’t even the best part. Just the process. Over time I’ve gotten pretty okay at it. I have a few recipes that I can rely on consistently. Most importantly, my Chili. I’ve been a vegetarian my whole life, so everything I make is always meat-less. If I can’t prepare my own food, or even choose what I’m eating, it makes me really unhappy for some reason. At summer camps especially, I always had trouble because you couldn’t make your own food, or even choose what you would eat that day. Making my own food is a big part of my life, and Chili is my zen. At least here I can choose what I eat. And the meals are simple.

Another day in Antigua, then to Lake Atitlan for two weeks (hopefully). More posts on the way for sure.

Thanks for reading,

-A

Hi-jinx In Houston

The past 48 hours have been crazy busy, but in the end, my dad and I made it to this beautiful hostel in Antigua, Guatemala.

Yesterday morning, I woke up with a fever and headache 45 minutes before our wakeup call. I was pretty fucking pissed. I was about to spend the entire day in either planes or airports, and clear two customs agencies. It was lame. We got to the airport, caught our plane, and flew to Houston. I don’t remember the flight to Texas very well, just the pounding pain above my right temple and feeling sick to my stomach. After a four-hour flight, we settled down for a 7 hour layover. We were just sitting down when we were approached by two other Canadians off of the same flight as us. Steve and John had met up before our mutual flight, and discovered that they were both headed to Lima, Peru. We sat and talked in a corner of the airport for an hour about politics, weed, and world travel. Then we ate some tacos and they left to catch their flight. I was really happy to meet those guys. Not just because we all had something in common to talk about, but that they were just really interesting dudes. By the time the conversation was over, my headache was gone.

In the time we were in Houston, we ate Mexican, Italian, and Chinese food. Eventually it was time to board, and we caught our plane to Guatemala City. As we took off, I thought about how most airports look the same. Especially at night. Just a lot of steel-panelled buildings and runway lights.

As the plane descended below cloud level, I realized how massive Guatemala City is. Orange streetlights stretched as far as the eye could see, the urban sprawl was intimidating. The airport  not what I was expecting. One runway extended past a single terminal that could only accommodate ten planes. After arriving, we approached the customs booths.They didn’t even check our photos before stamping our passports and waving us through. For all the comments about narcotic trafficking that I heard from friends before leaving, it seemed that the Guatemalan border guards didn’t care about tourists.

Guatemalans celebrate Halloween the same way people do back home, apparently. Get wasted and wander around downtown in kinky costumes. The streets were full of techno music and parties. After a short taxi ride, we got to the hotel, and fell asleep in hard beds.

This morning we spent an hour and a half in a chicken bus, surrounded by shouting chocolate bar vendors and incredibly cute Guatemalan babies. We ended up in Antigua, 45km from the capital, but oh so very different. Where Guatemala City is crowded, ugly, and grey, Antigua is colourful, welcoming, and has better vibes, man. We’re now staying in a hostel that I can certify is wonderful via exhibit A:And that’s where we are now. Killing time after really long time travelling. I had to edit the hell out of this post because so much had happened since my last one. I’ll be updating more now that I have consistent access to wi-fi in this hostel.

Day one of NaNoWriMo. Word count: 0.

Thanks for reading.

-A