Arriving in Guatemala

Let me continue...

Hello! Last time I have mentioned the beginning of the process of applying for an internship/volunteering and I explained why I decided to prolong my studies at the university. Do you remember I was making a decision about where to go finally? Peru, Maxico, Guatemala... Guatemala won. Why? Let me tell you.

Why Guatemala?

I said I would share more about how I got to Guatemala and why I chose Guatemala for my volunteering and university project. Here I am with the article in which I will try to describe also some emotions which were a part of this huge and so long expected journey.

My decision is Guatemala

In the last post I wrote that there were more options where to go finally. There was Guatemala, Peru and Mexico which I liked the most. Or let me say that I liked the most the organizations which were situated there.

As I was going through their websites and as the first organization which contacted me back seemed to be really well organized, I decided to work for them. The organization is called 1, 2, Tree... and they are willing to accept volunteers from wherever in Guatemala and in Mexico. When I was supposed to make the decision (about where to go), I decided to go to Guatemala. It was because of I knew less about Guatemala and people from Europe do not even usually know where it is. So I thought I could learn more about that country. Moreover, I saw on Google maps that it was situated right next to a huge lake. The lake is called Lago Atitlán and it is one of the most visited spots in Guatemala. It is very beautiful there, seriously. If you like running or long walks, this place is perfect for it.

Picture: It takes many hours on a plane and a minivan and a boat to get to Santiago Atitlán.

Let the adventure begin

So when I left Madeira, I spent two weeks in my country with my family and I even got a visit from Madeira. Next, I went to Mallorca (Spain) to work for a week and immediately after that I had approximately four days for finishing all the paperwork at my university, so I would be officially allowed to do the project and supported with a scholarship. It was also needed to pack everything and say goodbye to my family again.

It was a hectic time but finally, we got to the day of departure. My parents went to walk me to the train station. I was very nervous. I felt like many years ago when I was going on my first solo journey. When I started travelling alone, I always kept asking myself: “What am I doing again?” As a student, I did not use to have much money, I used to travel without Internet on my phone and usually did Couchsurfing. (Couchsurfing is for traveller who go to a country and they can stay in someone else’s place, so obviously, it works the same way that you can host someone or you can just “hangout” with travellers or visit some events). So I was normally going somewhere where I did not know anyoneand always hoped that my Couchsurfer would appear and I could find our meeting point. That is why I used to be so nervous before each travel. I forgot to mention, that my solo travels happened only within Europe.

Photo: I knew it was something completely new for me. I had to get to Costa Rica as well before reaching Guatemala.

Finally, the big day was there: there was one journey by train, there were four different flights, as well as waiting at the airport in Guatemala, getting a minivan and if everything is fine, taking a boat to get to my final destination – Santiago de Atitlán.

I started to cry when I was saying goodbye to my family but knew that that was the thing I wanted to do for such a long period of time. So I got on the train and left for Prague.

Four flights = three tickets?

Of course, I wanted to prepare myself well for all of the flights which I was supposed to take. However, when I did a check-in, it let me do it just for some flights, but not all. I started queuing at the airport, so I could get my boarding passes. There was a kind of a problem, too. They tried as they could, though the check-in assistants could not print it out. Well, after ten or fifteen minutes I got my tickets and left. Just when I was on the first plane to Germany, I noticed I had had just three tickets!

I asked the flight stewardess whether where I should go to get it and as I kept talking, another girl heard me and waited for me outside: “Hey, I think we are taking the same plane and I have got the same problem.” Oh, how much easier and pleasant the journey became after. Not only that she had to go to Dominican Republic and change for a flight to Costa Rica, but she continued to Guatemala as me. You will not believe, but she even continued to the same area – the lake area. However, our journey separated in Costa Ricaas she was taking a later plane.

Photo: One of our destination for getting on a different plane. Dominican Republic.

Here I am, Guatemala! Confused!

Finally, I reached my destination – Guatemala. It was after approximately thirty hours on the journey, flying through  a very long “night”. It was dark outside for too long. When I reached Guatemala City, it was twelve o’clock, noon. So it was not bad at all.

I needed to get through the border control. If you fly from a different continent (like I did: Europe – America), you are not allowed to bring any kind of fruit, vegetables, seeds... There is a huge list of things you have to tick to confirm that you are not bringing these things and if yes, you have to declare them. I was really confused and did not understand why this is so important. But that is why I travel, so I can get more knowledge. I learnt that it was simply because of the “ecosystem”. So for example when there are some warms in the fruit, you can easily bring an insect from one continent to another. So that is why it is forbidden. Well, and think of diseases which are connected with insect and people as well...

I had a banana so I ate it quickly. Then I had to go to to a place where I was expected to touch such a black button and the button sent you either to the right or to the left according to what you had in your bagpack. So I was sent to the second check. I got there and had no idea why that was happening and how it worked. So I asked the officer who looked confused as well, because they were very busy. They let me go and so I finally got outside.

Photo: The first picture taken in Guatemala.

Next time

You can probably imeagine, how tired I was after all the time spent on the journey. So in the next article, I am going to tell you what else was waiting for me there in Guatemala! The beginning was shoking but finally... Let me tell you soon.

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