Almost two weeks in, and Guatemala has been showing its true culinary colours. Our first day was blissfully easy thanks to a fellow couch-surfer putting us up for the night. Adapting to the temperature has been a doddle too; Guatemala city, Antigua, and Lago de Atitlan are all high altitude, so for [...]
Posts Tagged ‘Antigua’
It’s Not You, It’s Me: The Mistake of Losing Focus
We set off on global excursions determined to not only discover foreign lands but also uncharted personal territory. Books are packed that inspire thought, a journal is bought to capture valuable reflections, and a pledges are made to focus attention inward. What kind of person is at my core? How wi[...]
You Have to Walk Before You Can Run Away
The excerpt presents a highly self-analytical question to the internationally mobile population of dreamers and do-gooders: Are you running from or toward something? Only the delusional would argue that there is nothing personal about their flight. Just looking to make the world a better place by gi[...]
Location, Location, Location
As my Introduction to Marketing professor told us on the first day, it’s all about location, a rule that spreads well beyond the world of advertising and real estate. Too often in life, people allow their to geographical position to define them. Tyler seems trapped by the repetition of Chicago a[...]
Mother Nature Expresses Herself in Guatemala
There was something uncomfortably casual about the way the tube television rattled atop the stand in Antigua, Guatemala on that afternoon. Tremors are not unheard of in the town, which is surrounded by volcanoes in every direction. The Chapines smirked as this gringo let out universally recognized E[...]
Living in Shades of Gray
My confidence and comfort in life for the past six months was built solely upon the statement, “I just got back from a year in China.” The line demanded respect in a “what have you done lately?” sort of way and diverted attention from life’s next step and my flat lining socioeconomic statu[...]
Let’s Talk About the “G-Word:” Gringo
Here’s my gringo story: I was 18 and I had just arrived in Guatemala to work as a volunteer teacher with Global Vision International. It was my first time living abroad and I barely spoke Spanish. I left my hotel in Antigua to go exploring, and from the window of a house across the street, [..[...]




