Top 10 things I WON'T miss about Guatemala

So we know I'm going to miss this place like crazy when I go home, but there are some things that I will not miss at all.....ever. Here's my top 10 (again, in no specific order):

1) The terrible roads

Guatemala is a small country (60% the size of Washington state), yet the roads are so terrible that it takes 6 hours to go 150 miles. This makes traveling for work suck because I spend way more time on the road than actually teaching, it also makes the rides not the most comfortable because there are speed bumps every 30 meters or so (in some places, but still on the highway!!) and I usually get stuck right on top of the back tires of the bus (that means it's extra bumpy for me)...not to mention all of the potholes here. My friend told me a joke: The president of Guatemala (Otto Perez Molina) is commissioning a project to widen all of the roads in Guatemala.....so that there's room for more potholes! But it's so true, the potholes are big and deep and everywhere! And when there's road construction they don't bother with orange cones, they just put a pile of rocks to show that the road is closed!

2) The exhaust from the buses
I walk a lot here....usually if I'm not going to work, I walk. The only problem with that is that when buses go by they leave behind a HUGE black cloud of exhaust and you're left choking down the street. It's even worse in the terminal where there are a ton of buses coming and going and you're trying to find the one that you're looking for while holding your breath and trying not to get run over. Every time I blow my nose it's black...I don't think snot is supposed to be black.

3) The music on the bus

I don't know where the drivers find the music that they play on the bus, but it's all terrible!!! Plus, keep in mind that these buses are old USA school buses, so they engines are loud (plus they're trying to haul 100 people up giant mountainous roads), this means that the music has to be that much louder so that everyone can hear it. If someone calls you on the phone while you're on the bus you can forget about it! Just text them and tell them you'll call later. Thankfully, I can sleep almost anywhere in almost any atmosphere, so the loud music doesn't prevent me from sleeping, but if I'm not trying to sleep and I'm trying to plan a class or think about something else, there's no way I can focus. If only they could pick good music!! I mean, I'd be fine with pop, I don't really like it, but it's better than the music they choose on the buses.

4) Guatemalans walk ssssooooooo slowly!!
I've been told that I walk quickly, like a European (or something like that)....I blame my long legs. Little steps just don't cut it for me. But I understand that the lifestyle here is not as fast-paced as in the states and people can take their time walking. I'm totally fine with that, but even when I don't have to be anywhere at any specific time I'd like to walk at a normal pace!! Most of the people here walk incredibly slowly, like uncomfortably slowly. Even the young people!! Sometimes it makes me crazy because the sidewalks are only so wide and the cars aren't going to stop for you if you step into the street to pass someone and the people walk in groups and they spread themselves out so that they take up the whole sidewalk. I just don't understand why they walk sssssoooooooo slowly, I can't do it! And it's even worse when I'm actually in a hurry to get somewhere because then I'm trying to walk fast (by my standards...which apparently is the equivalent of running down the street here) and I get even more frustrated with the people meandering down the street.

5) Concrete, concrete, concrete
Xela is like a concrete city. There are lots of parks, but these parks are concrete parks with tiny patches of "grass" and a few trees. I miss the big fields of grass and trees everywhere! My friend took me to this cafe that's part of a seminary here in Xela and it was amazing!! It's a huge green space with trees and grass everywhere and when you breathe it's like breathing in green...not black (like the bus exhaust). Unfortunately we couldn't stay long because I had an appointment, but being there made me realize just how much I miss seeing green everywhere. I don't think I could spend the rest of my life in a concrete city.

6) Sharing a kitchen
Uuuuuuggghhhh! I know I already made a whole post about this, but really, how hard is it to wash your one plate after you finish eating instead of bringing a huge stack of dirty dishes accumulated throughout the week and just leaving them in the sink?! But not only that, I like being able to use everything in the kitchen and being able to store my food in the kitchen; I don't like the fact that we have 4 of everything because everyone has their own oil, seasonings, honey, etc. It saves space and the stress of: is this mine?? to be in a family kitchen where everything is everyone's.

7) Not being able to do my own laundry
If you're my friend on facebook, you may have noticed that I've had a few dreams about doing laundry when I get home. Here in Xela I have to take my laundry to a laundry place where they wash, dry, and fold my clothes for me. That's totally fine, the guy who runs the place is super nice and it's really not that expensive to do. The problem is that they're only open from 8AM-6PM and between the gym, my work, and other activities that I do away from home it's really hard to find a day when I have 3 hours between 8 and 6 where I can be in Zone 1 (I live in Zone 1, but work, exercise, and do most of my activities in Zone 3...about 20-30 minutes by bus each way). Either I leave before they open and then get home too late for them to be able to finish before they close, I'm gone the whole time they're open, or I'm only home for 2 hours or an hour and a half during their business hours. I hate having to plan my life around when I can do laundry, it's so much better when you have a machine at home where you can throw it in, go do some stuff, move it to the dryer, and maybe you don't take it out until the next day, but it still gets clean and you don't have to purposely take out a lot of time to get it done.

8) Chsh! Chsh, chsh!!! Hola mamita!!!
Apparently I'm a pretty girl...or at least that's what they tell me. Almost everytime I walk anywhere (which is multiple times everyday) at least one guy whistles, makes a comment in Spanish, attempts to say something in English (usually something like "I love you baby"), or just tries to get me to look over by doing what everyone here does to get someone's attention: Chsh! Chsh!! Chsh, chsh, chsh!!! As much as I appreciate the compliment (ok...but really I don't), I would love to be able to walk past a group of guys and not feel like if I wanted to be polite and say hello that they'd all think I wanted to sleep with them. Mostly I just want to be able to walk places and not be bothered. One time I was walking home from going out with some friends and there was a guy peeing in the middle of the street (I'm not even kidding you!) and as I walked past he was trying to start a conversation with me.....ummmm, I'm not going to miss that at all!

9) Not drinking from the tap
I know that not all regions of the USA have great tap water, but Tacoma has delicious tap water and I love being able to go to the sink and fill up my water bottle whenever I want to. Here in Guatemala everyone drinks filtered water, which means that they buy a lot of water (most people buy the 5-gallon jugs and have a water cooler in their homes). The place where I live doesn't provide us with pure water, we have to buy our own, which isn't a problem for me because I get pure water from work and the gym for free, but if I want to wash my bottle or have a friend over for a meal and offer them some water to drink, I have to have some of my own water on hand to refill to bottle or fill a glass for a friend. And I always have to remember to fill my bottle before I leave the gym or work at the end of the day so that I can have something to drink with my dinner....just like with my laundry, I don't like having to plan around having pure water to drink and worrying that if I wash a fruit with the tap water I could potentially get sick (I haven't yet, thankfully, but there's always the risk). 

10) Claro
In Guatemala there are 3 cell phone providers: Tigo, Movistar, and Claro. I have Claro because when I first bought my phone my friend told me to get it because it was the best. It's true, they have the best coverage, which is good for when I travel for work. But they're also the most expensive. Most people here have prepaid phones and I am no exception. What I can't stand is that I feel like I'm always adding more credit to my phone and I receive about 3 texts (sometimes more) everyday from Claro or from different things like "Enter your number into the running for Q.50,000 cash" blah blah blah!! Not only that, but for the first month I had my phone apparently there was some promotion where I got 10 free texts every day, but they sent me a message every night at midnight to tell me that my packet of 10 messages was active for the next 24 hours....when I have to get up at 5:30 for work, a text about nothing important at midnight is not a welcome visitor. So it's expensive and really annoying....I'm looking forward to going back to At&t (which I guess is way more expensive than Claro, but at least I'll only pay once a month instead of once a week and I won't be getting annoying texts all the time).