ROHS junior Dallas Porter gives her own spin on volcano hikes and merchants on the Interact Guatemala trip.
Okay, so today was our first full day in Guatemala and it was rather phenomenal , if I do say so myself. Our journey began yesterday in Dallas, Texas, with a man named Larry. You see, Larry was our waiter and let me tell you, this guy was a clown. He had that southern drawl which we all fell in love with--even Joey (the only male student)--and you better believe we got a series of photos with him; it needed to happen, trust me.
Once we finally made it to Guatemala City we got in our driver’s car and immediately sat in attention as Delaney got wheeled (seduced) by a guy whose name was Alfredo (AKA Pasta Sauce) who claimed to be 19 years old… Lie. No way he was over the solid age of 12. Bottom line, Delaney might have found love in a hopeless place. Ha hah, okay, so that’s not all entirely true but what do you know? It’s not like you guys were there.
GUESS WHATTTTTTT!
Today we hiked an active volcano. Well, Joey and I did: the rest took horses up the hill, but I’m actually kind of jealous of that because honestly, how many people get to say they went horseback riding on a volcano? However, by hiking the whole way it allowed for me to obtain a close connection with our guide Ervin. Ervin, by the way, is the name of my dog.
After bonding over my lack of Spanish knowledge and series of unhelpful hand gestures, he took me to this tree that contained “Mayan makeup.” However, he didn’t tell me what it was, and the next thing I knew he was coming at me with the inside of this random tree. But don’t you worry, it ended up just being war paint and I thoroughly enjoyed every bit of it.
Ervin also gave us marshmallows to roast over the lava…. I know that’s roughly the coolest thing you have ever heard, but honestly I’m going to need you to at least try and contain your excitement, because it’s all about me right now, and I still have more to talk about.
After destroying my body on that hike and saying goodbye to Ervin L someone had the oh-so-grand idea to walk,I don’t know, like 500 miles… okay, give or take 495 of those miles. You know what? Whatever! Either way, I was exhausted, which led to a series of impulse buys and poor decisions. You know what, though? It’s okay, because I made friends with one of the girls that worked in a local store and she gave me soooooo many deals, it was just amazing. She said that she couldn’t help but give me a good deal because I was “such a happy nice girl.” In case you don’t know me, I can assure you I’m the exact opposite: really all I did was teach her how to say the word “refrigerator,” and she thought I was just such a delight from that moment on. I mean, I can’t hide the fact that I have an undying charm (not conceited or anything)!
Anyway, I feel as though I have written far too much so I’m gonna go, but don’t you dare even begin to worry your pretty little head because I will make an appearance again, and once again your life will be complete.
Follow our trip in future blogs and also on Twitter: @schisnell
