Guatemala was amazing. The few times I've been out of the country, I experience this sort of epiphany when I get back, as though I'm more accepting of myself and everything that I represent. I get more in touch with my morals and inner-foundation and appreciate life for all that it is. I probably could write a very cliche essay about "How traveling makes you a better person", but I promise I won't - I already sent a reflection into my professor that essentially answered that inquiry.
But the truth of the matter is that traveling, no matter where you go, or if the experience sucked or was magical, it helps you grow. For so many years I feel like I've been waiting and trying to get people's acceptance, but I realize from traveling that I'm doing okay with how I am. I know especially in Guatemala (and then after, when my group also spent a few days in Costa Rica), I was able to embrace my hippie side (which I think is a bigger part of me than I knew) and really not give an f about things that American society deems important. It was also WONDERFUL to be away from American politics for three weeks.
The real reason for this trip - to see physical therapy in a setting outside of the United States - was awesome. What made this trip were these home visits that we were able to do; essentially going into people's homes and providing PT services to their users (the organization we worked with, Centro Maya, didn't call their patients "patients", instead, they were "users", which I thought was great). We worked mostly with children and because we were in a 3rd world country, it meant we had to get creative with the materials on-site/on-hand. In America, people and professionals get super excited about their new technologies and their fancy gadgets, but in Guatemala, they don't have anything like that. And I thought that was super refreshing. It meant using a broomstick or our shoes as obstacles or the bed as the plinth. People were so grateful for our help (ohmmgee, one mother gave this long speech just thanking us for being there, it was very touching) and generally just very nice. Everyone said "Buenas" to you, everyone generally was friendly to you. Of course, there were some old school elders who wanted "no gringos", but I find this to be the minority.
We did so many different activities - helping with a preschool Dia de las Madres celebracion, visiting Maximon (one of the most interesting things ever), visiting their hospital around Lake Atitlan, doing the home visits, helping to construct a new OT room and office, working in their PT clinic, going to a wheelchair factory and watching the National Guatemalan Wheelchair Basketball team play, hiking a volcano (Acatenango!), learning salsa, and more...it was a great experience. Plus, I was able to go with 11 of my classmates, and I became closer with practically all of them.
Not all of it was honky-dory, though, as many of us got sick with adjusting to the food (and some people because of the altitude). I was lucky enough to get sick right over my birthday, so I brought in the new year with a bang. It could've been a lot worse, though, and hey, I'm still alive!
My Spanish skills came back better than I thought they would - I understood more than I thought I would; it was speaking that presented more of the problem. But I managed; out of the 12 students that went, my Spanish was probably 3rd best, and that's probably because I've been out of practice longer than those young guns...I have to say that I have a real appreciation for Spanish culture after this trip.
There's literally so much I could say about this trip. But clearly I'm terrible with just going for it. I'm better with questions. Or if I was giving an entire run-down of the trip, but I don't know how many people I could keep engaged that way (could turn into longgg posts; could do a post per each day we were there? hmm.)
Maybe another post about Maximon. I still find it to be a fascinating phenomenon.