Mi Camino Transversal: Arriving in Guatemala

This week has been quite exciting for me. Today I arrived in Guatemala! Safely, on time, and with all my luggage!

My Human Rights Semester in Practice is finally beginning! Yes, that means I am volunteering at human rights orgs in Guatemala for school credit. I'm willing to bet that being abroad is probably the best way to spend your last semester in law school!

So, I took a flight from LAX with a layover in Fort Lauderdale. The flight attendant on the loud speaker was quite entertaining (imagine Ricky Ricardo giving you safety instructions). Then when I got to Fort Lauderdale I realized that everyone who made any announcement had a heavy Latino accent. But, as amusing as that was... as I was trying to take a nap at the gate for my connecting flight, I really thought that maybe a direct flight was worth the extra $150 or so (one way). Next time.

So, after getting to Guatemala and going through immigration and customs in what seemed like 2 minutes, I step out of baggage claim and there's a woman holding a sign with my name on it. Adorable. It was one of the women from MTM, but not my supervisor who I was expecting. During our quick drive through Guatemala City I kept thinking, this looks like Guadalajara. Like the drive around el Periferico trying to get to Tio Luis's house. The brief glimpse I caught of "El Centro" - including El Palacio Nacional, El Catedral, and el Mercado Central - also reminded me of Guadalajara. I suppose that's not surprising considering the Spanish colonial influence - but I think it was also my subconscious trying to make the city look familiar so that it seems less scary that I'm in a foreign country by myself.

Anyway, we finally made it to the apartment where I am going to be staying for the most of the semester. (As I was unpacking I realized that in my 3 years of law school, I have now had FOUR different apartments.) I've got a bedroom upstairs with a private bathroom.

My bed, window facing the street, and desk.

Desk again, door to hallway, private bathroom.

Overall the apartment is pretty small, but because we've got two floors and space on the rooftop it seems like a good size for three of us. I'm living with two other women - Ceci and Romina. Romina apparently is out of town for a few days for work. They both work for NGO's and once in a while have to travel out to the rural areas of Guatemala. I don't really understand what they do yet. But, Ceci is nice. I'm hoping things will go well for the three of us here.

Our rooftop view of more rooftops.

So far my day has not been so exciting - unpacked, updated facebook, went to the store for some essentials, wrote a blog entry, ate cereal and yogurt for dinner, and posted blog entry. Yey! Nonetheless, the adventure begins - Tomorrow: First day at Mujeres Transformando El Mundo.

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