4 Countries, 11 Hours

Though actually we pretty much bounced through two of them: Guatemala, to offload then upload more passengers; the same in Costa Rica. It's been an exhausting but good past couple days, and here are some of the blessings I've encountered:

- The joyful homeless man. In the US, homeless people often stand on the roadside at intersections and collect donations of food or money from drivers-by. Veronique, who was kindly driving me to dinner then the airport, and I were surprised when after we gave this one guy a muesli bar he was still asking for more. "There's something else I want with that," he told us. How rude, we were thinking, what could he possibly want more? Money? Turns out he wanted two smiles? Aww.

- Hot waffles while watching an incredibly vibrant sunrise out the plane window. So good. Especially since it had been so, so, so cold on board and the blankets had run out by the time I asked for one. Mmm... hot waffles...

- The eccentric and very friendly woman who sat next to me on the third and final flight. I have been [pleasantly] surprised at how little English people here speak - often it's comparable with my Spanish and that's not very much at all (e.g. I was really proud of myself today for being able to string together the oh-so-complex sentence "quierro ir al bano" and even then it's probably wrong somehow!). But it's such a great way to learn, because I'm forced to speak it. So this lady found out quickly how little Spanish I could speak, which she proceeded to discuss with her husband a couple times: exactly what she was saying eluded me, except for the occasional "no habla Espanol." We both decided "yo quierro apprendara Espanol" (spelling?) and even though I've hardly started yet, she was happy to speak to me in very fast Spanish whenever something popped into her head she wanted to say, despite the fact that at least half of the time I obviously couldn't understand it.

- Claps when we landed. Some people think it's ridiculous, but I say good on the clappers, for celebrating the little miracles!

- Seeing lush, GREEN forests out the plane window for the first time in a very long while, when coming into Guatemala City.

- My CouchSurf hosts, none of whom I have met yet, but I am writing this at their apartment as we speak. They left their key with a neighbour for me to pick up so I could drop my stuff here before going off exploring. Sweet!

- The city. Reminds me of Bangkok in a way, with all its street vendors, taxis and food smells. I went for a walk this arv, to get my bearings and hopefully find a church service.  I discovered the coolest park I have ever seen in my life when I went for a wander this afternoon: kids' playgrounds, things to climb on, sport fields and courts, rides (often with person-power replacing when we would usually use electrivity!), candy floss vendors, and about a million gorgeous kids and their families enjoying it together. Another thing I love is how the women often still wear their traditional dress - cloaks and hats, with babies slung on their backs sometimes - and with baskets of whatever goods it is they're selling.

One lowlight, however, was what happened as I was walking on the way there. I was walking down a main street in broad daylight, with plenty of taxis going past, so I figured it'd be pretty safe. Then a young teenage boy who'd been loitering with 2 or 3 of his other mates, came up to me and started asking me for money (I think!); I asked him if he spoke English to which he told me "si" and continued to yabber away in Spanish. But then I guess he figured I really couldn't understand what he was saying so resorted to hand gestures. Now these I understood much better: he pointed to my money belt, which I guess I hadn't hidden very well as it was so bulky with my passports and whatever, then made a stabbing gesture. Needless to say I got out of there fast.I crossed the street, followed close behind a family I figured I could sort of pretend to be with, and pulled my money belt up higher under my shirt so hopefully it now looked like I was just fat. Or pregnant.

And, just so I leave you on a high note, here's one last highlight: almost miraculously, my pack ended up weighing just slightly less than it did when I arrived in the United States - something which my back is going to be so grateful for, I'm sure!