Once
upon a rainy day in Antigua a group of missionaries tried to plan a weekend
trip. Two of the missionaries went to a travel agency during their class break
to check prices. It was all settled they
made a small deposit and would all return
after classes to pay for their tickets. Ah plans...So after lunch three
missionaries went volunteering and two returned for more classes (one of which
was me). However, my afternoon class was to be a cooking lesson with my teacher
at her house. The plan was to meet after classes around 4:30 or 5 at a nearby
cafe. Bueno. My teacher and I went to el mercado, purchased ingredients, took a
bus to her pueblo, ciudad viejos, and began cooking. We had a beautiful time
and prepared and ate delicious food. It was beautiful to see her house and meet her family as well.
While we were eating it began raining pretty hard. She told me that if I couldn't
make it back tonight I could just stay with her. This was a generous offer, but
I knew we were supposed to leave early
in the morning, and I still had to return to pay for my ticket. Entonces, I
washed the dishes as she packed me some leftovers. The bus ride in coming was
about about 15 min, and it was close to 5pm so I figured I had plenty of time.
Apparently, despite the fact that it rains everyday here, Guatemala does not have the best drainage system in place. The
streets were completely flooded on our
way back. The bus did ok though the water was at the door, but people were
swimming with their motos in the streets. Let's just say it took a bit longer
to return. Gracias a Dios (Thank God) we made it back safe. At this point, it
was still pouring down rain. I was happy to say that despite my teacher's
opinion of rain jackets and boots, I was glad to be wearing both, though my
pants were soaked! (*side note; Though it rains almost every afternoon during
the rainy season which lasts about three months here, most of the people have
no rain gear, no jackets, no boots. Most people are usually wearing trash bags.
I thought maybe people can't afford them. However, when I asked my teacher, her response was that rain clothes are ugly and she would rather
be wet! She was laughing about how the foreigners dressed with their silly rain
jackets! Que interesante!) I continued walking to the cafe which happened to be
closed. So I decided to run to my friend's house but alas, she wasn't there either!
Bueno. I decided to go with the original plan. I'll run to the travel agency
and pay for my ticket and hope everyone else paid for theirs. plans. haha.
Part II
So I arrive at the agency 15 before they are about to close
and it turns out that everyone came but didn't pay for their ticket because I
hadn't paid for mine, therefore they wanted to discuss with me prior. At this
point I was almost certain that they had devised a new plan involving another
agency, bought tickets, and had covered one for me for the time being. However,
the agents were both so insistent, "Well you could just pay for everyone
now and they could pay you back." and "Well why don't you just pay
for yours? Do you have a credit
card?" Nope I don't have my credit card, I do not have money to pay for
everyone, and no I am not going to pay for my ticket on a bus trip without my
friends. haha. A phone or even just a
phone number would have been nice right about now to confirm but yet I was
still pretty confident about the new plan I'm sure my friends had devised. At
this point, I said I would return just to my friend's house and confirm plans and we
could call them. The one older agent said he would walk with me to confirm if
we still need a bus in the am. This seemed a bit pushy to me but I also didn't
want a bus waiting for us in the morning either. So we talked as we walked to
my friends house. He seemed like a good, catholic family man with three younger
children all less than ten. He was surprised and happy to hear that we were
Catholic missionaries. Most of the missionaries he said were Mormon or Evangelical.
Tiffany
was not present when we arrived at her house. I told the agent I was sorry and
I was just going to go home. The agent insisted on walking home with me. Alas, when I returned to the house, my
missionary familia was waiting for me! I felt so bad making them worry! Then as
I had suspected they had initiated another plan which then became very awkward
fast because the agent was still with me at this point. Que lastima! We
graciously explained that we would try another weekend for a trip with them.
This all made for great dinner conversation with my
guatefamilia. My teacher would be proud that I used the past and imperfect
tense all through dinner. Ah if I had only had a cell phone...I would've missed
out on such a grand adventure!
With our new plan we are all leaving tomorrow very early for
Lake Atelen! I will have more adventures to share with ya'll soon!
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