Gringos and Delicious Silence

I nearly wept yesterday about halfway between California & Texas...I experienced this incredible sense of lightness...and all I kept thinking was...why has it taken me so long to travel on my own again.  The last time I was alone like this was 13 years ago....there is an amazing sense of freedom that I experience when I am on my own like this...free of obligations, free to wake up and have no plan...free to just be.

There's no...are you hungry, what do you want to eat, what would you like to see, should we leave now or would you like to stay longer....it's absolutely delightful.  I do as I wish, talk to who I wish, eat when I wish...it is as selfish as it gets...and I love every minute of it. It reminds me of why this type of travel is addicting.  

It's not that I don't love being chatter box Rennie who always  has something to say, who loves her life at home, the dogs, Charlie, work....but finding silence in that place is so much harder & here I can be quite almost all day because most people don't know if I speak Spanish much less English....it is really awesome!!!!!

Much to my surprise & delight last night there was actually someone at the airport to pick me up.  "Danny", aka Miguel Blah blah blah when he answered the phone, was waiting at the airport. We drove through the streets of Guatemala City, (which is like driving everywhere but America, lines are on the road for show, the closer you get to the car in front of you the cars can fit on the road & one way signs are just for show).  Danny was happy to drive, talk on not only one phone but two & got gas while the car was still running....he practiced English while I made feeble attempts at Spanish...it was probably one of the most comical conversations I have had in a long time. 

At one point Danny pointed out all these police on the street stopping random cars for drunk driving...great...maybe not....about 20 feet away from a stop a car drove straight into a roadside billboard....it was comical only because the driver was walking around....talking to the cops who were now checking his sobriety.

Unidentified man walking past my home (hee hee)

I arrived at my host family's home which is more like an apartment complex, I am sharing the back "house" with two other students I have not met yet. I briefly met the host family late last night.

My room is larger than I expected...the grounds nicer than I expected....

I awoke this morning having no idea where I was in the city of Antigua, to birds, gunshots & cheers (there was some sort of road race in town today).  I left my "home" unable to find a street sign & wandered around.  It was only two hours later that I realized that I had no idea where I am living & because I am staying in a home & not a hotel, the keys have no identifying tag or the address.  The city however is so small that a bit of wandering around helped me get my bearings...getting lost would be hard...it's just a giant square.

There are tons of gringos of all ages and nationalities...& lots of local tourists, everyone has a phone with a camera & wi-fi is readily accessible. If I am overcome by some crazy longing for home fare...the city is complete with it's own Subway and McDonald's....a bit odd but everyone has needs.  School starts first thing tomorrow at 8am & thanks to all the wandering I know where the school building is located.