I am in my 6th day here in Guatemala as a consultant for the non-governmental organization (NGO) Save the Children, whom I began as a volunteer in between college quarters while search for a post-Boeing career as a mid-fifties male.
It is warm here, but not at all unpleaseant for my constitution and health, since my Geographic Positioning System (GPS) has informed me that we are at approximately 6,600 feet here in the tropics (N15, W91).
My hosts at Save the Children asked if I wanted to eat at the local fast food locale (Pollo Campero) when I first arrived. I said that I can eat fried chicken at a fast food in the U.s., rather could we eat the local fare. To my delight, the arranged breakfast and lunch at a house of the aunt of a lady owrker at the Save the Children office. What a delight! Each time we entered the shaded courtyard to sit for a meal (each meal has been different each time), I am delighted ot great the elderly granmother sitting in the courtyard. She is perhaps 80 or so years old, and responds with a few words of Spanish from her beautiful bronzed, lined, face.
Even though I have made 6 trips to Latin American countries (16 in all globally), taken a semester class in Spanish, my language capabilities are terrible. i am unsure if I am just being lazy or lack the cognitive skills in adopting a new language. (I think both!). Yet, I always seem to be able to communicate by adding gestures smiles and hopefully genuine interest in their lives.
TO wrap up, I love traveling, always requesting window seat to gaze out upon even the mindless North Pacific for hours at a time. It is the people though, and i strive to be a traveler, and not a tourist....
A return to Washington state in the United States for a short while, then onto Haiti, Bangladesh, Uganda, and Vietnam,
It is warm here, but not at all unpleaseant for my constitution and health, since my Geographic Positioning System (GPS) has informed me that we are at approximately 6,600 feet here in the tropics (N15, W91).
My hosts at Save the Children asked if I wanted to eat at the local fast food locale (Pollo Campero) when I first arrived. I said that I can eat fried chicken at a fast food in the U.s., rather could we eat the local fare. To my delight, the arranged breakfast and lunch at a house of the aunt of a lady owrker at the Save the Children office. What a delight! Each time we entered the shaded courtyard to sit for a meal (each meal has been different each time), I am delighted ot great the elderly granmother sitting in the courtyard. She is perhaps 80 or so years old, and responds with a few words of Spanish from her beautiful bronzed, lined, face.
Even though I have made 6 trips to Latin American countries (16 in all globally), taken a semester class in Spanish, my language capabilities are terrible. i am unsure if I am just being lazy or lack the cognitive skills in adopting a new language. (I think both!). Yet, I always seem to be able to communicate by adding gestures smiles and hopefully genuine interest in their lives.
TO wrap up, I love traveling, always requesting window seat to gaze out upon even the mindless North Pacific for hours at a time. It is the people though, and i strive to be a traveler, and not a tourist....
A return to Washington state in the United States for a short while, then onto Haiti, Bangladesh, Uganda, and Vietnam,
1 comment:
Great post. I too enjoy traveling and will be in Santa Cruz del Quiche this week with Agape in Action. I also have a hard time learning other languages. I desire to learn Spanish because I took it in High School but cognitively I struggle in this area. I know it's partly because I am lazy and give up too quickly but the desire is there. It's encouraging to know that in spite the language barrier that you still strive to be a traveler and not a tourist. My goal when traveling is to pretend that I live in the place I am visiting and also to immerse myself into the culture(but not compromise by belief in Jesus Christ).
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