Guatemala Is A Place of Smells

I have no idea when or where I heard, read, or eavesdropped on this, but at some point in my life I remember someone saying that every place is associated with one sense more than it is with the others.

I don't know if I'm explaining this well. I mean that we feel things like "That city I lived in is a city of sights" or "That lake I grew up visiting is a place of sounds" or "That vacation getaway was one of exotic tastes."  It's a food or a noise or a scent that suddenly catapults us right back to an important place from our lives, and when we file through memories of all our important places, the memories of one sense tend to beat out all the rest. New York is a place of sights to me. Greece was a place of tastes.

Guatemala, it turns out, is a place of smells.

Smells remind me of this place, even while I'm still living here.

Bus exhaust smells like the capital. Burning wood smells like San Pedro on Lake Atitlan. Basil smells like our house when someone's making homemade pizza. Bread baking smells like the panderia at NPH. Corn tortilla dough smells like the hundreds of comedors that dot this country. Even garbage smells like the walk from NPH to Parramos. Gross, yes, but it is what it is.

The other day I was standing in my office, I opened the window, and I turned to Katie and said, "Hey, it smells like Guatemala outside." Well, obviously, Sherlock.

But it's true. When I think of Guatemala now, and when I'll think back on it years from now, the sights and tastes and noises and textures, while completely unique to this place, aren't the things that stick out most to me.

Simply put, 'cause Guatemala is a place of smells.

That Coin Is SMALL. What Is It?

During our beach trip to El Salvador, we girls had a scary glimpse of how confused we are all going to appear when it comes time for us to function back in the United States.

On our way to the beach our first morning, we stopped at a tienda to hydrate with some bottled agua pura (good old H2O). After handing over our paper bills and receiving our change in coins, one of us exclaimed:

"Wow, this coin is small! And light! What is it?"

"Oh. It's a quarter." El Salvador uses the U.S. dollar.

We couldn't get over how small and light the coin felt. We are going to be such awkward returned citizens in a few months' time.

Story Update 21

This Year's Niña and Señorita of NPH Guatemala - Every August to celebrate the anniversary of the NPHG school, our home elects a niña and señorita of NPH Guatemala.

Celebrating Father Wasson - On the 4th anniversary of his death, our family remembers NPH founder Father Wasson.

Escape to El Salvador

Another trip! Less than 24 hours after I'd miraculously made it home from the mudslide incident with Dad, some of the girls informed me that they wanted to plan a spontaneous (ok, I guess if we planned it was only semi-spontaneous) trip to the beach of El Salvador!

Katie, Leeah, Sam, Jess, me. Girls' Weekend. Beach. El Salvador. Door-to-door shuttle service for a great bargained price? I've been convinced.

I used the last of my hadn't-decided-on-yet vacation days, and we made it into a long weekend. We left Thursday after lunch, took the 7 hour shuttle (should have been shorter, but roads are still closed from the rain and mudslides), and made it to Playa San Diego. We stayed at the cute, cozy, perfectly-relaxing hostel El Roble and enjoyed 3 full days on the Pacific.

We spent mornings at the beach, afternoons at the pool or in a hammock with a smoothie and a good book nearby, and evenings eating pupusas (tortillas stuffed with beans and cheese -- an El Salvador must-eat) and drinking cold beers by the bar.We all agreed it was, by far, the least stressful vacation we had ever taken while here.

Enjoy the gorgeous photos I mostly stole from the other girls, and yes, in case you weren't sure, I'd go back in a heartbeat. Drop me a line when you've booked your plane ticket. :)

And Loved This Quote by Someone A Little Less Well-Known

"Carrie, me siento feliz cuando vienes a la seccion."  

"Carrie, I feel happy when you come to the section."

- Katherin, (12), from my section of girls :)

Loved This Quote by Someone Well-Known

"Traveling is like flirting with life. It's like saying, 'I would stay and love you, but I have to go; this is my station.'" - Lisa St. Aubin de Teran

I Don't Remember How To Eat with a Fork

It's sort of a running joke here at NPHG that over time, volunteers forget how to use normal kitchen utensils, like forks.

We eat so many meals with the kids, that we start to eat like them. Every time we want to eat a meal in the comedor (dining hall) with the kids, volunteers have to bring up their own loza, or table setting. Leaving my house carrying a bowl (Always a bowl, never a plate, because what if they're serving soup that night??), a plastic cup, and a spoon (Fact: You can eat anything with a spoon.) is so normal now that it's funny to remember it once felt so bizarre.

So, you can imagine my predicament when one night last week there were NO clean spoons to be found in our house. I had to bring a fork to dinner for the first time in....well, it feels like forever...and the result was a disaster. I couldn't do it. I could not figure out how to eat my beans and rice and platano with a fork. Especially when the curviness of my bowl meant I couldn't get a good angle on the fork to save my life. Such a stressful meal.

I can see it now. Just imagine. The first time I'm back Stateside, out at a restaurant, and my table setting has multiple forks. Oh Lord.