My trip comes to an end

Sometimes keeping up-to-date with your travel blog can be harder than traveling itself. I haven't updated since my misadventures in El Salvador and the mountains of Guate, but not to worry-- I made it out alive and I am now back in the United States.

Between my stalled bus outside of Quetzaltenango, Guatemala and my airplane's touchdown in early February in San Francisco were some of the most interesting and rewarding parts of my 7-month journey. I'll do my best to recount the highlights.

Quetzaltenango, Guatemala (Part II)

On the roof of El Nahual with Enrique, my old English student

Returning to 'Xela' felt like coming full-circle. At the beginning of my trip, I spent a month and a half in Xela studying Spanish, volunteering, and living with a host family. I arrived as a true rookie, with only my high school Spanish skills and a Lonely Planet guidebook. This time around, the LP stayed in the pack. I met up with old friends, visited my host family (including their brand new addition to the clan), and stopped by El Nahual, my amazing Spanish school.

My host mom, Ely, with 2-month old Ricardo

The one thing that had changed dramatically was the weather! Xela is high in the mountains which keeps it fairly cool, even in July. But now in January, my sweatshirt and sweater made their first appearances in a long time. The best part for me was being able to fully communicate in Spanish with all my old friends. Language was not something I had to worry about anymore. It was a great feeling to just sit and talk, whereas before all my conversations felt like language practice.

Reuniting with the Germans

Me, Niels, Marius, and Ben at a gas station in Guate

From Quetzaltenango, I headed North towards the Mexican border, Chiapas, and the city of San Cristóbal de las Casas. At a gas station just outside of Xela, my good traveling karma officially came back.

As I was waiting for the arrival of the tourist bus that would take me to the Mexican border, I ran into three of my good friends from Honduras. Marius, Benedikt, and Niels are from Germany and are doing their year of national service in Honduras. Ben works at an orphanage in El Progreso, and Niels and Marius are stationed closer to the El Salvador border. We spent our winter vacation together in the Bay Islands and had talked about meeting up in Mexico in January, but seeing them was on the of the most random things that happened during the whole trip. To end up at the same gas station, at the same time, in the same small part of Guatemala..... And on we went to San Cristóbal


More updates tomorrow!

Traveling is not easy

The Nasman family likes to say that travel "is only glamorous in retrospect." The past 8 days have been anything but glamorous. I suffered through a bad cold, long uncomfortable bus rides, and in general, just plain bad luck.

My bus breaks down in the mountains between Guatemala City and Xela

Being sick is never fun but it is truly tough when traveling alone. I just didn't have the energy you need to enjoy the fun parts and the challenging parts of experiencing a new country.

I believe that good luck played a large part in my first 6 months in Central America. I got off the plane in June with only a vague plan and yet somehow found a terrific language school in Guatemala and an amazing community in Honduras with OYE and my job at Best American School. So perhaps karma is now evening things out a bit.

I lost a $100 bill somewhere on my first day in San Salvador. I wasted hours trying to navigate the convoluted bus system of the city, being sent to one place then another by my out-of-date guidebook and well-meaning people on the street. On Sunday, I planned on going to the beach. But with the El Salvador national elections being held that day, no buses were in service to the coast, a fact I discovered after searching all over town for the correct bus terminal. I then got on a bus whose driver promised to stop close to my hotel but continued to the furthest reaches of the city until I realized I should probably just get off and figure out where I was.

Leaving El Salvador for Guatemala, my bad luck continued. At the border stop, a money changer jipped me for about $20. Then my express bus to Quetzaltenango broke down in the mountains. After waiting half an hour, my fellow passengers and I flagged down a passing bus and I spent the rest of the journey reliving my chicken bus days (three to a seat in a decommissioned school bus)

I admit the past week put some doubts in my abilities as a backpacker. (I thought I was good at this!!) But you learn to take it in stride and remember that at least in retrospect, this will all seem glamorous.

Progress in Progreso

Some photos from recent happenings in Honduras.

The last day of school for one of my best friends in El Progreso, Alicia. She got me the job teaching at the Best American School and left for her hometown Chicago, and then Portugal. Her 10th graders now have me as their chemistry and physics teacher.

Because I am now teaching 10th grade science I am no longer the school´s P.E. teacher! I´m going to miss my kindergarten class but not so much the roudy 1st and 2nd graders...

Nima (in the black shirt) worked with OYE in 2007 and came back for a month this summer to help out with the transition process into 2009. Nima speaks 5 languages, is originally from Iran but his family lives in Sweden, and he was basically broke after traveling around Brazil for 4 months. So he decided to enter a baleada (Honduras´s official snack food) eating contest to vie for a prize of 500 Lempiras. He managed to eat 4 1/2 in 2 minutes but the big guy on the right ended up winning with a 3 round total of something like 23!

I was a bit politics obsessed (just ask my roommates) for the last months of this year´s election. Although we dont have cable in our house, my fellow volunteers andI used a projector and an internet connection to watch the live feeds of the presidential debates and of course the election night coverage!

Best American School

According to my original travel plans, by now I should be standing on the sidelines of a high school football game in New Jersey. But the cool thing about traveling by yourself is that you can go where fate takes you. I first came to Honduras in August planning to volunteer for a month and a half with a youth program. But after being here for a bit, I realized I wanted to stay longer and I found a job as a teacher at a bilingual school here in El Progreso. So at least for the time being I have made the switch from TV sports reporter to sociology, psychology, physics and P.E. teacher.


The school is called ¨Best American School,¨ a private bilingual school with about 200 students. I teach all of my classes in English--psych, physics and sociology to the 10th grade and P.E. to the entire school including kindergarten. This could turn out to be one of the toughest things I¨ve done. The hours are long and early: I wake up at 5:30am every day to be at school by 7:00. Classes end at 1:00 and then I work with the OYE radio program from 2:00-5:00. And the job is demanding: i'm teaching subjects I haven¨t studied for a long time, plus trying to get 22 1st graders to pay attention to you in P.E. class in a second lesson is a challenge to say the least.


But Im happy I made the decision to stay longer. Not everyone gets the chance to just put everything back home on hold and although I miss everyone back in the states, I know I made the right choice.