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 I wasted hours trying to navigate the convoluted bus system of the city, being sent to one place then another by my out-of-date guidebook and well-meaning people on the street.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.

Final Days in El Progreso

I arrived in Honduras in August planning to stay one month. Now after five months in El Progreso I will be leaving in January for Mexico City.

Earlier in December I said goodbye to my teachers and students at Best American school and on the 20th I spent my last day as an OYE volunteer. OYE held it's "Entrega de Becas," a welcome event for our new crop of scholarship students which brings our group to a total of 75 youths.

At the event, my radio students provided me with one of my proudest moments at OYE. The group planned their 6th radio show to be a year-in-review and also coverage of the scholarship event. With only a little prompting from me, the radio crew scoured the room for interviews with new students, parents, and OYE staff members, and interviewed themselves about their experiences in the program. The group of audio editors took care of the sound and our music group presented their top 5 songs of the year. After months of teaching them what I know about radio (in Spanish, which was no easy task) I was overwhelmed to see them put it into practice with such ease.

The OYE radio group

There were times when the radio students struggled to keep their focus and when our weekly meetings were not as productive as I would have hoped. But on my last day I could feel the energy and passion of the kids and I wish that I could spend another five months helping them towards the goal of a live over-the-air radio broadcast.

OYE was what brought me to El Progreso and although i also found a job teaching at a local high school in the mornings, OYE was where my heart is, and I will miss my radio students the most.

More from Guatemala

I spent 5 weeks in Quetzaltenango learning spanish with 4 amazing Spanish teachers. (from left to right, Mariela, Angel, Mariana, and Juan Ramon) On my last day they handed me a certificate of graduation from my school, El Nahual. It definitely doesn't mean i'm fluent--i'll be practicing even more during my month in Honduras--but it was a concrete sign of my progress. None of my teachers knew more than a few words in English which made my 4-hour, 1-on-1 classes challenging but all the more rewarding. Each had their own strengths, accents, teaching styles, and topics of conversation. Overall, I couldn't have asked for a better team to learn from!