Day 1 of The Gringo Diaries

Guess who has two thumbs and is finally in Guatemala?! THIS KID RIGHT HERE. I was so nervous yesterday morning I felt like if I opened my mouth at all I'd cry or throw up or both, so up until the plane ride to Atlanta, I was kind of a wreck. But after landing at ATL, a lot of the people on my trip were in the terminal on my flight, so I was relieved to meet people so soon. They're all really sweet, the girls totally outnumber the guys, but it's all good. I didn't realize there are basically two trips in one, an anthropology section and a social work section, and the latter is way bigger than the former (there are like 10 or so people in my group!). None of us really knew what was going on-- the leader of the trip has been really vague-- so it was a slow start, but we all made it to the hotel and everything's good. We had a small orientation in the evening, which was basically just question and answer stuff. We had a lot of free time yesterday also, so after we got dinner at this pizza place, some people went out. Most people are 21 or up here, I'm one of three younger students (so people started calling me "baby"), but the drinking age is 18 so it doesn't matter I guess. I didn't feel like tagging along with like 16 other people to find a non-sketchy bar, so I stayed back and joined some people who were drinking wine on the roof. You can see a lot of the city from the roof, and it was so nice and clear last night.

I love looking at people here. I'm so not used to how people look, and their faces fascinate me. Before I left, some people asked what Guatemalans looked like, and I just said they looked Mexican. That's not so PC though and I'm sure once I get to know the people, they won't all look the same.  I'm trying not to stare, because that just makes me look even more like a foreigner ("gringo" in Spanish), but literally everyone has the same look. And nobody is tall, like I tower over a staggering amount of people at 5'2'' (THIS HAS NEVER HAPPENED BEFORE, ESPECIALLY PEOPLE OVER AGE 5). One of the directors of the trip, Carla, said it's going to be like that when I get to the town I'm living in. So I guess blending in isn't really an option-- not that I really considered it, with pasty skin, a curly 'fro, and blue eyes. 

Okay I have like zero time so this post is going to short but as soon as I have wifi again I'll write something that's actually deep ;)

xxx