From Guatemalan Time to 75 MPH

So I had to do it, I had to return... from soothing, soul-smoothing Antigua, Guatemala, which has it's own time zone we affectionately call "Guatemalan Time." Guatemalan Time does not include anything more specific than half-hours... any increment of time smaller than a half-hour is not worth nothing. Like you would never worry about someone being 10, 20, 29 minutes late... that's ridiculous, chill out man. When meeting up with someone to go out, the most common way is to just walk around and find them... try their work, el parque central and then the bars, one by one. If you start early, you will definitely find them before the night is over. If you showed up at Riki's and someone told you they had just headed to the Mono Loco for ladies's night but were actually next door salsa dancing at Sin Ventura's, don't be sad, cuz you can always catch them at Cafecito at the after-party because on Guatemalan Time, 2:00 A.M. is early and everyone goes to the after party. Even on Tuesday nights.

Anywho, I didn't wanna leave. No quiero regresar.
Leave the land of bright colored stucco, trees that want nothing more than to give you mangos or limes or avacados, the land of 70 degrees all the time? Leave the land of happy-lazy, es todo bien for the land of hurry up cuz remember, you have to do something with your life! I couldn't remember why I would want to do such a thing.
It's not that my stay in Guatemala was particularly exciting or productive. I didn't travel Guatemala or Central America extensively, I didn't contribute a ton to improving anything- although I was a faithful volunteer at a school and clinic for two months. The thing that made my stay so great, and made me not want to leave, was the lack of activity... Antigua is soooo chilllll! Almost to the point of being a bit slothenly. Sloth? I'm not sure if that can be an adverb, but I know it's one of the seven deadly sins. From the first morning I was shuttled in from the airport, I could feel it... the satisfaction with not a whole lot going on, no rush, no tengo prisa... tranquilo. You can cut the peaceful apathy with a knife- and like a tractor beam, it sucks ya right in.

I miss Antigua for sure, the colorful little crumbling city, everyone just bobbing along under the direction of Mama Volcan Agua. She sits all gorgeous and comfy and cloud-ringed above the town, conducting the goings-on below. She keeps it goin I think, she's the reason for the satisfied rhythm and rhyme of Guatemalan Time. She was my front yard and my walk-to-the-project view, so I know her pretty well. Moody, but totally cool. (:

So it's a good thing that I took off on a little road trip as soon as I got back, to remind me of my own country's goodness. The US can seem so sterile, colorless, manipulated and worked over... like an uptight overachiever? Why aren't all the houses pretty colors and why don't all the buildings have courtyards? Why would you NOT want that?
But, there's little better than renewing your faith in the beauty of your country from inside a little wheeled box, pumpin the good jams, being with some of your favorite people. I parted with my dear friend in Arizona, leaving him to explore the cool clash of tropical vs. desert in the southwest, solo. A little sad after being so physically close for so long, and battling a few of life's pink robots together, but the good-bye was due. I breifly viewed then flew the coop of stupid sinking barely vivando Las Vegas, then joined up with my mom and brother in the climbing canyons of Utah...I think Utah is one of the country's best-kept secrets... Mormon yes, but pleasantly so. I like Mormans, and I like Polygamy Porter. While sipping beer and eating a buffalo burger, one can almost ignore the looming temple in the middle of town (not that's it not pretty, or at least interesting...) And there's never an end to how many jokes you can make about having/not having/sneaking in without the special Moman underwear. My brother took us on a seriously amazing day hike, complete with moose, a billion wildflowers, amazing alpine lakes and craggy cliffs... so gorgeous.
From there, my mom and I drove across the corn-n-soy-corn-n-soy of Nebraska and Iowa, and the story gets much more boring... a million farms irrigated from the speedily shrinking Ogallala Aquifer, really cool other-worldly wind farms, law-breaking at Illinois toll-booths... and then a quick visit to my uncle in Chicago who teaches English at a highschool. We stayed in his art deco-style apartment, walls lined with books and movies and took in a little tour of Chicago. Really cool city, more middle-America-ish than I expected, borderline wholesome. But there's the sweetest silver bean in Milleum Park... there's not a chance I can explain that, so I say just go see it.

Alright, so I really really like America! Seriously, I have so much of it to explore still. Welp, time to go to Africa! hahaha