#120 - wasting time

i've been back now for four days, and what do i have to show for it? not much besides pictures on flickr. yes, it took awhile, but that's not a good excuse. luckily my work has been calling me non-stop so i'm working thu, fri, sat this week. so i think i'll be ok money-wise. i was a little worried cause i've got rent coming up and i haven't been working, only spending. i spent just about $1000 on my trip, not counting the airfare there. it's not too bad, i kept track of everything i spent there so i would have a good idea of what i bought. the top three things were hotels ($140), meals/snacks/water ($318) and transportation ($190). other things would be gifts, internet, laundry, stupid phone calls, guatemalan farmacia purchases, border fees, park entrance fees and a massage.

it was the best $1000 i've ever spent.

i've been pretty much here, in my computer chair, doing computer stuff all day and listening to music. where have the days gone? i haven't left the house in a couple days. one of my goals for the week was to get some clothes bags together though and i've been working on that...very slowly. i've actually got 4 plastic bags full of clothes so far. i want to pare it down even more. what i realized while traveling is that i live in a world of excess. it's not just me but all i need to change is myself, i'm not worried about others right now.
we took a lot of buses through small towns and saw people living in probably 10x10 cement buildings with dirt floors. while i'm not gonna go that far i know that i don't want to live in a big house. i live in a room right now, it's probably about 8x13 or so. pretty small but it's just me and i've got a living room, bathroom, basement, and kitchen also in the house. whole families were living in these tiny rooms and that was it. plus they have lots of kids there, who knows where everyone slept.

another thing was that i did not travel with that much clothes:
-2 tank tops
-2 t-shirts
-black, collared short sleeve shirt
-green, no collared short sleeve shirt
-collared long sleeve shirt
-long sleeve linen shirt
-swim suit
-3 shorts/capris (gray, green, khaki)
-fleece
-rain jacket
-hat
-chaco sandals
-merrell waterproof shoes!
-rubber slippers
-3 undies and socks

some things i was able to just wash and hang up to dry. we did laundry i think 3 times, about once a week. although it was kind of tiring to wear the same things, i did mix and match them so i had some variety. so what i learned about that was i have WAY TOO MUCH CLOTHES! i barely wear things and other things i wear to death. while i'm not throwing out my whole closet, i do want to simplify it a bit. no one really needs 50 t-shirts right? especially ones with the same design...you get a new shirt on every dodgeball team, so i have a zillion shirt that say "recess time sports" on it, in many colors. i'm not gonna wear that anywhere but dodgeball really so into a plastic bag they went. if someone gives me a shirt, i try to wear it and keep it. really, i should only wear things i really like and that fit well but i'll hold onto things that people gave me that don't even fit...just in case. don't wanna hurt any feelings. i've also got a million orange/OSU shirts from athletic training days. i probably don't need them ALL.

so what i do is every hour or so, i get off my butt and do a little bit of cleaning/organizing/purging at a time. then i watch a movie or tv show online, or make some spaghetti. i am just enjoying the last days of my freedom i guess. tomorrow i am actually leaving the house to hang out with family friends then watch some dodgeball. go me!

i am also trying not to go grocery shopping, yet. the thing is, everyone has a pantry right? so you stock up on things when they go on sale and what not. well, do you ever really use everything? no. i tend to go through certain things and then some things just stay there. so now i'm trying to eat everything here before i go shopping. i will probably have to buy some things like fruits/veggies but i've got spaghetti, beans, rice, tomatoes, noodles, ramen, curry, miso soup, applesauce (my grandma sent me a care pkg full of little cups of applesauce), instant oatmeal, chili, soup, salsa, tofu, mac&cheese, crackers, frozen veggies and PB. i think i could live for quite awhile on those things.

#119 - being back blues

i don't know what it is but i feel really off. coming back from a long and exciting vacation is just no fun. i wanted it to just keep going but had to come home. so sad. i wonder if this is common. i don't have to work till friday so i've been sitting in my jammies all day, not really motivated to do much. i've been eating spaghetti and ramen cause that's what i have around. going to the store just sounds like too much work, and i'd have to spend money too. man i'm weird now. my excuse for staying home is that i've been working on my trip pictures. it's on my flickr account so hopefully you can view it easily.

it was fun to go over them and remember each place, the beginning seems like so long ago! i'd say the coolest day was going to the Tikal ruins in the jungle, we saw monkeys and really old temples. each place is special in a different way but jungles are really cool!traveling to far away places just makes you appreciate everything you have at home even that much more. i will never take a toilet or hot shower for granted again. i was walking through the portland saturday market the other day, it's an artsy craft fair type market they have every weekend. it was weird to walk through looking at people's stalls and not be harassed! that sounds bad but everywhere we went they were trying to sell something, especially at the chichi market. it was a ton of fun but it's over-stimulating sometimes when people are yelling at you "what chu like?" and you have to push through people to get somewhere. a guy tried to sell me a pink hand mirror on a chicken bus! that was funny.

i can't say i enjoyed every minute of my trip but it was one of the coolest things i've ever done and i definitely need to do more traveling. i especially want to go to more spanish speaking countries and learn a little more spanish. i think my english has become worse though, if that's possible. i was writing spanish in my journal the whole time there and although it was hard i learned a lot of words that way.

back to reality i guess. i start work on friday (or before if someone calls in, which happens) and school next tuesday. i've got 40 hours of clinicals next month, then my parents come to visit (for the UH game). it's just one thing after another. i liked traveling, not really knowing what's gonna come up next and not really having a plan. there were places i wanted to go and hostels i wanted to stay at but we were flexible and altered our original plans a few times. it's good to be flexible and not let things bother you. hopefully i will make it out of my house tomorrow, since my pictures are done.

#118 - most expensive call ever

i´m not writing this on my travel blog because my mom would read it, be scared and then my dad would give me a lecture. so here it is.

we are in san pedro and i was done at the internet cafe, Q8 for an hour. pretty good deal when Q7=$1. next door was a telephone calling place so i thought, hey i´ll give my grandma on maui a call. the price was listed as USA Q1.50, good deal again. so i call her and we´re chatting and i´m enjoying the conversation but only have on me about Q45 so i stop at 15 minutes knowing that i still want to have some money left over. i go to pay and the girl say "ciento treinta y cinco" (Q135) which totally floors me because i expected something like Q25 or so. i said "QUE?!" and so she repeats then types it out on a calculator then this other guy comes over. i said this is wrong. i am not sure what i said in spanish and what in english but pretty much argued with them. then they showed me in their book that hawaii was not a part of the los estados unidos (USA) and that 808 is hawaii (duh). i said hawaii is a state of the USA and i´m from there. i´m american, blah blah blah. it says on the wall that it´s Q1.50, etc. i was so pissed and didn´t know what to do. i said all i have is Q45, do you want that? they said no, we need the whole amount. i´m like, where´s your boss? "guatemala city" that´s not going to help. they barely speak english and i barely speak spanish. i wanted to scream but i didn´t want to be arrested. finally they said go and return with the money más tardes (later).

so i go back and tell arna and of course i´m pissed and she gets pissed and eventually she goes to call her mom to see what to do. when she comes back she´s pissed and practically crying. it´s like hours later and she went back and started yelling at the girl saying it´s not right and some other things. she paid the Q135 and the girl said not to come back or she´d call the cops. so all night i thought they were after us. would they not let us out of the country for a bill a little less than $20? it´s not that it was too much money, i did have a little more in the hotel but it was the whole idea of it. i didn´t want to pay because they advertised it as Q1.50 and didn´t say shit about hawaii not being USA. i´m sick of people not knowing that hawaii is the 50th state!!!

at least my grandma was happy that i called.