By the time I was a senior in high school, I had already traveled to Guatemala once for a service trip. Now, towards the end of February break of my senior year, I was in the middle of the rural countryside in Guatemala, traveling a familiar rocky road in a grey van. I was with fellow students who went on the trip the year before, and we were on our way to visit the community we had become acquainted with exactly a year earlier.
Going down a winding, bumpy road in a strange country with a less than careful driver was nerve-wracking to say the least. Every rock and pothole made itself known by jolting the van and everyone in it whenever we drove over one. Fortunately for us, the roughness of the trip made up for itself by the scenic route on which we were traveling. Being on a rural road in the heart of Guatemala allowed …show more content…
Instead of sharing the road with various other cars and bikers, it was more common for us to see an assembly of cows being herded down the street. There was no formal bus system, just a bunch of random people who bought a yellow school bus, painted it an eccentric color or design, and started driving people around, eventually forming their own bus route. In order to transport any belongs they might need for the day, people would lift everything on their backs, much like we would load the trunk of our cars. Usually the men would have bundles of wood, bales of hay, or worn-out backpacks, while the women more often than not were carrying their babies. We passed by houses built with bricks made from the copper colored clay in the ground. Even though they looked empty, it was apparent someone lived there because of the numerous cages or enclosures that contained chickens, pigs, horses, and cows. Some houses had thriving gardens containing
Going down a winding, bumpy road in a strange country with a less than careful driver was nerve-wracking to say the least. Every rock and pothole made itself known by jolting the van and everyone in it whenever we drove over one. Fortunately for us, the roughness of the trip made up for itself by the scenic route on which we were traveling. Being on a rural road in the heart of Guatemala allowed …show more content…
Instead of sharing the road with various other cars and bikers, it was more common for us to see an assembly of cows being herded down the street. There was no formal bus system, just a bunch of random people who bought a yellow school bus, painted it an eccentric color or design, and started driving people around, eventually forming their own bus route. In order to transport any belongs they might need for the day, people would lift everything on their backs, much like we would load the trunk of our cars. Usually the men would have bundles of wood, bales of hay, or worn-out backpacks, while the women more often than not were carrying their babies. We passed by houses built with bricks made from the copper colored clay in the ground. Even though they looked empty, it was apparent someone lived there because of the numerous cages or enclosures that contained chickens, pigs, horses, and cows. Some houses had thriving gardens containing