It Was Meant To Be

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

An incredible thing happened tonight. Ever since I arrived in Guatemala I’ve had my eye out for a guitar. I’d been asking everyone where I might be able to find a shop or if they knew of anyone that had one and was looking to sell. Nothing really came up. A few people had one that was too much or not the right kind. I wanted a classical styled guitar that had significance to Guatemala. Well, over lunch today I decided that I couldn’t be without a guitar any longer, even if I didn’t have much money to spend, so I went to the one shop that I knew of to see what they had. The store of course did have all new things but I did find a few that were in my price range and sounded/looked nice enough. I played about every single guitar in that store and didn’t find one that really jumped at me. There was one that was made in Mexico that played nice and had nice look to it but just didn’t have a connection. So as I sat at work thinking about which guitar I should get I convinced myself that I should just go for the one that was made in Mexico. It fit all the requirements I set out for a guitar, so I figured it would grow on me. I went to the store and played it, then put it back, played it then tried every other guitar in sight. It really did play nice even if I didn’t feel the connection. So I decided just to go for it, I needed a guitar! I told the patient workers that I was going to run to get some money and I’d be back. As I started walking towards the ATM, I thought to myself that I should really check out one more place before I buy this thing, so I flagged down a Tuc Tuc to take me to the music store that I previously couldn’t find. The driver took me there only to find that it was closed. So I asked him to drive me back to the other store. As we were driving he asked me if I was wanting to buy a guitar. I told him I was. He asked what kind I was looking for – electric, acoustic? I told him acoustic and that I wanted the classical styled acoustic. He seemed excited that I wanted that type of guitar and asked if I was only looking for a new one. I said no that a new one didn’t matter to me. He then proceeded to tell me that he actually had a guitar that he was looking to sell that fit my description. He said that it was a very nice guitar even tho it might not look it. The outside is pretty rough but it sounds beautiful. I asked him where the guitar was and if I could see it. So we drove the little tuc tuc (the moto taxi) to his house and he showed me to his room where the guitar was at. Before he even took the guitar down off his dresser I knew it was the one. It was a gorgeous old sunburst finish, weathered with history and song. He told me that his father had bought the guitar new and that he had passed the guitar to him. He said this guitar is Antigua (very old) but sounds beautiful and that they don’t make them like this now. He was right. The guitar sounded beautiful. It was worn and used and the back side was in rough condition, in need of serious repair. But it was perfect. We took turns playing songs for each other and exchanged our views on the significance of music. We both expressed how significant music is in our life. He told me how he plays at church and only plays songs for Dios (God). His songs were beautiful. I asked him if he was sure that he could part with this guitar. He said he was and that it was a gift from God that someone dropped into his tuc tuc wanting to buy a guitar. He said that he needed the money from the guitar and that God placed us together to satisfy our needs. I agreed with him. What were the chances that I would whistle at his taxi, especially since he had already passed me and there are hundreds of taxi’s in the city. What are the chances that he would be the one that would give me a ride to the music store to find it closed and then talk about guitars? It does seem that Dios was pulling some strings to make this come together. I’ve been playing the guitar for hours now and had to stop because my fingers couldn’t take it anymore, but the guitar feels so right and plays all my songs beautifully. I’m still in awe of how it all came together.

Back to grind from a week in Costa Rica

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

After a hiatus I have returned to blogging. A common occurrence in my world of blogging. To fill you in on the happenings of the past weeks I will summarize a bit. I took a trip to Costa Rica to visit my girlfriend, Caitlin, after weeks/months of anticipation to see her. I had sent her off to study abroad in Costa Rica at the end of December and as you know it is now March. Needless to say, I was so excited to see her. So up to time I was supposed to take off I couldn’t focus on much else. When the day finally came I actually had a project in the office that I was working on and excited about. I was putting together a special enewsletter to highlight a few of a our new upcoming products and in doing so I got to use some of designing creativity. After rushing to get everything to go I scrambled back to finish packing and just barely get everything ready before my bus came. I would take a shuttle 4 hours to Guatemala City and then stay with a friend until early the next morning when my flight would take off. As that sounds simple, it really did not happen as said. Yes, I did take the shuttle to the city, but after a stop in Antigua I was informed that they would not drop me off at my specific requested address but would rather drop me off at the hotel with the others going into the city. Ok, no problem, I’ll just take a taxi. I figured I’d give Sara a call and everything would be cool. I try to do that only to find that the number I have does not call Sara. The number calls a man that becomes very agitated after many wrong number calls. So with that predicament I call every resources that I have in trying to find the correct number but have no such luck. I could carry on this story and my agitated frustration but I’ll cut it short by saying that thankfully Sara texted me to check on my whereabouts (since I arrived much later than I had planned). From there everything was good. I arrived at Sara’s place and found that being an English teacher in Guatemala has its perks. She and some other teachers were put up as they described “a very posh” apartment and indeed it was. It was HUGE. They had the top two floors of a building that overlooks the city, the volcanos and all that madness with a perfect view through huge windows in every room. Anyway, I made my flight the next day with more excitement of running around the airport, flight delays, and the works. I was relieved and exhausted when I arrived in Costa Rica and was absolutely thrilled to see Caitlin. I met her good friend Emily and we stopped by their favorite pastry shop to get some sweets. We then went back to her host family’s place for lunch and to relax. The following week of vacation was fantastic. We went to Montezuma, which is on the Pacific Coast, and just relaxed. It was so nice. The beaches were beautiful, the water was warm, and the company was great! One day we went snorkeling at Tortuga Island and swam with some really colorful fish (which none of them bit me!). Another day we hiked to some waterfalls in the mountains and had a delightful time swimming in non salty water. I also jumped off the big waterfall and it was a rush! The last day we went surfing and took lots of pictures. It was such a nice vacation!

Now I’m back to work and sad that there is a big distance between Caitlin and I. Work has been interesting in that there is a new coordinator down here and she has been helping me get started on more and more marketing projects. I am enjoying it but do miss everyone back home. Semana Santa is coming up soon and I am excited for that. Antigua has a big celebration. Well, sorry for all the scattered thoughts. Off to work!

Weekend in San Pedro

Sunday, February 28, 2010

Well, we are having a nice rainy evening to cap off a pretty good weekend. Saturday I woke up slowly and began preparations for a trip to San Pedro with some friends. San Pedro is a lively town full of hippies and young tourists. It’s full of life and beauty and is located across the lake from Panajachel. So as I got moving Saturday morning, I stopped at the office to check my email and see what was happening in the rest of the world. At that time I found out what a horrendous earthquake Chile had and that it would be producing possible tsunami’s on many of the coasts along the Pacific Ocean. I was very alarmed and disturbed by this for many reasons; one being the devastation that occurred in Chile and the other being that Caitlin was staying on Pacific Coast that day in Costa Rica. She had emailed me and informed me that their location was predicting a tsunami to hit at 2 or 3 in the afternoon. After learning about all of that I was really preoccupied and worried about her wellbeing and wasn’t as keen on going to San Pedro until I knew everything would be alright. I also knew I needed to get out of Pana for the weekend. Luckily, the tsunami’s were not as severe and I was able to get San Pedro with a little peace of mind. So as for my trip to San Pedro, I took a boat across Lake Atitlan at 4:30pm with my friend Jezer, who is from Pana, and Erica, a girl from Norway that just began staying at the same homestay. The ride across the lake was fantastic. The water was beautiful and the mountains that surround all parts of the lake were magnificent. It was a very cool ride. Jezer talked to a friend that was playing with his band that night in San Pedro. He was an interesting guy and been to Barcelona and we chatted about that a bit. We got into the city and found cheap room to stay in. Jezer took us around to some beautiful parts in the city and then we stopped by the market to get some food to make sandwiches. Our other friend Harry met up with us after a bit then we got ready to go watch the band perform at a place on the lake and also to watch Jezer perform his Poi routine. Poi is a performance art in which balls of fire connected to chains are swung around in circular patterns. It was an extremely cool experience to see Jezer perform with the band playing and seeing the lake and mountains in the background. I took videos for him and will be putting them online soon. At the show, the police came by, as they have been for a while, to search the entire place for drugs. They searched everywhere and everyone! I even got searched for drugs. San Pedro has been known to have a lot of drugs and this is the reason for the search. It was crazy. The police walked around with heavy duty guns and everyone yelled. No one liked them there. I can understand both sides. The following day (today I guess), we got up slow and found breakfast and a restaurant set up by an Irish fellow. We slowly made our back to the boat and rode across the beautiful lake to our home in Pana.