As I’m writing this I’m lying in bed in Nuevo Horizonte. A small jungle town in the north of Guatemala where around 100 people live and work together. Recently (a day ago) we wrapped up our time in San Juan La Laguna with our homestay family’s. While I admit I cried a bit as we wound our way through mountain towns at almost and then past midnight.
But for this Yak post I wanted to share happy memories from my week with my homestay. Going into my homestay I was scared. Maybe my Spanish was not good enough, maybe they would not like me. I was scared I would be lost, both literally and not.
But that first night at my homestay, I was just looking out the kitchen windows (on the top floor) at the mountain range that surrounds the city. I had been told to wait and then later help with cooking. But as I was spacing out, a little girl wearing an all pink outfit and watching YouTube came bouncing up the stairs. From that moment, she was almost always by my side. Her name was Willa, and I’ll start with memories that involve her.
Playing uno in more ways than I can count on my fingers because I did not know how to explain the rules in spanish
running late to Spanish class because she wanted ice cream and how could I possibly say no. Being sent for tortillas down the street or right next door for five minutes after curfew (shhhh). Teaching her English numbers and skipping down streets at night hand in hand. Willa, eating all my trail mix and not getting in trouble because I like how it made her smile. Dancing and playing with balloons. Learning everything about cabybaras. My arm becoming a shoulder to sleep on in church, and feeling like I finally had the little sister I have always wanted. More hugs than I could say and hearing my name on repeat because she liked the way it rolled off her tongue.
The patience of my mom Christina while waiting for me to the right words in Spanish. Trusting my hands to carry plates up and down the rickety stairs three times a day. Dressing me up in traditional clothes and smiling so I knew she approved. Feeding me so much good food I never really needed snacks and showing me kindness through everything.
Inviting me to come back in the future when the construction on the house is done and keeping me company in silence and conversation. My homestay sister using Google translate to tell me I looked pretty in traditional clothes and smiling when we crossed paths. Learning how to play basketball on the first night and how they tried even after realizing sports are my enemy (I just don’t have talent). Walking down the beautifully lit streets after dinner and talking about school on a dock. Playing uno one day and laughing so hard because my homestay brother Cristian kept making me take more and more cards. Showing photos of my state and city on my homestay mom’s phone and loving how they wanted to know more. Dressing up all together and attending church for the first time where music brought everyone together. The pastor or someone else important thanked me for coming and including me in a prayer circle.
Meeting more extended family than I can count on my fingers and everyone treating me like their own kids. Sitting on a stoop across from my house with a cousin and sister and grandparents and my family and just watching the world go by. Being a part of a photoshoot for Rebecca homestay sisters quinceañera and crashing on the concha floor trying to catch their smaller dog (they have three in total). Feeling like I had a temporary family and wishing I could stay even just a week longer, go on more walks, play uno till I know the rules in Spanish by heart. I don’t even know what else I would do because I could just be, and they wanted me there in the home with them. And all I can say is: muchas gracias para todos y algun día yo voy a visitar mi familia de San Juan La Laguna.
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