Stuck Inbetween

Where were we? These details have not been lost in the abyss of time. Anybody (and believe me there are a few) who has heard me tell this story knows the opening line. We didnt know where we were. In fact, we will never know where we were. It was a tiny distant town coming out of the mountains somewhere on the eastern side of the country between Saxaxe and Semuc Champay. Here is what I can tell you. There was electricity, but there wasnt an ATM. The town operated on cash and it seemed like what went into the town stayed in the town. Little bits would be added to the community pot from time to time, but the community recycled its currency.

Anyways, where did I leave off? Right, The bus driver kicked us off the bus and told us he would be back at 4AM. At this point, we had enough money for a meal for the two of us, or maybe... just maybe a room for one of us. As hungry as we were, room and board in an unknown Guatemalan city was more important than food.

We argued with the bus driver about our predicament, but to no avail. He did however walk us down to a little restaurant/hotel where his wife worked and asked them about a room for us. They said they didnt have any room, but tried to get us to come in and eat. Thoroughly uninterested, we told them we didnt have the money for it and set off across the street to another restaurant/hotel. Their prices were equally out of our budget and they told us that there wasnt any other place to stay in the city.

It was dark, we had nobody to talk to to see if it was even safe to be out at night and it looked like we were about to be spending the night without shelter. We walked down the road back towards the crossroads where the bus had dropped us off. There were small homes and buildings down one way and dirt highway down the other. Nerves were setting in withe very step we took and we really didnt know where to turn.

Believe it or not, I have been in a position or two like this before, but never this serious or potentially imminent with danger. Nonetheless, in my past instances, something truly amazing has always happened to me and for this reason and outlook, I have adopted the mindset of expecting everything to work out. Someday down the line, this outlook may go horribly wrong, but I think it may have saved us that night. There are two paths to choose in a time like this. There is the woah is me path filled with panic and pity, which can only leave a negative impression with people who might be able to help you. Contrary to that, there is the collected approach where you realize that it is only a night. Sure there is danger, but the sun will rise the next morning, so with a level head, you can begin to devise a plan for the time being.

After sitting and pondering for a minute, we decided that even if we didnt sleep that night, we needed to find a place where we would be safe. The restaurant where our bus drivers wife worked had a big gated enclosure around it and we thought maybe they would just allow us to stay within the gates until we had to leave. We headed back to the restaurant where they once again tried to get us to come in and eat. We explained our situation that we had no cash and just needed a place safe to stay until we left. Shortly after we did this, the owner of the place, a short and robust Guatemalan woman comes up to us and tells us that one of their guests left and a bed opened up for us to have. We told her that was thoughtful but we still had no money to pay her. She then made our night and told us it was no problem, we could stay the night for free.

Like I said, you can take the situation two different ways. By meaning well and keeping our spirits up, we were saved by this extremely gracious woman. She then brought us into the kitchen area of the restaurant and asked us what we wanted to eat. We once again told her that it was okay and we had no money to pay her. She at this point, considered us guests in her house and that meant a meal as well. Taken aback by the hospitality, our grumbling bellies gave in and asked for a hearty dish of gallo pinto, the rice and bean common meal of Central America.

The other women in the kitchen immediately got going on our feast and our host took us to our bed. Attached to the side of the restaurant was a long hallway-type room made from decayed planks of wood. We stepped inside and saw a a row of about 8 beds with little dividers in between each. This was no hotel, it was where the family slept. She took us to the last bed at the end of the hallway and told us this is where we could spend the night. The bed looked like heaven. We dumped our backpacks on the side, thanked her repeatedly and walked out back into the kitchen.

I think I forgot to mention that when I left Santa Teresa, a friend gave me a bag of brown rice that I had been carrying in my backpack ever since. During our famine, it steadily mocked us as we had no way to cook it. I grabbed it and brought it out to the kitchen as this was the perfect occasion. The women looked at it with confused glances because they had never seen something like it. They were accustomed to the traditional white rice that was a steeple in every meal. They threw it in the pot anyway and tried their hand at cooking it.

Finally letting our guard down and comfortable in the fact that we had been saved, we began to mingle with the family. In one of the beds in the hallway, there was a baby that Anne began playing with. I tried talking with some of the women in the kitchen, but my Spanish wasnt going over too well.

After a little while, Anne and I headed out for a bit to walk around the town. Down at the crossroads and up towards the houses and buildings, there was a soccer field where a few games were going on. Part of the community had congregated around to watch their local heroes duke it out. It was uplifting to watch because it seemed like the town was very impoverished and clearly disconnected from the rest of the world, so their own townspeople became the stars and played for the pride and entertainment for their community. In a land where everybody had next to nothing, there wasnt one of them without a smile or look of contentment on their face while watching the game. After watching for a bit, we decided to go back to the restaurant to see if our meal was ready.

When we arrived, the group of women were standing around the pot of rice tasting it and becoming increasingly annoyed with its consistency. They kept telling me it was too hard and didnt know how else to cook it. It was a little hard, but I told them thats how that rice usually is and it would be fine for the meal. They looked dissatisfied but put it on a plate for us with beans and freshly made tortillas. Anne and I feasted as if it would be our last meal. With every bite, we grew more jovial while coherency and strength returned to our frail bodies and minds. After spending the past few days eating next to nothing, we finally had a hearty meal and could look forward to sleeping in a real bed.

After dinner, we both quickly slipped into a food coma and became drained from the worry we had experienced earlier so we decided to go to bed. We thanked everybody for the meal and said our goodnights before heading back down the hallway. I pulled out my guitar and strummed out a few chords and Anne went to seek out a bathroom. I heard her speaking with our host and following the directions to the room behind the kitchen. A minute later, I hear Anne scream and a ferocious bark follow. I jumped up and looked into the room. There was a little Guatemalan girl and a large dog that was chained to a fixture in the room. The girl was holding the dog and telling Anne to go past her to get to the bathroom. After seeing that all was well, I went back to the bed to continue my strumming. When Anne returned, she told me that the bathroom was nothing more than a hole in the ground.

Here we were, in an unknown city where this large family with a small restaurant and virtually no living quarters had taken us in. The amount of poverty witnessed tonight was astonishing but they, for no desire of gain, purely out of kindness and generosity took us into their home, welcomed us, fed us, and gave us a bed. I couldnt help but think that if this were to have happened to us in Los Angeles, there is not a doubt in hell that we would be spending the night huddled together under some highway overpass as car after car drove by. Again, the funny thing about traveling is that I have learned to expect the best in awful situations. I attribute our fortunes that night to nothing more than a proper perspective and understanding of a given predicament, but I am also in the utmost awe and gratitude of what this family did for us.

The time had come, we were shells of people and we finally decided to knock out. We were the first ones in the hallway to go to bed and we had double checked our alarms to make sure we would be up in time to catch our bus. The bed was outrageously comfortable. after spending the past few nights camping and on a bus, we were living the good life. the weather was brisk and an open window right next to us allowed us full enjoyment of the covers. The only drawback was that we both woke up countless times in the night scratching and swatting mosquitoes away. we were being eaten alive.

The 3:45 hour came swiftly and our alarms did the trick in waking us up. I got up and grabbed my bag. As I headed for the door, I saw that every bed in the hallway was occupied with a sleeping body and then I squinted a little closer. Every sleeping body in the hallway had a mosquito net over the bed. I walked back to my bed where Anne was still grabbing her things and looked directly above it. There, in plain sight, was a neatly coiled mosquito net that we had neglected all night. A clear and sensible reason as to why we were feasted upon all night.

with a shrug, we chucked our blunder aside and headed for the door of the hallway. Our host woke up at that point and went to let us out of the restaurant gates. On our way out, I took the last little bit of our Guatemalan currency and left it on one of the tables. The family had refused to accept anything from us, but this small token of appreciation hopefully was the least that we could offer.

We thanked the woman again as she let us out of the gate and headed down to where the bus said it would be. Sure enough, it was there and our driver was ready to go. This bus didnt cost us anything because it was part of the ticket we purchased the day before. We now had no money whatsoever and new we would be in some real trouble if Lanqin didnt have an ATM.

We hopped on the bus, still with sleep in our eyes and fatigued from our travels. We squeezed into a bench seat towards the front and I promptly tried to pass out again. Anne tapped me on the shoulder. my eyelids slowly lifted to reveal my bloodshot eyes and i stared at her to see what she wanted. She pointed to a piece of paper taped to the window of the bus. I turned and slowly read it. In black bold letters, this typed and centered script read, "NO ATM EN LANQIN". I rolled my eyes back towards her to show that my spirits had once again sank and then leaned up against the window to go back to sleep. There was no use in worrying about this problem right now. It would still be there when I awoke.