10 days in Central America (pt. I)
(Typically this blog will update once a week with a reflection about the Trinity. Recently, however, I spent 10 days in Central America, and was unable to update. As such, four entries are my reflections of the trip.)
Part I.
Initial Impressions:
Leaving Gettysburg at 2 a.m. I began a cultural immersion to Central America. Driving in the van I realized all the mental preparation I had been doing for over a month was now being put to work. In the airport my vertigo began. Landing in Houston the stewardess had a clear Hispanic accent. The white, middle-class culture was beginning to merge with a southern culture.
The plane was operated by an American company, but many of the people on the plane were not as ‘western’ as me. More and more I realized I was about to be in a much different atmosphere.
Landing in Managua, Nicaragua I was not sure what to expect. The airport was so small for such a large city. The temperature was much more humid and warm than the chilly Baltimore we flew from. Stepping out of the airport suddenly I was no longer the majority. In three short hours in the air my environment had changed so drastically that I felt as if I were a different person, or on a different planet. I felt intimidated. That was before I even left the airport.
At this point, all of my experiences of interacting in different environments were simply a memory. In the airport I was no longer participating in a mental exercise. Walking to the van with a translator from Minnesota, and driver from Managua all I could do was internally reflect.
Driving to our hotel I was bombarded. Not with advertisements as in the states, but with people walking along a busy highway selling anything from car-mats to water in bags. Even the hotel was an experience in cultural immersion. It was hot inside, not conditioned to the perfect temperature. The lobby was open to the outside. The rooms felt more like a house. I tried not to judge the situation too early, but I felt the hotel was not too accommodating.
In my hotel room I tried to collect my thoughts, to gather myself. I felt lost, intimidated and a vague sense of vertigo. At the same time, I did not feel scared. I have spent summers working in cities, and I have learned to feel safe in crowded environments.
At this early stage in the trip I felt a little off kilter, but nothing too drastic. That’s until the next morning.
From landing, a lecture, dinner there had been a translator with me. The first morning in Managua I woke up early. Took a newspaper to the lobby and expected a continental breakfast. There was nothing in the lobby. Confused I sat at a table and waited for my classmates to wake up and realize the hotel would not be serving breakfast.
But then a polite woman approached me and said, “Desayuno.” Now, I’ve studied Spanish for four years, but I could not wake up my mind. “desayuno?” I repeated. “Si,” the woman said. All I could do was apologize and say I do not understand. I felt silly and embarrassed. The woman left, and returned with a slip of paper that explained the hotel served breakfast. Now even more embarrassed that I had forgotten such a basic word, I accepted breakfast.
The woman returned with a bowl of fruit and juice. She obviously realized my Spanish was nominal at best, so very clearly she asked if I wanted coffee. After that rocky start my day was underway. As my classmates came out I told them what desayuno meant, laughed about my experience and watched my peers go through their first interactions alone.
At this early stage in the trip I still considered myself an observer. I was invested in the trip, but as I reflect now I can see that slowly more and more I invested myself. By day four I would be much more invested than I was at this early intimidating stage of the trip.
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