I’ve ridden in chicken buses, tuk-tuks, cattle trucks, and motos all over the world.  I’ve stayed in bungalows on the ocean, shotgun shacks, mud-brick huts, and even 5-star hotels.  Yet lately, all I want to do is go home for Christmas.  I have met so many people while traveling who don’t talk to their family, who have been living out of the country for years, who never want to go back home.  From the English guy who owns the backpacker hostel to the French girl who sells jewelry in the street to the Chilean guy who runs the Library next door, I constantly see these people living so far from their family and friends who have been here for so many years.  And I can’t help but think- that is the last thing I want!

Don’t get me wrong- I love traveling.  I’ve seen so much, and learned so much, and grown so much as a person.  But I just think that before I hop on another plane out of the country, I’d like a little stability in my life.  I don’t know what form that will take or where I will end up, but this morning when I had to rouse myself out of bed early to catch yet another boat ride, all I wanted was to curl up in bed with a big New York Times and have a lazy Sunday.  Instead I found myself hopping on a public boat full of locals and zipping across the ocean for a trip to Belize.

While I love where I live and my job is interesting and challenging, the last thing I want is to be sent to another backwater village in the remote wilderness for another few months.  In fact, I’d rather work at a chocolate store for the Holiday season and spend time with my family and friends.  I have a few more weeks to stick it out here in the jungle, and I’m just trying to soak up as much possible, see as much as possible, and enjoy Guatemala.  Yet I also dream at night of the Blue Ridge Mountains, Nelson County, and breathing in the crisp mountain air of my hometown.

I know I will never really stop traveling, or learning new things, new cultures, or new languages. But I also know that I would like to establish some kind of a home before I leave again.  I’m ready to unpack some boxes, buy some stuff from Ikea, and maybe even have a regular job.  What kind of job, where I’ll live, and all the other details are still up in the air.  But at least I’ve figured something out during my time here in the jungle.

I dream about wearing classy boots with a cute pea coat, hot stilettos with a mini skirt, or peep toe heels with a little black dress.  I fantasize about slipping into a classy pair of heels, putting on some bright red lipstick, and slipping out the door for a night on the town.

Unfortunately, dreams of fancy heels and cute dresses are lost in the mud that surrounds me.  I live in the jungle, and even though I might love dressing up and sipping martinis, the reality of my current life involves flip flops, lots of sweat, and a simple summer dress or cut offs.  There are small things I can do to make myself feel more beautiful, like wearing a pair of cute earrings or throwing on some mascara, but the reality is that I’m pretty much a wreck (and a very sweaty wreck at that) most of the time.  I wonder if I’m cut out to live like this much longer, but I also wonder at what point did I turn into such a cosmopolitan girl?

God I love peep toes

As a girl, I was a total tomboy who never even brushed my hair and preferred my red rubber farm boots and playing with the goats to tea parties or dress up.  In college, my uniform usually consisted of sweat pants and a tank top I’d throw on after cross country practice and I don’t even think I knew how to use mascara or owned a pair of heels.  Yet while I was in Mexico City busy attending fancy art openings and parties, I suddenly became a glamor girl, or at least a wanna be glamor girl.  Like a little girl trying on her mom’s lipstick for the first time, I was magically enamored with buying fashion magazines, trying out new makeup, and, of course, waltzing about the house in high heels while I cooked dinner.

Not meant for heels

Before I knew it, I was on a plane headed south (way south) of the border and living in the jungle.  While my current surroundings are breathtakingly beautiful, you can’t exactly walk around here in heels.  I’ll just have to wait for Christmas to do that again.  In the meantime. I’ve been spending quite a bit of time shoe shopping online and planning outfits for my return.  I’m thinking classy leather boots, a black blazer, and my silver pashmina.  Can’t wait for New York City.

I don’t really want to ruin these images with words, but I will simply say that this was a bizarre effect I witnessed while riding a boat back to my hotel in Rio Dulce a few days ago.  It was simply beautiful, like so many things I witness here.  Half the sky was pink and the other half was blue, and this was reflected in the water.  Amazing.

Arrrr!!!  Shiver me timbers!!!!  They’ve got cannons this time, all hands on deck you swashbuckling fools!  As I peered out from behind the cannons at the Castillo de San Felipe, overlooking the vast Lago Izabal and the mouth of Rio Dulce, I could picture the pirates shaking in their boots.  The castle, built in the early 1600’s to protect Spanish royalty and strongholds from the marauding pirates of the Caribbean, was attacked multiple times and yet still remains standing as a monument to the old days of glory when the seas were lawless and the men of honor had legs of wood and one eye.

Some of the infamous pirates included Carefull and William Jackson who had their base of operations on the islands of Guanaja and Roatan, William Parker, known as the plunderer of Santo Domingo and Puerto Bello, and Diego the Mulatto, Lieutenant of “Pegleg” Anthony Shirly. Shirly was a pirate of aristocratic birth, called the Adventurous Gentleman, the Highwayman from Jamaica and Puerto Rico.

The castle is part of a National Park and is open to the public, and even includes a nice picnic and swimming area for families.  You can climb around the whole castle and explore the old caves, making for quite a dynamic and interactive experience.  My favorite part was the drawbridge- how often do you get to walk across of those and enter a castle?  Now, if only they had a plank I could walk…

Caught this cutie playing with her dolls on the beach the other day.  She was adorable and just enjoying her afternoon like all children should- playing with her toys.  Unfortunately, for too many children around the world playing and toys are luxuries they simply can’t afford.

Walking home that very same afternoon, I watched a young boy trudge up the coast carrying a heavy load on his back.  He wasn’t enjoying his afternoon- he was working, as so many poor children around the world have to in order to survive.

I dream of the day all children can play.

The largest lake in Guatemala, Lago Izabal is a magnificent expanse of water, surrounded by lush jungle and high mountains.  It is beautiful, and the center of one of the most important watersheds in Central America.  Yet it is being polluted at an increasingly alarming rate, and I wonder who will protect this natural beauty for future generations?

It’s hurricane season around here, and last Sunday was a particularly gloomy day.  The lone King Fisher at the end of this dock seemed to only echo my loneliness, gazing out at the eternal horizon and asking, is this all there is?

I’ll admit, my job can be extremely stressful.  Trying to organize local business people and combat problems like the massive amounts of garbage that wash up on the beach, the high levels of crime, etc etc … well it all gets to me and keeps me awake at night.  Yet a few days ago I visited this local restaurant up the river to collect information and include them in the website I’m helping to create.  It’s a family-run place and these guys would directly benefit if more people started to come to eat at their Grandma’s place.  So every time I want to give up and hop on the next plane home, I think about people like them and their smiling faces, and I know I can handle one more day in the jungle.

What is your daily inspiration?  What helps you get through the tough days and make it all worthwhile?

Ok except for the barbed wire (this is Guatemala after all) you have to admit that my front porch ROCKS.

Izabal, the region where I work, has more protected areas than any other region in Guatemala.  Called the Caribe Verde, or the Green Caribbean, it abounds with breathtaking scenery as far as the eye can see. Part river, part bay, part jungle, and part ocean, Izabal is a unique area teaming with wildlife and inhabited by a diverse mixture of cultures.  Yet just how protected these areas truly are is up for debate.  The government lacks proper resources to ensure that these massive sections of jungle are protected from threats such as deforestation, slash-and-burn farming, and poaching of endangered species.

These threats, combined with an increasing number of tourists who come traipsing through the wildnerness and zooming up the river in motorboats has created a problematic vision of the future and only serve to highlight the importance of creating conservation awareness and fostering environmental education now before it’s too late.