So I had a wicked busy summer at Apx. That is the busiest time of year at the company I work for because that is when all the sales reps are selling. So, the whole summer, you are only allowed 5 da
ys off, which I had to use for my brother's wedding in May (the very beginning) so I did not really feel like I got much of a vacation while the rest of my friends (who taught school and got the summer off) were going everywhere and doing lots of fun stuff and I was all kinds of jealous cause I love to leave Provo every chance I get. Sometime towards the end of the summer I mentioned wanting to go out of the country... somewhere cheap, like Guatemala. I had always wanted to see the ruins and I remember how much I loved Costa Rica a
nd Nicaragua years ago when I went with my sister. So when I threw that out there, my friend from work, Jordan said he would want to go too. It was great, but I never believe people until we buy the plane tickets together. Anyway... when trying to get other people to come, most people said, that would be cool, but.... and nobody ever really commits, weird. Thankfully, one of Jordy and Trever's friends, Nate (Who we call "Big Nate"who also promised Brent when he was seeing me off on my trip that he would not touch me) decided he wanted to go too. I was glad cause it would have been a little awkward if it had
been just Jordy and I. So we bought our plane tickets together and it was final. For a long time I didn't feel like I was going. Jordy had since moved back home to AZ and I never saw Big Nate because Jordy and Trev had both moved and that was the only time I saw him... so I never talked about it with them, but the date came that we were supposed to leave and we met up in Vegas at one of my best friend Lolly's house and she took us to the airport the next morning and off we were. We were there for a week Saturday September 27th- Saturday October 4th, and boy was it an adventure. The first picture is a good description of how the week went. Big Nate was the loud one that always needed to take charge and be center of attention, Jordy was always go with the flow/ whatever, and then there was me... the only girl, the one that always got picked on and was always to the side going along with whatever and laughing about things that would happen. Anyway, we didn't have any plans once we landed in Guatemala, the only thing I wanted out of the whole week was to see the ruins. We
got there and found out that they were 8 1/2 hours north of where we were and there was not a whole lot to see in between, so we went to the bus station and got on a bus that drove us all night while we tried to sleep. When the sun came up, we were there in the city of Flores where we would stay in our first hostel and then take a day trip out to Tikal to see the ruins. This was the most expensive part of our trip, but well worth it. The ruins were amazing. As well as the rainforrest. We even saw some Howler Monkeys. So since the main thing that we wanted to do was done the first day we were there, we had to figure out what to do for the rest of the week. A lot of time was spent on different bus ri
des traveling from place to place, which was always an adventure in itself because they don't have speed limits there or many traffic laws for that matter, the only cops I saw were peeing on the side of the road, which is pretty normal for everyone there which is probably why the city smells so bad. So I was always happy when we made it safe to our next destination. We even saw a dead girl on the side of the road on our way somewhere and everyone looked, nobody stopped or did anything about it. It was pretty sad. This is already a long blog... so let me just give some highlights from the trip besides the fact that I like to backpack in foreign countries where I don't know the language (don't worry, both the boys were fluent). 1- we found our church in Coban and decided to stay in a hostel close to there because it made us feel safe. 2- The Quen
tzales, their money (named after the country bird) is so much cooler than ours, very colorful and fun. 3- we ran into sister missionaries in one city and then a district of Elders in another city. 4- the food was awesome
5- I didn't come back with any worms or funky diseases even though I drank and ate things I probably shouldn't have and didn't get any shots before I left... I did get a cold the last day I was there, but that is because I didn't get any sleep all week practically. 6- Learning to bargin with the locals to get the best prices on everything... just walk away and they will always meet your asking price. 7- staying in a hostel that was only 3 dollars a night, I repeat 3 DOLLARS A NIGHT!!! It was pretty ghetto with a broken night stand, broken springs, stains on the pillowcase and no curtain for the window. 8- a new stamp in the passport. 9- coming back wit
h cool stuff, fun stories, and awesome pictures. 10- the fact the Brent was super jealous that I got to go because that is where he served his mission (By the way, thanks Brent for giving me tips and hooking me up with bug spray and itch relief cream before I left... it helped a lot). 11- Our travel buddies! We met some pretty awesome people on our trip, like Ch
arline Bon from France who we met on our overnight bus. She was traveling by herself, so she hung out with us for a day, which was really fun to have another girl around for a little bit. Those are the top ones I can think of right now. But the last day was for sure the worst day of the trip. I woke up with a cold, we walked around dirty Guatemala City for hours, then went to the airport at 3pm... my plane didn't leave until 6:40am the next day. Oh ya... somehow w
e got different flights home too... so I was solo on the way back, but to be honest, it was nice to have a break from the boys and they were jeal
ous I got to leave because they had 5 more hours to wait in the Guatemala airport before they got to leave. I can't say I have ever spent 15 hours in an airport until this trip. It was not fun sleeping there either. I landed in Vegas at 1pm... Lolly was awesome and came and picked me up and then I had until 8pm until the boys flew in. It was fun to hang out with Lolly... but I really wanted to go home. We still had to drive home that night. Big Nate didn't make if far even though I was going off of less sleep than he was, but I think I wanted to be home so bad that I somehow drove us back with 3 days and nights of NO SLEEP! It was pretty much a miracle. We got into Provo at 4:30am. Thank goodness General
Conference was the next day and I didn't have to go anywhere... don't worry, I didn't sleep through it. Anyway... that was my week adventure in Guatemala in a nutshell... pretty awesome. Can't wait for my next trip! :o)
So I had a wicked busy summer at Apx. That is the busiest time of year at the company I work for because that is when all the sales reps are selling. So, the whole summer, you are only allowed 5 da
ys off, which I had to use for my brother's wedding in May (the very beginning) so I did not really feel like I got much of a vacation while the rest of my friends (who taught school and got the summer off) were going everywhere and doing lots of fun stuff and I was all kinds of jealous cause I love to leave Provo every chance I get. Sometime towards the end of the summer I mentioned wanting to go out of the country... somewhere cheap, like Guatemala. I had always wanted to see the ruins and I remember how much I loved Costa Rica a
nd Nicaragua years ago when I went with my sister. So when I threw that out there, my friend from work, Jordan said he would want to go too. It was great, but I never believe people until we buy the plane tickets together. Anyway... when trying to get other people to come, most people said, that would be cool, but.... and nobody ever really commits, weird. Thankfully, one of Jordy and Trever's friends, Nate (Who we call "Big Nate"who also promised Brent when he was seeing me off on my trip that he would not touch me) decided he wanted to go too. I was glad cause it would have been a little awkward if it had 
been just Jordy and I. So we bought our plane tickets together and it was final. For a long time I didn't feel like I was going. Jordy had since moved back home to AZ and I never saw Big Nate because Jordy and Trev had both moved and that was the only time I saw him... so I never talked about it with them, but the date came that we were supposed to leave and we met up in Vegas at one of my best friend Lolly's house and she took us to the airport the next morning and off we were. We were there for a week Saturday September 27th- Saturday October 4th, and boy was it an adventure. The first picture is a good description of how the week went. Big Nate was the loud one that always needed to take charge and be center of attention, Jordy was always go with the flow/ whatever, and then there was me... the only girl, the one that always got picked on and was always to the side going along with whatever and laughing about things that would happen. Anyway, we didn't have any plans once we landed in Guatemala, the only thing I wanted out of the whole week was to see the ruins. We 
got there and found out that they were 8 1/2 hours north of where we were and there was not a whole lot to see in between, so we went to the bus station and got on a bus that drove us all night while we tried to sleep. When the sun came up, we were there in the city of Flores where we would stay in our first hostel and then take a day trip out to Tikal to see the ruins. This was the most expensive part of our trip, but well worth it. The ruins were amazing. As well as the rainforrest. We even saw some Howler Monkeys. So since the main thing that we wanted to do was done the first day we were there, we had to figure out what to do for the rest of the week. A lot of time was spent on different bus ri
des traveling from place to place, which was always an adventure in itself because they don't have speed limits there or many traffic laws for that matter, the only cops I saw were peeing on the side of the road, which is pretty normal for everyone there which is probably why the city smells so bad. So I was always happy when we made it safe to our next destination. We even saw a dead girl on the side of the road on our way somewhere and everyone looked, nobody stopped or did anything about it. It was pretty sad. This is already a long blog... so let me just give some highlights from the trip besides the fact that I like to backpack in foreign countries where I don't know the language (don't worry, both the boys were fluent). 1- we found our church in Coban and decided to stay in a hostel close to there because it made us feel safe. 2- The Quen
tzales, their money (named after the country bird) is so much cooler than ours, very colorful and fun. 3- we ran into sister missionaries in one city and then a district of Elders in another city. 4- the food was awesome
5- I didn't come back with any worms or funky diseases even though I drank and ate things I probably shouldn't have and didn't get any shots before I left... I did get a cold the last day I was there, but that is because I didn't get any sleep all week practically. 6- Learning to bargin with the locals to get the best prices on everything... just walk away and they will always meet your asking price. 7- staying in a hostel that was only 3 dollars a night, I repeat 3 DOLLARS A NIGHT!!! It was pretty ghetto with a broken night stand, broken springs, stains on the pillowcase and no curtain for the window. 8- a new stamp in the passport. 9- coming back wit
h cool stuff, fun stories, and awesome pictures. 10- the fact the Brent was super jealous that I got to go because that is where he served his mission (By the way, thanks Brent for giving me tips and hooking me up with bug spray and itch relief cream before I left... it helped a lot). 11- Our travel buddies! We met some pretty awesome people on our trip, like Ch
arline Bon from France who we met on our overnight bus. She was traveling by herself, so she hung out with us for a day, which was really fun to have another girl around for a little bit. Those are the top ones I can think of right now. But the last day was for sure the worst day of the trip. I woke up with a cold, we walked around dirty Guatemala City for hours, then went to the airport at 3pm... my plane didn't leave until 6:40am the next day. Oh ya... somehow w
e got different flights home too... so I was solo on the way back, but to be honest, it was nice to have a break from the boys and they were jeal
ous I got to leave because they had 5 more hours to wait in the Guatemala airport before they got to leave. I can't say I have ever spent 15 hours in an airport until this trip. It was not fun sleeping there either. I landed in Vegas at 1pm... Lolly was awesome and came and picked me up and then I had until 8pm until the boys flew in. It was fun to hang out with Lolly... but I really wanted to go home. We still had to drive home that night. Big Nate didn't make if far even though I was going off of less sleep than he was, but I think I wanted to be home so bad that I somehow drove us back with 3 days and nights of NO SLEEP! It was pretty much a miracle. We got into Provo at 4:30am. Thank goodness General
Conference was the next day and I didn't have to go anywhere... don't worry, I didn't sleep through it. Anyway... that was my week adventure in Guatemala in a nutshell... pretty awesome. Can't wait for my next trip! :o)
6 comments:
Fun to learn about your trip abroad and see some of the pictures. You are very brave Tracy. Glad you came back in one piece.
Okay, so I have so much to say! I'll use your efficitent method
1- I love and hate long posts. Love: tons of cool stuff. Hate: too much cool stuff to remember to comment upon. 2- I really love the market place photo! 3- WOW! You went to Guatemala!! 4- I bet the ruins were amazing. 5- Do you have more pics that I can see sometime? 6- I think I need to be updated on somethings...like Brent? hehe 7- sorry about not putting you on my "list" I used to have like everyone, but last week I changed my layout and havn't added everyone. Sorry! :(
Hey, you must have had a good time because you have two number 5s! ;-) That sounds like fun, you know for you. I have a child now, so if I did that it would pretty much be a nightmare. Good for you, Tracy! Carpe Diem!
Dang it... two number 5's? It was late... maybe I will try and find it in my long post and edit it. ha ha
I'm glad you had a fun trip and didn't come back with any worms. :)
Wow Guatemala! How cool is that! Your pictures are awesome! Like Cheryl I too would like to hear more about Brent. I definately have to give you a call, maybe on the weekend because when you are off of work I am in bed. Crazy East coast time! Let me know when you are not working on the weekends.
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