we took a trip down to panajachel (called "pana" by the locals). it's also where lake atitlan is and is popular among the tourist. on our way we were trying to transfer buses. ash being the lead that she is, talked to the bus driver and we thought all was well as we transfered buses. sadly, we realized we had been had as we ended up in the same location the bus originally left from. frustrated, ash went to try to talk to the bus driver to figure out how we could get to pana.
what do i do, of course, but try to look for anyone that looked like a tourist. a rarity in whatever town it was we were in. i did spot one guy though that looked like he could speak english (how stereotypical is that? how does someone look like they speak english?).
luckily for me, he did. and pretty well too. turns out his name is marvin and he was from the town we were going to. we had a delightful conversation with him. come to find out he's 33 and his dad was a local pastor in pana. he goes home every weekend to see his family. he had lived in los angelos for two years and that's where he picked up his english.
as we approached pana, he offered for us to come meet us family. we were inseperable for the next two days. everywhere we went marvin came with us. it was so perfect! he knew everyone in town and even got us a free boat ride when we were running out of money. his family was absolulely charming. i learned how much you can bond with people even without being able to speak the language. i also learned to say estoy who-gone-doe ("just kidding" in spanish. and yes, i have no clue how to spell it. i can barely speak it, people).
this family completely opened their arms to us. i truly could feel the spirit in their home. it was so refreshing to be around. i even developed a crush on marvin's 21-year-old brother, samuel. yes, i still have a thing for latins. he is trying to go to university to study and my heart goes out to him. i wish i could somehow get him a visa so he could come study here. that's the frustrating thing (one of them) about this country. the education system is so lacking. if you are intelligent and wanting to get higher education it's nearly impossible to get in and pay for it.
one of the highlights of meeting the family was going to a bible appreciation night with them. as their dad is a pastor, he was asked to come and help fundraise. the evening was so interesting and in some ways extreme. they had a pastor casting out sin from one woman and i was so grateful at that moment for the church and priesthood. it was a great glimpse though into just how dedicated and religious these people really are.
meet our new best friend, marvin.
this is a "tuk-tuk" aka taxi. it was a luxury that marvin graciously treated us to.
after the bible appreciation night we walked around town and got dessert. ester (their sister), samuel (marvin's brother) ash, marvin, me and marvin's friend.
ash and i went towards the end of the week to antigua, another tourist spot. marvin travelled three hours each way so he could spend the day with us. and even then we shopped most of the time. this man is a saint. he even carried our bags. don't worry, i treated him to a smoothie to make up for his troubles... this is us in the catacombs at antigua.
the gonzalez family.
this is a video of ash and marvin at the old catholic church. please ignore the camera skills (i apologize for any advance headaches it may cause).
1 comment:
So which one of you fine ladies did Marvin fall in love with?
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