Week 13

Celebrating turkey day in Guatemala

Dec 03, 2024

“Hola! Hola!” a voice squealed to my right.

I turned around in the pool but didn’t see anyone. I inched closer to the corner where I heard the sound and came face to face with a parrot!

“Hola! Hola!” it squawked again.

Certainly a new experience for Thanksgiving!

Here are some more of my 2024 Thanksgiving firsts:

Riding 4 hours of chicken busses
Celebrating outside the US
Being away from immediate family
Learning to make tortillas

#1: Chicken Buses

Even though I’ve written about these before, there are no similarities between two camioneta adventures. Each time, I’m amazed by both how many people can fit onto one bus and how strangers embrace each other.

The crazy experience of flying from side to side of a bus surrounded by new faces creates connections. Smiling and laughing as we hold tight onto our seats in hopes of crushing the person next to us a little bit less. When there are more people on board, it’s actually better because there’s less space to move in all the wacky turns.

We cling to each other in the two-lane highways of rural Guatemala with each road change, solicitor selling “cure all” medicine, and fourth person that gets added to the already cramped three-to-one bus seat.

#2: Celebrating Outside the US

Honoring US Thanksgiving while physically outside the United States feels strange.

I tried to hold on to the idea of orange & brown, bare trees, and the remains of fall leaves while everyone around me sang Christmas carols, put up red and green lights, and sold coconuts from our very fruitful (and not bare) trees.

In the city, big Christmas trees filled mall spaces and building entrances. The holiday season is in full swing!

#3: Being Away From Immediate Family

I had never been away from my mom, dad, and sister on Thanksgiving!

Originally, I was planning to travel back home to Boston for Thanksgiving. But once I got here and realized how cumbersome travel can be within Guatemala, I accepted I wasn’t going to go back home.

Instead, my Guatemalan family embraced me with tight hugs and the most generosity. They asked my US family for traditional Thanksgiving foods and explained their unsuccessful hunt for cranberry sauce. We made the decision to have a potato soufflé instead of mashed potatoes, agreeing it would be better than US traditions anyway.

Touched by their thoughtfulness, I repeated “gracias” over and over.

After 12 hours of cooking (and nibbling!), we gathered around the dining table with an already half-eaten turkey, baking-soda-less corn “bread”, and chutney instead of cranberry sauce.

A mentality I love very much here is to not get held up in the quest for perfection but rather focus on being fully loving and energetic in all scenarios.

To create chaos and hug often.

#4: Learning To Make Tortillas

Not a day has passed in the last month where I haven’t consumed a tortilla. It’s a right of passage here.

But, I didn’t know I would get a tortilla making CLASS on Thanksgiving! Talk about grateful…

After many failed attempts in getting the right consistency of water on my hands before mixing the masa, too thick & too thin rounds, and countless broken tortilla blobs, I finally got my first one going!

I’m not sure how I will eat Mission brand tortillas back in the US in the future. Nothing can compare to the familiar smell and warm taste of a fresh corn tortilla right off the skillet.

my tortilla museum (mine are right side, left stack was made by the pros)

1 Constant: Gratitude

Just like all my other years, I have a lot to be thankful for.

I’m grateful for my family who’ve kept on breathing throughout my wild adventures, the free time for new experiences my gap year has given me, and the ebullience I feel each day waking up in the Hawaii of the US or Outerbanks of North Carolina (though no place on Earth will ever compare to Panajachel. :)