Weeks 11 & 12

1/4 of my way through Gapping & Yapping!

I felt the board’s raw, splintery edge slipping from my grip. With each rep getting slower and more difficult, I fought the urge to take a break. I pushed my feet down hard on my bike’s peddles, knowing it would be even more exhausting to stop and start again. Using my one free hand to stabilize my handlebars, I wobbled with each motorcycle, tuk tuk, pickup truck, and garbage vehicle that flew by me.

This is NOT like riding to the beach in New Jersey with a surfboard, I concluded.

As I reached the top of the first hill, I looked to my left out over all of Lago Atitlan. It was the prettiest sunset I had seen in my four weeks of living here. Unlike the past week of Hurricane Beryl rain, the sky was clear. The clouds hovered at the tip of each of the three volcanoes, and the aqua water reflected the orange sun in a pink & purple glow.

I picked up some speed on the downhill, pulling the awkwardness of the board closer to my body each time the wind tried to push it away. I turned my gaze towards the lake where the its beauty left me speechless (both from exhaustion of the bike ride and the prettiest place I’ve ever been in :).

I rounded another curve where I got to the mirador (main lookout point on this road). Instead of peering through fences and trees, this spot was open and clear.

Just as my jaw dropped (from admiring the view!), a bug flew right in. Wobbling on my bike, gagging from the bug wriggling in my throat, and wide-eyeing the sunset, I was certainly a sight to be seen! The more I tried to spit the bug out, the more it crawled down deeper into my throat. Unable to stop my bike for fear of losing momentum and dropping the wooden board, I kept on peddling (and spitting to my side while navigating the ever-changing road.)

Free food!, my budget-conscious side consoled. I wrinkled my nose in disgust but tried to focus on the view since there was nothing I could do about the bug.

^^power lines ruin the view but you can get the idea (and at least we have electricity!)

I pulled into the narrow ally near my house thinking about the paradox of my bike ride. It took a bug, a board, and a sunset to leave me arriving home with exhaustion yet ebullience.

I concluded: There’s never a perfect time for anything.

My journey home was equal parts chaos and beauty. It was the most perfect sunset, yet the most imperfect bike ride. If I had decided to pay to take the pickup truck back to Panajachel, I would have missed out on the slow-biking beauty of the sky’s colors overlooking the lake & volcanoes. If I had decided to leave the board at the office, I would have to bike back the next day to work on it there. If my initial reaction to the sunset hadn’t been jaw dropping, yes, I wouldn’t have eaten a bug, but then I also would not have been as amazed by it.

Sure, maybe it wasn’t the smartest idea to bike home with a large board on a windy road, but it was the decision I made and alternatives wouldn’t have affected the outcome all that much; I still would have made it home. Our gut feelings that certain things are “better” to do at different times probably aren’t rooted in all that much truth.

It does make more sense to brush your teeth 2 minutes in the morning and 2 minutes in evening than 4 minutes in the middle of the day, so I’m not saying to throw all logic out! But, the idea that there is never a perfect time for anything is closely related to our ability to embrace serendipity which is how I ended up in Guatemala in the first place.

aventuras de las semanas!

April 2024

I sat on a plane flying back to Boston from Panamá. I was coming home from volunteering in a mobile medical clinic. New Spanish medical words and English chatter filled my brain. A woman and young daughter walked down the aisle and pointed to the two seats next to me. I smiled at the girl, and we quickly progressed into playing a high five game. Soon after, her mom and I started chatting.

They were flying home from Guatemala where the mom was finishing up a research paper on local innovation. A couple hours into the flight, she mentioned her friend who runs a startup in Guatemala. I immediately looked up the company and couldn’t believe it was a similar-but-higher-fidelity version of a project I had worked on the year before.

Fast forward six months, and I landed in Guatemala City!

behind the scenes of the company I'm working for

Not every plane you sit on will cause you to move 2,244 miles away from home alone to work for a startup. But, if I had decided to put my AirPods in for the entire flight, I certainly wouldn’t have connected with the family next to me and probably wouldn’t be taking a gap year right now!

(Gapping & Yapping would not exist😱)

By being open to new experiences, we CAN increase our serendipity.

Just like my bike ride, these experiences will similarly be full of mixed emotions. Nothing here in Guatemala has gone according to plan. If I had waited for the “perfect time” to go on a hike or a rock climbing adventure, I wouldn’t have made the friends I have here now. Ups and downs will always coincide, but the more experiences I throw myself into, the higher my probability of serendipity.

Up next: figuring my way into a soccer game on this field! (looks AMAZING :)

<3 Gapping & Yapping