There are a lot of questions still that do not have answers, which are curiously asked most in passing: where will you live and how long will you be down there and isn't that a dangerous place? These are the least interesting I find. Long live some sort of ongoing ambiguity.
The best things to know are just about everything else. Antigua was the Spanish capital of Central America for 200 years. The country has over 30 volcanos and four of those are active. The central highlands once harbored one of the most sophisticated civilizations in native america. There are plenty of expatriates, mixed with gripping poverty. There is a big volcanic lake that is supposed to be nice. These things alone are enough to take me somewhere I have not been.
The westerlies once guided wooden galleons and conquistadors from Gran Canaria to the present day Dominican Republic on a very treacherous journey difficult to picture today by any stretch. Guatemala would have been a strange place then, as it is to many now. A lot of people talk about lawlessness and danger -- words often substituted for anything unknown -- and I think back often to what Steinbeck said: that whenever we start feeling like real men, we just have to look at the entire 19th century Lewis and Clark expedition wrought with indian threats, northern winters, disease, mountain crossings, and turbulent rivers, and remember that not a single man turned around and decided to head home. I agree that those were real men and me getting on an airplane is little reason to feel important. It is however, a lot to be excited for, and it will be a place to create greatness.
