After a long week of Spanish class and tech training, several of us decided to go to the beach. Now I must preface this with a little back story of my own.

• Earlier in the week, my group mates and I argued over going to the beach. You see, in a country where we all stand out (no matter how much we feel we are a part of the culture because we live here) we have to be really careful when we travel. So being the realist of the group, I asked several questions – How are we going to get there? (camioneta or microbus); What time are we leaving and coming back? Are there a lot of tourists that visit this particular beach? etc. By Saturday, my group mates convinced me to go to the beach (by answering some of my pressing questions).
  

So off to the beach! We all met in front of Pollo Campero (a huge KFC type restaurant that’s everywhere in the country). We all piled up into the rented tourist van, and we were off to the beach. . . . or so we thought! Not even a ½ mile away, we realize we’re missing a person. Yes! We left a soldier behind! How could we leave her? We were all so excited about going to the beach; we forgot she was in the bathroom. We picked up our comrade, and we were finally on our way to the beach. The drive was pretty smooth, but you could definitely tell when we were getting closer to the beach because of the temperature change.


We pull up to a parking area behind a restaurant. We were told if we want to park for free, we had to eat at their restaurant. What did we know? Sure! We piled out of the van and made our way to the beach. It was beautiful, but I stopped dead in my tracks. The sand . . . it was black! The entire beach was covered in black sand. I had never seen anything like it! It definitely wasn’t dirty. I have seen dirty sand before, and this does not qualify. Wondering why, yourself? Because Guatemala has so many volcanoes, the sand is black. Interesting! We find a spot for all of our things, and we get ready to hit the Pacific Ocean. Some folks had to change into their suits, so they went to use the restaurant we were required to eat at later. Boy were we surprised and filled with awkwardness when we went to use the bathrooms. We had to walk down this long hallway of rooms to get to the bathrooms. Hallway of rooms, people! Nothing but beds inside of them! OMG! We’re in a brothel! Ewww! We quickly scurried out of there, and focused on the beautiful sounds and smells of the beach.


I really enjoyed my time there. It was sooo much fun, and the Pacific Ocean is really salty! For lunch we visited a local restaurant, but not the one we were supposed to go to. We all sat down, looked at the menu, and decided fried fish would be the best choice. Boy, were we right! That fish was sooo amazing, and so fresh! I couldn´t have asked for a better meal (huge piece of fried fish, rice, salad, and potatoes), and all for under $10.



I look forward to beach trip number two!