Chocolate and Pickup Trucks

An odd combination, huh? Well, our school hosts activities every day, and today´s activity happened to be making chocolate, Guatemalan style. It takes an unbelievable amount of time and energy! I won´t go into the whole process, but at the end, you have to form a ball out of the ground up, roasted cocoa beans which have been mixed with loads of sugar, some vanilla and some cinnamon. Then, you pound away. The pressure and heat from your hands eventually forms a chocolate bar, but it takes a lot of patience and arm muscles.

As I was endlessly pounding, I got to thinking about the activity we went on Tuesday of this week. As you may recall, we had a somewhat unsuccessful venture on Sunday up to the hot springs. You also may recall that it is rainy season here, which happens to be one of the main reasons we deemed the trip "unsuccessful". Call us crazy (or stupid), but when Tuesday rolled around and the scheduled activity was to head up to a different set of hot springs called "The Fuentes Georginas", we decided to go. This decision was based mainly on the fact that a lot of people from school were going, which was a great opportunity to get to know the people we see every day. Plus, we at least knew what we were getting into this time. We had experience on our side.

Once we reached Zunil by Chicken Bus, we took a 25 minute, death-defyingly fast ride up the narrow, windy "roads" of a different mountain this time. Seven of us were piled into the back of a pick-up truck, and after two minutes, we were all fully prepared to tumble over the side of the mountain into the endless fog surrounding us on all sides. At the same time, however, the fog graciously provided us some comfort in that it prohibited us from seeing all of the dangers awaiting us at the bottom of the mountain to cushion our impending fall.

We finally reached "The Fuentes Georginas", which were much more beautiful than the first hot springs. The company was good, as there were 16 of us coming from all different parts of the world. This type of situation always provides fascinating conversation. It was also very relaxing there in the warm waters with the naturally gorgeous mountain scenery. However, about 20 minutes before we had to catch our pick-up ride back down the mountain, the inevitable happened. Yes, the heavens opened up and poured down very cold rain onto our already wet and cold bodies. Predictable as it was, and as prepared as we were with umbrellas and a towel, it was still a very unpleasant turn of events.

Most of us raced around, trying to change into warm, dry clothes in order to prepare ourselves as best as we could from becoming icicles during the ride back down the mountain. We were all dreading it, knowing that there was no way to avoid the cold, pelting rain from attacking our bodies. We tried to fashion a cover with our umbrellas, crouching low in the back of the pick-up and at the same time, drenching our lower halves as a result of the water that had already pooled back there.

As I attempted to make my chocolate bar, I realized that there were two types of people riding in the back of the truck Tuesday afternoon. There were the people, like me, who were desperately trying to maintain some essence of warmth and comfort. We were thinking only about the moment at hand... only about keeping ourselves content for this portion of the trip. Ironically, crouched low in the back of the truck with a cascade of umbrellas and bodies surrounding me, I could see nothing and thus became miserably motion sick. I also ended up with my bum thorougly drenched (which definitely made it look like I had peed my pants), and although I had been content for the first few moments during the trip, it had been at the expense of any comfort or contentment for the entire remainder of the journey home. I was freezing, wet, and very motion sick for the rest of the day. I didn´t feel warm again until the next morning in the shower.

The second type of person was the rare breed. These daring folks realized and accepted the fact that there was, indeed, no way to avoid being wet and cold. So they embraced the adventure, wore their swimsuits, closed their umbrellas, and enjoyed the ride back. They even had dry clothes to change into when we boarded our trusty chicken bus headed back to Xela.

My realization is simple. I want to be someone who embraces the adventure, even if there are painful or unpleasant moments along the way. I don´t want to be someone who is only thinking of my own comfort, my own position, my own situation. I want to be that person who rides in the back of a pick-up truck racing down a windy, mountain path in my bathing suit, drinking in the cold rain as it splashes my face. I don´t want to miss any gorgeous scenery because I have my head stuck in my umbrella shell like a turtle. I want to have enough foresight and perspective to look past the present moment and realize the gifts that lay ahead, whether that is something as small as a warm, dry change of clothes on a cold and rainy day or something as big as Heaven.

We watched the movie "Dead Poet´s Society" this week, and I was reminded of the quote that I want to live by. I believe it´s the mantra of that second type of person, and although I have a long way to go before I become that way, my heart identifies with the words and longs for the journey.
"I went into the woods because I wanted to live deliberately. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life...to put to rout all that was not life; and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived."
~Henry David Thoreau