Guat’s Up?
I cannot believe it has been two weeks since I came to Guatemala. Time has literally flown by, and Erin and I already feel sad that we have to leave in four weeks. Before coming here I thought six weeks was a really long time and I was so worried that I was going to be bored. To prepare for the long six weeks, I brought three books, told myself that I was going to pick up sketching as a hobby, and also master how to french braid my hair. So far I have not accomplished any of these things... My weekdays are filled with work, cooking dinner in what is supposedly a kitchen (it only has a hotplate, microwave, a pot, and a pan), and researching/booking the weekend trips.
Work has been interesting. It is definitely a different experience than my last internship I had in Tokyo. In Tokyo, if I wasn’t there 10 minutes before, I was considered late. But here everybody arrives 20–30 minutes after we’re supposed to be at the office, and even though we technically only have one hour for lunch no one really follows that. It is really laid back and I love everyone who works at Mercado Global.
I started working on their Instagram which has been exciting because I want to go into marketing when I graduate. It has been exciting to create a mood board for their aesthetic and feed, come up with a two-month plan of what photo and caption we are going to post every other day, and doing a photoshoot with Erin and Emma, the other interns at Mercado Global. I also realized that I need to work on my marketing skills more because the other intern at the New York office had ideas about hashtags, ideas, and captions organized very neatly in one doc, whereas I had a really rough draft with ideas all over the place on one doc. It made me realize what is expected at a real job level and it was a very good learning lesson.
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When people think about traveling somewhere, Guatemala will rarely be on that list. Who would think of Guatemala as a travel destination? I know I personally did not think of it as a travel destination. However, Guatemala so far has been proving me wrong because it is one of the most beautiful, vibrant, bright, and mesmerizing places I have ever been to. Everyone is definitely missing out on the beauty and the culture that Guatemala has to offer.
Last weekend we went to San Marcos, a nearby town and I did what I said I was going to do; do yoga at the yoga forest with the astonishing view of the lake and the forest. Unfortunately, I do not have any pictures because the yoga instructor was kind of intimidating but nonetheless I had a great time being surrounded by the lush green forest and doing yoga. It was quite a hike up there but it was definitely worth it. The next day we went to the natural reserve in Panajachel and we ziplined (7 ziplines in total!) through the trees and looking down at the lake.
This weekend, Erin, Emma, and I went to Antigua. It was so much fun that even though all of our weekends are already full, we are trying to squeeze going to Antigua one more time. It was really interesting because while the buildings were vibrant and colorful and vintage looking, the town had a really modern, hip vibe. The tourists were mostly young people just looking to have a fun time. For a marketing research, I looked up other brands from Guatemala and found this really cute company called Hiptipico. Their camera straps and backpacks are so cute, but the prices are not so cute. I was really sad because I really wanted one, but my coworker had a backpack that she bought for way cheaper in an artisan market in Antigua that looked exactly like the ones from Hiptipico. As soon as she told me that, it became my mission to find this artisan market and buy the backpack and the camera strap. After looking at every single stall in the artisan market, we finally found the place that Hiptipico actually sources from. After taking one hour to try on every single camera strap and backpack, I purchased a really cute small leather backpack with Mayan pattern/fabric and a camera strap made out of fajas (traditional belt). I was very content with my findings. That night we ate at this amazing Mexican restaurant called Fridas and I’m usually not a Mexican food person but my mind was blown. The fajitas were out of this world. The next day we went to the Cerro de la Cruz lookout and saw the whole city from a bird’s eye view. It was absolutely gorgeous. Antigua is definitely a must for anyone who visits Guatemala.
It’s not all fun though, we get looked at by every single person that walks by us, and we get cat-called and whistled at constantly. Also as previously mentioned, our Airbnb is also not the best, due to the lack of hot water and a proper kitchen. There are ants, spiders, and roaches everywhere, and the WiFi is incredibly slow. We always complain about our living situation to the other intern and she feels so bad that she offers us to stay with her to steal her fully equipped kitchen, hot shower, and fast WIFI, every other day. But all in all, the ups have definitely overweighted the downs and I feel very fortunate that I am able to work at Mercado Global in the beautiful town in Panajachel with Erin. Stay tuned for the next blog to read about our trip to San Cristobal de las Casas in Mexico and possibly an 11-mile hike to see an active volcano.
