Thoughts on a Visit to the First World

Hey, everyone. Sorry I've been absent from the blog for a while. I took a 12-day trip to Florida. And after that, I was kinda burnt out and needed a bit of time to recover. 😊

I love flying so much! It's terrifying and exhilarating.

I've been mulling over this blog post in my head since my trip began and I was noticing all the things that seem strange as an expat returning to the First World. I've been living in Guatemala for two years and five months. In that time, I have gone to Mexico on several occasions, and while Mexico is much more developed than where I live in Guate, I still wouldn't consider it First World. So this trip to Florida -- Kissimmee, Orlando, Disney World -- was my first venture back into "civilization" after being in a rather rural area of Guatemala.

Please don't take offense to anything I say here regarding my opinions. I'm just stating how I felt and how curious it was for me to feel that way! 

My first giggle was on the plane from Guate City to Mexico City. It was a smallish airplane with only two seats on either side of the aisle. As the plane filled up, I started chuckling to myself and thought, "Man, you could fit at least four more people in each of these rows! Plus, at least 50 people could stand in the aisle!" I think I've been on a few too many chicken buses! Ha ha!
On top of that, the lady sitting next to me was miffed that my leg was touching her leg. Oh, geez, lady. Your First World personal bubble wouldn't last long in Guatemala!

I'll maybe write more about the confusion that is flying from Guate to Mexico to the U.S., but for now I'm going to skip ahead to my Florida experiences.

First of all, everything in the First World is so BIG. Spacious. Excessive almost. And clean, so very clean! There are so smells of sewage or diesel or dog poop. Then again, there are no smells of sizzling street BBQ either!

We went into a Publix grocery store. OMG so huge. So much selection! I remember staring at an enormous wall of crackers and thinking, "There are like 50 types of crackers here. You could eat a different type of cracker every week for a year." Back in Guate, there are very few cracker types at the local grocery store (Despensa). I think maybe soda crackers and saltines, those whitish ones, and maybe one other kind. The import stores have a few more at quite high prices, but no Cheezits or Triscuits or Wheat Thins or all the other kinds! It was a shock to walk thru that grocery store in Florida and see just how many different kinds of things you could buy. It was neat too that the signs were in English and Spanish. Lots of Cuban immigrants in Florida.

The other surprising thing was the fruit. My lovely sister smuggled freshly-picked blueberries from Canada for me, and those were absolutely delicious! But I found the store-bought fruit in Florida to be kinda bland. It brought back the memories of my first tastes of market fruit in Guate. It just explodes with flavour! All the fruit and veg here in Guate is so fresh and ripe and loaded with yumminess. Those First Worlders have no idea what they're missing! Only the bananas were better in Florida. I'm not a fan of the overly mushy bananas I usually get in Guate.

Foods I enjoyed in Florida that I hardly ever eat in Guate:
1. Dill pickles
2. Cottage cheese
3. Any cheese really!
4. Cereal that isn't a variation of corn flakes or rice krispies
5. Dr. Pepper
6. English muffins with peanut butter!!!!!
7. Chinese takeout (yum yum yum)

I also realized that my taste buds have changed with it comes to processed food. My eyes (and stomach) were drawn to the fancy treats in the stores, but when I tried to eat them, I found them to be far too sugary and weird tasting. There was often a strange aftertaste in my mouth. I used to gorge myself on Oreos and snack cakes and chips. Now I just have a few and then feel a little "bleck". It's kinda disappointing! I was so looking forward to pigging out on junk food! I did enjoy some McDonald's a few times on my trip, including at the airport. Tastes the same no matter where in the world you are. It's actually kinda comforting, in a strange way.

Driving around Florida was interesting. It wasn't a busy time of year so the traffic wasn't too bad but it was still a bit wild to see the broad, smooth, paved lanes of the freeway. And all the cars seem to be brand spanking new. So clean and rust-free! So modern. No hanging bumpers or things held on with duct tape. And motorcycles with only one passenger. What??? Ha ha!

Weird things that I did when in Florida:
1. Kept having to remind myself NOT to put my toilet paper in the garbage bin. You can flush it!
2. I spit in the shower. I got water in my mouth, so I spit it out. Then laughed at myself. (Having clean water come out of the tap is awesome. Even awesomer? HOT water from the tap! It's like a miracle!)
3. Said, "Perdón" to someone I bumped into at the Walmart.
4. Converted all the prices into quetzales.

I think my overall impression of being back in the First World was that it was like staying at a fancy resort. Everything was super clean, super big, and super excessive. No one needs that much space, do they? And why have a TV in every room? It feels luxurious but wasteful. It made me sad for the poor people in Guate...except those people are probably more content with their lives than the "rat racers" of the U.S.
Florida also made me realize how much I miss some little things from "back home". I mean, just being able to have more variety in the types of foods I buy, and being able to buy things that are premade or just need to be heated up. Convenience foods are kinda lacking where I live in Guatemala. (And I'm a bad cook!) Plus I do miss rules and safety and sidewalks. Strange but true!

After a whirlwind 10 days, I had a HUGE smile on my face as my plane began descending into the Guatemala Airport on the return flight. I was so happy! And as I walked out of the airport onto the street, I saw all the weird and wonderful things that make Guatemala so fun and unique -- street dogs, grackles, shoeshine boys, vendors selling gum and souvenirs and textiles, flowering trees, clear blue skies, Mayans wearing tipico, chicken buses belching diesel fumes, and all of it with the background music of The Eurythmics!

It's good to be home. 😄