Andy and Beth

We sat at the dinner table together last Friday night – Andy, Beth and I – like we had done every night for the previous twelve days. This supper, however, would be our last together in the casa de Paty. As we finished eating, Paty came in holding a gift bag with a pink paper flower sticking out made by her very arts-and-crafts-y daughter, Nancy. She gave a mini-speech, telling them that she would never forget them and wishing them safe travels and happy lives. Andy graciously accepted in his broken yet always charming Spanish while Beth held back the tears. Later on Beth and Andy gathered the whole family – Paty, Abuelita, Nancy, little Javier, and even littler Diego Andres – in the living room and surprised them with a speech and gifts of their own. They all hugged and wished each other well and it was an incredibly warm and genuine moment.

Before coming to Guatemala, Andy and Beth had been traveling together for two and a half years. Andy, now 26, met Beth, now 25, when they were both living in the French Alps. From there, my Aussie buddy tagged along with his new British lady interest as she traveled to Barcelona to teach English. There, they fell for each other. Since then, they have traveled to their respective home countries together, some north African countries, India, back to the French Alps, and then to Central America. After a couple months of enjoying Nicaragua, Panama, and Costa Rica, they decided to come to Xela. Though they both began traveling with more self-indulgent intentions, the two of them have realized the potential they have to give back as they gain so much from each culture they encounter. Now they were on the eve of their three day trip to Mexico that they needed to take so they could renew their visas for Guatemala (and Honduras, Nicaragua, and El Salvador) for another three months.

Since my first day here, Andy and Beth have been my mates. As Beth would say, they’re both “ace” (that’s British for cool/awesome/great). New to Xela (and without a key to the house) they took me under their wing and showed me the ropes here. Not only did they walk me to school the first day, but they invited me to join them to La Feria and the Dia del Independencia festivities. We would get lost in conversations about traveling, about health insurance, about the respective differences in our countries, about our families and friends, and so on.

An inch or so taller than me and about twenty pounds lighter, Andy’s physical presence isn’t all that commanding. As soon as he opens his mouth, however, it’s only a matter of seconds before the entire room is doubled over in belly-aching laughter. He’s a charmer to the max, no matter what language he is speaking. He just started learning Spanish on this trip and when he speaks Spanish his diction and syntax are frequently pretty off. Regardless, whether he’s talking to our host mom about his trip to the doctor, a street vendor he just bought some corn from, or whether he’s haggling with someone over the price of a toy drum, I’ve never seen him fail to at least get a sincere giggle. His charm is no act either. He is the kind of person that has the ability to enjoy life at even the most mundane of moments and to share that joy with those around him.

At roughly the same height as Andy with strawberry blonde hair and freckles, Beth looks pretty, but moreso she looks confident and self-assured. She has that Elizabeth Hurley-esque British accent that makes you feel like she is more sophisticated than you by default. While Andy is an extrovert to the max, Beth is more reserved in a crowd. She is very personable, but Andy steals the show. She is pensive and, like me, she completely loses her sense of place if a good one-on-one conversation starts rolling.

Together, they are perfect. Though they’ve spent every day of the last two and a half years together, they still seem to rediscover the core of their love every day. When Andy is on a roll with his charm, Beth’s eyes glimmer and betray how completely enamored by him she is. Likewise, Andy may poke fun at Beth from time to time but there’s no denying that Beth still has him wrapped around her finger. Whether they are playfully bantering about who is the best children’s book author or how effective garlic is as a panacea, or whether they’re discussing how their English class went today and what they can teach the kids the following day, they both always seem like there’s no place they’d rather be and no one they’d rather be with.

As I watched them hug and kiss Paty and company and bid them farewell, I felt a pang of panic. Who was I going to talk with at dinner? They other students living with us were Guatemalan and didn’t speak English. Who was I going to walk home from school with and compare Spanish classes with? Who was going to wake me up every morning before breakfast? Who would try to out-joke me now? I didn’t realize how much I had depended on these two before this moment. I jokingly told them that we were a tripod (Girl Next Door anyone?), but now I felt like my other two legs were fleeing and I’d be left alone to fall flat on my face.

However, as with all of my panicky, paranoid, and doubtful thoughts, I´m happy to report that they were wrong once again. I have been spending more time with my host family, I try out my Spanish with my Guatemalan student housemates at meals, and Andy and Beth are still in town for the next few weeks. Far from falling flat on my face, I finally feel like I´m starting to stand on my own here, like I´m riding a bike for the first time without training wheels. But I´ll write more about that later.