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I have located the Jews and it was good. I made my way through the heavily trafficked streets of Guatemala City to McDonalds, the predetermined meeting point on 7th Avenue in Zone 9. For the weekend that would be spent with la familia de Brenda de Castillo, I brought with me a small backpack and some flowers (as a thank you for letting me stay with you even though you have no idea who I am gift). I am not sure how many of you have ever sat in a McDonalds with a bouquet of roses but it was pretty damn uncomfortable. I just imagined what the hundreds of people at the packed Mickie D’s were thinking as I walked around, looking a tad confused, and sat down at an empty table with my bouquet. Is he meeting a date here? Who meets a date with flowers in McDonalds? Has this gringo lost his mind? I awkwardly sat there doing my best to hide the flowers under the table until my phone rang alerting me to come outside and meet my hosts. I handed the flowers to Brenda and met her 11 year old son, Joseph, and then quickly apologized for not having the proper attire for synagogue. Remember, all I had was some casual brown pants and collared shirt. Anyways, she says not to worry about it all and if anything, I am overdressed. Half of the people wear jeans to services here.Sure enough, she was right. Although there were people in dress clothes, many were in jeans and tshirts, and the only people wearing ties were the rabbi, the director, and the diplomats from Israel. The synagogue, one of two in Guate, was absolutely gorgeous. The ark was a free standing cylinder painted in elaborate colors and designs and there was a giant chandelier of sorts that used Jewish stars, the Magen David, as the focal point. The synagogue, as most are Latin America, is set up as an orthodox synagogue even though most of the Jews are not orthodox. Men and women sit separately and only kosher food is allowed on the premises. The services are in Hebrew with the conduction in Spanish. Almost everything was the same as my synagogue in the States including the children running around outside and people socializing in the back rows. This Friday night was particularly packed because two members had died during the past week and the community was out for support. Of the 1000 or so Jews that live in Guatemala, I would say there were 150 people there.

Sitting through services, being in the synagogue, and entering the Jewish community obviously stirred up many emotions inside of me that I would like to take some time to discuss. Being surrounded by Jews just feels natural for me and I feel very much at peace. Growing up in the Jewish community of Jacksonville, having many best friends who are Jewish, and being fortunate enough to have had a Jewish education that allows me to ease into most Jewish settings. I also feel a certain connection with Jews that I do not feel with other people that comes from knowing we have a shared background and identity. It is fascinating to think that Jews around the world are learning the same prayers, studying for the same Bar Mitzvahs, and looking for the same Jewish partners to marry. It is the same in many other ethnicities but in Judaism, I feel that the culture, customs, and traditions tend to be stronger. As I have learned many times Judaism is much more than just a religion; it is a history, a people, a culture, and a land. It feels great to be able to sit in a synagogue and recite the prayers along with everyone else knowing that we all may speak different languages. Even though, I still do not love the services, I did enjoy sitting in the synagogue and looking around at all the faces and feeling the connection in the room.

After services on Friday night, there was a buffet dinner that was fantastic. I had challah for the first time in four months (I love challah!) and vegetables, eggplant, soup, and fish. Then I had dessert and fruit. All of this wonderful, delicious food was really just a Trojan horse as it later came back to haunt me. Right before I fell to sleep I felt very full in my stomach and around 4am I was woken up by all the acid swirling around. To spare you all the details, I ended up spending a lot of the night with the toilet (this was Tecun’s first cousin, Pedro) and threw up twice. It was another one of the worst nights of my life and they are just adding up here in Guatemala. I figured by now that my stomach would have adjusted but I seem to continue getting infections.

Still, I am a tough guy, and Saturday morning, I went with the family to the Sepharadi synagogue, number two of two in Guate, at 11:30am because we stopped at a doctor’s office first. Turns out that the Sephardis do everything a little bit later and do not really even start their services until 10:30-11:00 so we got there for the entirety of the torah service. Sepharadi services are a bit different in that there is little to no audience participation and everyone just kind of prays on their own and at their own pace. The service does move quickly. And just as I did the night before, I scanned the crowd for any cute Jewish girls. Sitting in the back row of the women’s section was an incredibly cute girl. From far away she looked to be about 19-20 years old but still I was attracted. After the service, Brenda, introduced me to her niece, Jessica, who happened to be the same attractive girl and she was 23 years old. Que perfecto! Not having the best game (old folks, “game” means the act of flirting with girls) in English, you can imagine how my efforts went in Spanish. A lot of awkward silences as I tried to come up with how to ask the next question in perfect Spanish. Anyways, after the lunch at the synagogue, of which I barely ate due to my stomach, Jessica and her little sister were nice enough to take me on a quick tour of town. We stopped by this park that had a huge paper mache map of Guatemala but all I was interested in was “Donde esta el bano mas cercano? Spending more time in the bathroom than looking at the map was probably a great way to make a first impression! We moved on to the biggest mall I have seen except for the Mall of America and walked around a bit but I felt terrible. So I apologized to my hosts, told them that I felt really sick and needed to go back to the synagogue. Anyways, I did get Jessica’s number and she texted me on Sunday to ask me how I was feeling. That’s a good sign, right?