For the last four months, I’ve had a “coming soon” page on my website. I initially built the original Freedom Fighter site when I realized that my life, how I travel and how I make a living where suddenly the same thing. Finding alignment in these areas of my life is a real blessing, however, excitement got the better of me. I start adding everything that I was doing onto the site, and with even me confused about the flow of the site, I’m not surprised when I got some feedback from people saying, “ummmm, what is it that you actually do?” It turns out that simple question is at the very heart of building a community, a product, a business and trust. So, I took some time out to think about and to answer this question. The result is the website that you’re now on. It’s not perfect yet, but it feels much better. Clearer. When what you do requires developing content and then sharing that content online, rebuilding your entire website, feels like having a facelift. It’s almost like the new site is another version of me. I look at the old content, pages, and ideas that I’ve shared and I can see how much I’ve changed. Some of the content is cringeworthy, and I’m a little embarrassed about some of it. Hindsight though is a blessing and looking back, it shows where I’ve come from. It shows growth.
Since my last blog post, I’ve been based in Antigua Guatemala. I decided on this location as it’s a good place for Gringos to learn Spanish, something I thought I should do since I’m going to be spending some time in Central and South America. I also believe being able to speak the local language is a great way to connect with girls people. Learning a new language from scratch as an adult has been a pretty humbling experience, and I plan to write another post about that in the coming weeks.
The two and a half months that I’ve been in Antigua has been an amazing experience. Surrounded by three active volcanos, the city is small, with a population of fewer than 40,000 people and has amazing architecture left behind by the Spanish. The entire city is built around a central park shaded with trees and packed with Guatemalan woman selling curios and kids offering to shine your shoes in exchange for a few quetzals. Smitten teenagers spend the afternoons sitting on the benches in the park holding hands and staring into each other’s eyes. I’m not as fortunate, I sit on a bench and sip my coffee and stare into my book for a few hours. I’m feeling really settled here with access to an awesome gym, where I’ve been doing some spinning instructing after about ten years, I practice yoga, ride mountain bikes and have been trekking some the volcanos that surround the city. I’ve also connected with some truly amazing people that are working on some really amazing projects – it’s a good place to be for a while.
Friends join me for my housewarming when I moved into my new place in Antigua.
Parque Central
One of many old ruins scattered around the city.
Roman Catholic churches.
Antiguan Architecture
Antiguan Architecture
Cobbled streets around the entire city.
The Iconic Arch. (Volan Aqua in the background covered in cloud).
The local market – the cheapest and best place to buy fresh produce. Also, a great place to put yourself outside of your comfort zone and practice Spanish on non-English speaking residents.
An ongoing project I’ve been talking about for a while is writing a book. I made a start and have written about 40% of the first draft but the writing has slowed for now, as I’ve been working on other projects. The book is going to be about my life on the road and reads a little like “Eat Pray Love – the boy’s version”. I had an idea to help keep myself moving on this, by getting some input from you about what you think the book should be called. If you’re interested in giving me some feedback on a title for the book I’d really appreciate it, you can send me your ideas here.
Lake Atitlan – I spent almost two weeks at this natural lake surrounded by volcanos to create some time work, practice my Spanish and catch up on my writing.
My rental in San Marcos (Lake Atitlan).
“Barriletes (kite)” Celebrations in Sumpango. A celebration of the people closest that have passed on. Kites are flown in and around graveyards to keep evil spirits away.
Kids flying kites.
With the new, clearer plan that I have for this website and my blog I’m going to be creating and sharing more content over the coming months, please feel to reply to this email and let me know your feedback and feel free to share this with anyone that you think may enjoy it.
Until next time.
Brilliant post, G! Great photos!
Great photos – really gives you a great idea of what Antigua is like.
Sounds like a fantastic experience; keep it coming!
Love it!
Love it!