STUDY ABROAD

My girlfriend spent her Junior year in Honduras , teaching in a small school in the mountains. We dated long distance for that time, with only letters. The town she lived in was so far into the mountains, it didn't even have phone service.

We arranged for me to visit her over break. It'd been so long, I tried to remember all the small details about her--the sound of her laugh, the scent of her hair. I wondered if she'd changed. I guess, I knew she would. College is a time of change for everyone, and gong abroad just accelerates the change.

We stayed at the small house she had been living in. Like most homes in Latin America, it had a tall cement wall all around it, and the house in the middle of a courtyard. It was total privacy, and with the heat and humidity, we didn't spend much time in clothes.

Whatever running water there was, came gravity fed from a pipe. Showers were limited, and not always a given. Going without water and other luxuries she'd had back in college, she'd gone without shaving. I'd gone without sex, and so to me, she looked like a wild animal. Primitive. Sexy.

We spent so much time making up for lost time, I never did see the Mayan ruins. Do I regret it? Not at all. If this picture is any proof, I found just what I was looking for.