Black Coffee, Cheesecake, and Good Company

After getting to know Guatemala and its people, I found a recurring theme amongst the majority of people I had the pleasure of meeting. They all talked about, or at least appeared to be relatively happy and were genuinely happy to have me and my group in their country and homes. Simple happiness is not taken for granted. I was told that “the people here are happy with what they have. It is a simpler life style. It brings joy to just have family and friends and the community.” This “simple happiness” was evident almost everywhere we went, but it was especially tangible in one location in particular; Crossroads Café.

Sitting in this tiny shop, I clearly remember thinking to myself that there are few moments in life in which I felt more content than I did right then. After a day of working, we had the evening to ourselves, and a group of us decided to go into town and visit Crossroads Café. We had been talking about it for a while, but never actually made it there until the end of our first week in country. We climbed into a few tuk-tuks, and headed into town. It was a beautiful evening; warm and breezy and perfect for exploring. We arrived at this little corner shop furnished with just a bar with stools and a handful of tables. Upon arrival, we quickly got to know the owner of the shop. His name is Michael and he is one of the most energetic people I have ever met. Initially, he seems to be incredibly scatterbrained. I expected this impression to fade and to find that he actually had everything under control, but that never happened. He was all over the place, but in the best kind of way. He talked to everybody in the shop, calling us by our names and striking up real conversation. We had a conversation about my coffee preferences and he ended up making me a glass of extra-strong, black coffee made from the beans that grew around a volcano nearest Panajachel. In addition to the coffee, he cut me a slice of plain cheese cake that his wife made. He drizzled two beautiful stripes of blueberry topping over the cheesecake and it was glorious.

While enjoying my coffee and cheesecake, we all got to know Michael a little bit better. He is American, but has traveled all over the world. Below, I will bullet some of his best stories.

• When he was 21, he was told by doctors that he had 8 months to live. He said that he had been to many many doctors about this situation, and the thing that bothered him the most was that none of them hugged him.

• As a young adult, he was paralyzed from the neck down after an accident and was told that he would never walk again. He immediately went off of his medication because he wanted to be able to feel the pain. He simply focused on moving his toes, then his feet, and so on. Eventually, he made a full recovery.

• I asked him what is favorite way to drink coffee was. He responded, “I don’t really care about the coffee, I care about the friends that I am drinking it with.”

• He was in South Africa when he received an email from a friend in Kenya stating that she wanted company. He looked at a map, and told her that he would be there in 22 days. He then hitchhiked from South Africa to Kenya to meet up with his friend.

• He was once invited in for a cup of coffee while sleeping in the arctic circle. He had only $1 to his name.

• “I traveled the world for years with just this bag.” He then pulled a small pouch out from under the counter. It was a small rectangle with one pocket, a fabric cutout of a globe on the front, and a thin shoulder strap.

Nothing spectacular was happening in that coffee shop on that day, yet at the same time, everybody there was thrilled to be in each other’s company. We sat and chatted for hours with Michael and each other because nobody wanted to leave. I found this same sort of feeling in many other instances in Guatemala. Simply being in the presence of good company brought happiness that no social media notification or text could bring. It is for sure a different way of life than most of us live. Living only to pursue your own true happiness is a lesson that I think applies to anybody, of any age, anywhere in the world.