Welcome back. Those of you that are just tuning in, might want to check part one of how I met my girlfriend before reading the following article.

Visiting Guatemala for the first time was incredible, but the vacation was quickly over. I went back to my desk job in Ohio and Martha went back to her’s where we continued to talk daily on instant messenger, missing Martha more than ever. One afternoon while chatting she mentioned to me how strange her day was. She start to explain to me about a friend of her’s that gave her chocolates the day before, and now a large arrangement of flowers arrived at her door. The roses had no card, and the flower company would not disclose who they were from so she assumed they were from him. The awkward thing was that she was going to tell him that she only wanted to be friends. Martha’s younger brothers were ready to take the roses off her hands and give them to their girlfriends as if they had bought them. Finally I had told her the secret that I had bought her the roses only to brighten her day, and when she asked me why I hadn’t put a card with the arrangement I had no reply. In the end she was glad that the roses were from me.

Time past and I was tired of Ohio and needed a drastic change. A friend of mine in Monterrey, Mexico mentioned to me that he had a spare bedroom and I should move in with him. I save my money for eight months before moving to Monterrey so I would have enough money to live while I find a job there. Thinking that the move to Monterrey Mexico would make me closer to Martha was in fact the opposite. I was working even harder to start my company there, programming all day long. In fact I ended up living in Mexico for one year without making a penny before our company took off. Martha was also working hard at the time in a fashion magazine as a photographer that was trying to launch.

I tried again and again for Martha to come and visit me while I was living in Mexico, hoping to start up some sort of relationship. I guess when you keep your feelings from someone and are not straight to the point no matter how many hints you drop it’s just not enough. Months go by and I start asking Jen for advice of how to win over Martha and we come to the conclusion that I should move on. So in the process of moving on, I found a girlfriend in Monterrey. Jealous, controlling, immature.. everything in a girl that was not for me and total opposite of Martha. But while we were dating she helped me to see alot of the city and to distract me of work.

About two months into dating the girl from Monterrey, I finally told Martha I was dating her. I had also sent Martha a letter explaining to her how much I was in love with her and she began to cry uncontrollably. She wouldn’t tell me much about her feelings because of the relationship I was in, and FINALLY decided to come and visit me along with my best friend Jen. Just as friends right….

Two weeks before Jen and Martha were to visit me I broke up with my girlfriend. What would you have done? The girl that you were in love with for years now is finally coming to visit. Jen and I had a great plan so that Martha and I would get some time alone. Jen would come one day after Martha and leave one day before Martha leaves. Success! I don’t know if there was something in the wine but the night Martha arrived to Monterrey we shared our first kiss.

We kissed! Now what? Where do we go from there? I was still living in Monterrey and she was still in Guatemala, but that was enough. Martha didn’t want to start anything formal because of the long distance so we continued with our lives but continued talking again via instant messenger and e-mail. We managed to plan a few more trips together throughout the year, including Cancun and Ohio where she met my parents for the first time.

A year went by living in Mexico and I was running out of money so I talked with Martha and we were going to move away to Florida so that I could start looking for a job. Before I could act, she ended up finding an apartment of her own in Guatemala. So with my first paycheck that I finally received through the business I started in Mexico I took a risk and bought a ticket to Guatemala. I had a return flight for two months later in case things did not work out. Shortly after I arrived in Guatemala, Jen and her recent boyfriend Kellen came to visit Martha and me.

Here I am three years later and still living in Guatemala! Against all odds, I was everything that Martha never wanted in a guy. Younger, a Gringo (American), and long distant relationship.

All of the above pictures are from my first visit to Guatemala in 2003.