A woman fell in love with a local in Guatemala after just two weeks together – and flew back to surprise him.
Rose Kodal, 21, met Carlos*, 20, on her first day in Guatemala while on a cultural tour and struck up a friendship.
The pair continued to run into each other at the school where Rose was learning Spanish and slowly their romance blossomed through deep chats and adventures.
Rose continued her travels in November 2023 but felt a pull to return to the country to see Carlos.
She surprised him and they reunited a month later and the pair spent the run up to Christmas exploring and soaking up the culture.
Rose flew back to Esbjerg, Denmark, on December 22, 2023 and the pair decided not to commit to a relationship due to their distance.
But Rose doesn’t regret opening her heart and says the experience was “magical”.
Rose, a student, said: “Before I went I said I’m definitely not falling for a local while travelling.
“It’s really beautiful you can love someone from a different world.
“I’m open to whatever happens in the future.”
Rose threw herself into meeting and speaking to locals on her first day in Guatemala in October 2023 and attempted to speak Spanish to Carlos when she first bumped to him on a cultural trip.
She said: “It was a very basic conversation.
“I started Spanish lessons the next week and saw him at the school.
“We spent more and more time together.”
When Carlos offered to give Rose a ride on his motorcycle she realised her feelings were more than friendship.
She said: “We drove around some small villages and tried some street food.
“One evening we went out and it started raining and we went to the park.
“We were just talking and started having deeper conversations.
“It felt more special.
“I’d had lots of superficial chats with people. I thought 'this guy is sweet and intelligent'.
“We had our first kiss not long after that.
“I was surprised by my own feelings.”
Rose only had a week left before she was due to travel to Mexico and they spent the last week seeing each other as much as they could.
After Rose left the pair continued to FaceTime and said their love grew stronger.
She said: “We became closer when I was away.”
Rose knew she wanted to return to Guatemala and decided to surprise Carlos.
She said: “I thought it would be fun to surprise him.
“I came up with a plan and said ‘can you go to a market and can you FaceTime me at this time?’
“I went up to him and surprised him.
“He was very happy and shocked.”
The couple spent the next few weeks sharing traditional Christmas traditions.
Rose said: “We both knew I had to go at some point.
“We decided it was probably not going to be possible to do long distance.
“We’re both going to be busy.
“I was crying a lot saying goodbye.
“But it was the happiest I’d been in a long time.”
Rose looks back at her romance with fondness and wouldn’t rule out a reunion in the future.
She said: “I’m grateful to get to experience that.
“It’s so much more beautiful to love with your whole heart even if that means getting your heart broken.
“The whole experience felt quite magical.
“It’s a waste when people are afraid to love and afraid of getting hurt.
“Don’t hold back your love.”
Rose Kodal, 21, met Carlos*, 20, on her first day in Guatemala while on a cultural tour and struck up a friendship.
The pair continued to run into each other at the school where Rose was learning Spanish and slowly their romance blossomed through deep chats and adventures.
Rose continued her travels in November 2023 but felt a pull to return to the country to see Carlos.
She surprised him and they reunited a month later and the pair spent the run up to Christmas exploring and soaking up the culture.
Rose flew back to Esbjerg, Denmark, on December 22, 2023 and the pair decided not to commit to a relationship due to their distance.
But Rose doesn’t regret opening her heart and says the experience was “magical”.
Rose, a student, said: “Before I went I said I’m definitely not falling for a local while travelling.
“It’s really beautiful you can love someone from a different world.
“I’m open to whatever happens in the future.”
Rose threw herself into meeting and speaking to locals on her first day in Guatemala in October 2023 and attempted to speak Spanish to Carlos when she first bumped to him on a cultural trip.
She said: “It was a very basic conversation.
“I started Spanish lessons the next week and saw him at the school.
“We spent more and more time together.”
When Carlos offered to give Rose a ride on his motorcycle she realised her feelings were more than friendship.
She said: “We drove around some small villages and tried some street food.
“One evening we went out and it started raining and we went to the park.
“We were just talking and started having deeper conversations.
“It felt more special.
“I’d had lots of superficial chats with people. I thought 'this guy is sweet and intelligent'.
“We had our first kiss not long after that.
“I was surprised by my own feelings.”
Rose only had a week left before she was due to travel to Mexico and they spent the last week seeing each other as much as they could.
After Rose left the pair continued to FaceTime and said their love grew stronger.
She said: “We became closer when I was away.”
Rose knew she wanted to return to Guatemala and decided to surprise Carlos.
She said: “I thought it would be fun to surprise him.
“I came up with a plan and said ‘can you go to a market and can you FaceTime me at this time?’
“I went up to him and surprised him.
“He was very happy and shocked.”
The couple spent the next few weeks sharing traditional Christmas traditions.
Rose said: “We both knew I had to go at some point.
“We decided it was probably not going to be possible to do long distance.
“We’re both going to be busy.
“I was crying a lot saying goodbye.
“But it was the happiest I’d been in a long time.”
Rose looks back at her romance with fondness and wouldn’t rule out a reunion in the future.
She said: “I’m grateful to get to experience that.
“It’s so much more beautiful to love with your whole heart even if that means getting your heart broken.
“The whole experience felt quite magical.
“It’s a waste when people are afraid to love and afraid of getting hurt.
“Don’t hold back your love.”
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FunTranscript
00:00 I'm not gonna say his actual name, but I feel like I want to give him a name just to make it easier.
00:05 I'm just gonna call him Carlos here because I feel like that's a very standard Spanish name.
00:09 So I went on this tour that the school organized and there were a lot of travelers but not really
00:14 many locals. So I kind of like noticed this Carlos guy and I thought, "well, I want to practice my
00:21 Spanish and I also just want to be friendly." So I saw him on this tour and I walked up to him and
00:27 I just started talking to him and we were talking for a while and apparently he was really, I don't
00:33 know, amazed by me and it could be my very Scandinavian looks, I don't know. So he had been
00:38 saying some really nice things about me and I definitely completely friendzoned him in that
00:45 moment because I was like, "well, whatever." So many people had told me before I went to Central
00:51 America, "don't fall for the Latinos, they're charming, but don't fall for them, you're from
00:57 Scandinavia, it's gonna be too complicated." We exchanged numbers mostly just so that I could
01:04 get recommendations for him on what to do in the city and restaurants to visit and whatever.
01:09 But that did eventually lead him to one day ask me if I wanted to go out on his motorcycle and
01:17 drive around Antigua. Sitting there with him, talking about him and getting to know him a lot
01:22 better, it just felt so romantic and I don't know, I was like really... that kind of swept me off my
01:30 feet. And in that moment I just... yeah, I don't know, there was something that happened in me
01:37 and I thought he was really sweet. I had to fly to Mexico to meet my brother and dad, and after
01:55 spending a week in Mexico, I flew to Costa Rica where I was actually meant to stay until Christmas.
02:01 But after a couple of weeks in Costa Rica, I started to really miss being in Guatemala because
02:06 I was just really happy there. I had so many friends, I was really happy with the Spanish
02:10 school. So I decided to fly back to Guatemala, but then I decided to not tell this guy because
02:15 I thought it would be fun to surprise him.
02:17 [Music]
02:27 [Music]
02:37 [Music]
03:04 Um, he took me to his favorite like viewpoint near Antigua, and then he like sat right next
03:16 to me and he put like, very classic, put his arm around me. Definitely wanted to kiss him,
03:21 and finally he kissed me. It doesn't really take very long before you get very close to people,
03:29 which is also something that I love about traveling. I think it can feel quite intense,
03:34 but I also just like love getting so close to other people so quickly. But yeah,
03:39 that's basically how it evolved from a friendship to something a bit more so.