Travel Day

Day 1
Houston to Guatemala City.

The plane we took from Will Rogers to Houston was a small ‘express’ plane. Despite its size the bird did its job and hardly ten minutes after we were served our ‘in-flight snack’ we began our initial decent in Houston. It is funny … I remember driving to Galveston 11 months ago for my cruise. It was a 4 + hour trip to Houston, now, I had just completed the same journey in under an hour.

Houston’s airport was quite large. Large enough that to change terminals we had to take several escalators, a ‘train’ and walk quite a bit. It however was a painless journey and before much time at all we found ourselves sitting and chatting with a group that was also headed to do mission work in Guatemala.

The plane from Houston to Guatemala was the more typical plane – a 737. The trip to Guatemala was about a 3 hour trip and I was pained to see that the movie “17 Again” was suppose to be our in-flight movie. Luckily myself, and several others, noticed that the movie “Star Trek” was in the planes VCR. I guess I was not the only one to ask for that to be shown instead because fifteen minutes into the flight JJ’s Star Trek began playing.

The flight was mostly uneventful. We hit minor turbulence and also heard the one thing you never really want to hear announced on a plane (or 1 of the things anyway …) “If there is a Doctor onboard please press flight attendant page button.” My subconscious thought … “Please don’t let it be the pilot who is ill …”

Fortunately (for most of us) the pilot was just fine. A young girl (7-10ish) however was not. She apparently was getting violently sick and was having breathing trouble. This occurred about an hour and a half into the flight. Once we landed we allowed her to be removed first so she could go to the hospital.

Some people are afraid of flying, but it has never bothered me. Sure the take-off and landing remind me a little too much of a rollercoaster, but in all honesty I’ve never had a problem with it. Driving on the other hand … Well, let’s just say I prefer to be in the driver’s seat when possible. Luckily my vacation last year prepared me for the driving methods of Mexico, South, and Central America.

Forty minutes and five close calls later we arrived at our “hotel” the ‘Hotel Centro Colonial Antigua’. Everything in Guatemala (as it is in many places in this area) seems to have to be negotiated and bartered for (more on that later perhaps) and that was true just to make sure we had enough beds to stay in at the hotel. Of course, between our team leaders and our contact here we worked it out in no time at all.

The hotel itself is quite beautiful. Before I left I thought I would compare a hotel in Guatemala to a Motel in America. Perhaps that is true in some areas, but not here. If I had to compare this to something perhaps I would have to say a ‘bed and breakfast’. There are only a dozen or so rooms here and the décor is exactly what you would expect in Central America.

After settling in some we decided to walk Antigua some. Our hotel is just outside of the ‘town center’ and this allowed us to freely roam some of the shops and sights of the beautiful town that has once been destroyed by a volcano (a volcano that is still active mind you!).

We wore our Guatemala T-shirts today. Since many of you have not seen them yet let me tell you the most important factor. They are florescent green! (So we could easily stay together in the airports) Wearing those shirts into town might have been a mistake. There was certainly no doubt that we were ‘tourist’ in this street vendor town. At one point we were literally surrounded by five or six people (both male and female and ranging from age 10 to age 70) attempting to sell us necklaces, scarves, wooden flutes, and various other items.

After escaping, which required some shouts of “Amigos! No gracias ahora, lo siento!”, we went and ate at a restaurant recommended to us by Mike Parker (our Contact). The restaurant was not only extremely amazing in the quality of food and service but it was also very griengo friendly. Not only did they have “aqua pura” for us to drink but they also washed all of their vegetables in the “pure water”. This meant that we could eat the delicious salsa and other goodies that came with our meal.

After dinner we walked around a little more and picked up a few more supplies- ie: bottled water and a pre-paid phone. We then returned to the hotel and went up to the roof (after climbing a metal winding staircase). I’ve not been to a lot of places in my life, but I have been to a few that are breathtaking. The view of the volcanoes in the distance from that roof ranks close to the top.

The night ended with a bible study and wind down time. Tomorrow morning we leave at 6:30 AM to go to the city dump to hand out shoes to the homeless. Should be an interesting and eye opening experience.

By the way:
Temperature in Guatemala today: mid 70’s