Well, we arrived safely in Guatemala Tuesday evening. My first impression is being funneled out of the airport down a long hallway and then onto a red carpet lined walkway out into the parking lot. The walkway was lined with people... a set of white plastic chairs lined the right side. I am assuming they were waiting for family members, but it felt like a gallery of people watching these strangers arrive in their country. Then all the people with signs renting cars, offering taxis, names of tourists, names of hotels. It took me a while to find Victor, the driver from Dos Lunas, our hotel. I was grateful to see the sign and then to see my name and flight number on his clipboard.
Dos Lunas was a nice little hotel with a very friendly owner who greets you by name at the door. Our room barely fit the three beds for Jim, Cathy, and I. The trucks rumbled outside and the planes seemed to fly awfully low overhead, but it was a safe place to spend the first night in Guatemala City. The next morning we took a shuttle through the mountains to Antigua, the old colonial capital. We spent the day wandering amidst ruins of churches and convents, down cobblestone streets, into stores full of local crafts, taking lots of pictures, and observing. Women in traditional Mayan dress. Lots of language students from the US and Europe. Other Guatemalans in contemporary clothing riding scooters. A strange mixture of old and new, layered one upon another. We stayed in Posada Lazos Fuertas, this amazing little colonial hotel in the city. Three levels surrounding a small courtyard lined with stone. Old wood pillars and beams lining the hallways. A rooftop terrace with a view of the city.
Today we head on to Santa Apolonia. We are hitching a ride on a shuttle and getting off somewhere along the PanAmerican Highway were Jim and Cathys friend Julio will pick us up. Should be an adventure!
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