Hi guys! Been a while since I updated. I wanted to write long form about the first couple of days of my trip to Guatemala, so I'm temporarily resurrecting this blog for that purpose. Tumblr has become kind of a time capsule for me, so here's a contribution for this year. We left Mpls in the middle of the night on Wednesday the 4th on Spirit airlines. It was so crowded I couldn't get comfortable enough to sleep. My knees kept banging into everything and there was nowhere to put my head. The plane had to be de-iced before we could go anywhere, which was really cool! We were right by the wing so as they sprayed the brine, fog rolled towards us like a ghost. We arrived at Fort Lauderdale for our 5 hour layover around 4am. Again, no sleep. Finally we gave in and bought expensive memory foam neck pillows from the airport gift show that smelled slightly of mildew but proved to be our wisest investment so far of the whole trip. Flying over the Gulf was a really cool experience. I've never seen the Florida Keys before! They look so alien from above. We because we couldn't sleep, we chatted & struck up a friendship with our seatmate who was about our age visiting family in Guate. When I got off the plane, my money belt was digging uncomfortably into my waist so I went to adjust it before going through customs. A little too overconfident in my high school Spanish, I sauntered up to a guard and said loudly & clearly, "Perdón, puedo ir al baño?" He stared at me for a second and then pointed behind him, towards the bathrooms. I took one step past him before I realized my mistake. My sister & I burst out laughing, "DONDE es el baño! DONDE!" We had some time to kill before our shuttle was supposed to get there, so we wandered outside. First we exited the doors into a crowd of shuttle drivers holding signs and shouting locations. It was pretty overwhelming so we went back inside, only to be chased down by a guard who explained to us it was an exit only. We waited another half hour or so before finally a man approached us. "Emeli? Va a Antigua?" After checking and double-checking that this was the shuttle I requested, we got on. The other customer didn't show so it turned out to be an extremely luxurious and cheap taxi ride... once I got used to Latin American driving. Ooof. More than once I leaned over to my sister and whispered "I AM a good driver, see?" To be fair it's an incredibly efficient way of driving, although it must require absolute concentration. We arrived at our AirBNB in Antigua, a beautiful place with framed completed jigsaw puzzles lining the walls and and lovely courtyard of potted plants in the middle. Our hosts were two lovely grandparents, Federico and Chiqui. We stayed in what they called the 'family room,' a large bedroom with two beds and lofty walls covered with pictures of their family. Also staying there was an American woman and her adopted Guatemalan daughter and her two American friends. The daughter was so adorable, barely 5 years old and totally joyful. I had so much anxiety that first day I couldn't sleep. I've never traveled before and everything was so different and new.I felt like the whole trip was a bad idea and I was so scared of getting sick or lost or injured in an unfamiliar country. Finally, we left the house that afternoon (after trying to catch up on some sleep). Alice is a huge fan of walking, so we walked the few blocks to central park in our quest for dinner. By that time it was the golden hour, and so we walked along streets illuminated by an ethereal beauty. Finally, we found an American-style taco place to eat. Walking back felt pretty safe, but I still had so much gnawing anxiety. I decided to try and sleep it off, but found that every time I closed my eyes, my brain started practicing conversations in Spanish nonstop. I breathed slowly until I fell asleep. That's it for my first day! I'll write about my second day after I take a shower.
titsay
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