Going to Guatemala

John and I were scheduled to fly to Guatemala City on the 4th of January. We have planned to stay in Guatemala this time until March 28th.

Since we had just had a family reunion in Arizona and since two of our brothers and the wife of one was still remaining in Prescott, we convinced some of them to shuttle us down to Sky Harbor Airport in Phoenix. 

We arose early and motored directly on the 4th to the airport. We said our good-byes and headed for the ticket counter. Instead of our departure time being 12:40 p.m., it had been pushed up to 1:05 p.m. to adjust for an in-coming aircraft that needed to be exchanged for another one in Dallas. That left us with precious little connection time in Dallas for our final leg to Guatemala City. But, we boarded and left Arizona about one hour later than scheduled.

Before we ever arrived at our gate in Dallas, we heard an announcement that all those going to France, Guatemala, Costa Rica and Puerto Rico were to report to the arrival gate to check for the status of our connecting flight.

John and I disembarked and checked with the desk. There were already continuing reservations on different flights since we arrived in too short a time to catch our original flight. Instead of going directly to Guatemala City, we found that we had been re-booked on a flight first to Miami where we would have to stay overnight and then another flight to Guatemala City the next morning. In addition to our flight coupons, the customer service person gave us USD60 in vouchers for food and a voucher for overnight stay at a nearby hotel.

The delay ultimately brought us into Miami quite late and by the time we caught the airport shuttle to the hotel, it was nearly eleven - far past the bedtime for both of us. We slept well and caught the 7 a.m. shuttle back to the airport, caught breakfast at the Top of the Port restaurant and cleared security. Boarded our aircraft at 8:30, took off at 9:05 and arrived in Guatemala City within just over two hours.

We flew through Immigration and Customs very rapidly and found ourselves outside in wonderfully cool and comfortable temperatures. The sun was shining brightly and I would estimate that the temperature might have been around 16C or 63F. Nice in anybody's book.

We were met by several folks offering to get us onto a shuttle to Antigua. I told them that I had a friend who would soon be there. I was then asked if I needed to use one of their phones to call him (for a tip). I answered that we were doing quite nicely, enjoying the beautiful weather and relaxing while we awaited the arrival of our landlord Paul Philippi. I ran into the terminal to find a WC, did my business and exited to find that Paul had arrived and that John and he had loaded all of the baggage into the back of his SUV.

A 40-minute ride up into the mountains and then down again into this gorgeous colonial city of Antigua which sits at about 5,280 feet above sea level.

We were greeted by the two dogs Chico and Sandy immediately upon entering the compound and just seconds after by Ruth who came out to welcome us once again. We were invited in for a great lunch which comprised of smoked pork cutlets, home-made sauerkraut, corn on the cob, a great spinach salad which had apples and avocado and was dressed with balsamic vinegar, home-made wholewheat bread, butter and guava jam (from the guava tree in the compound). We drank blackberry juice that had been sweetened with honey and accented with the juice of mandarin lemons. What more could one ask or expect? It was wonderful.

After lunch John and I exited to our separate dwellings and began the job of sorting and putting away items that we had brought with us. And, I expect that both of us napped a bit before we showed ourselves to anybody. That evening, we joined the Philippis in playing games. We had fresh pineapple and papaya chunks which we enjoyed while we devoured a can of salted mixed nuts. Then it was bedtime!

More later!