August 8 -- Day One
Our Most Excellent Adventure in Guatemala finally began. For the past several months we have planned and researched and prepared for our trip to study Spanish in Guatemala. We had to wait forever for the pass ports to come in and while we waited Don searched for good airline tickets (by good I mean cheap). One day a most excellent price was found so Don decided to buy-- but yet no pass ports. You can imagine that we were pleased when the pass ports did come in and we had tickets --- the adventure began.
The week before we left we started shopping for things we felt we had to have. Don had done a lot of research and was in contact with the gentleman who runs this Internet Cafe ¨Xelapages¨ who sent a lot of basic information to us. The shopping was interesting because whatever we bought we would have to hand carry as we would have no car in GUA. Our friends Al and Judy volunteered to drive us to the train station in Galesburg, IL so that we could leave our car in the garage. It was bright and early on Wednesday morning when we boarded Amtrak headed for Chicago. We had a room booked at a hotel near the airport so we could be on time for a 6:10 am flight for Miami. We changed planes with no problem in Miami and while sitting in the plane at the gate we were handed papers to fill out that we would need to enter GUA so the time was well spent. After that brief delay we were on our way. American airlines has televisions in the center of the planes so we watched a really dumb movie on the first leg and ignored what was on during the second leg.
We arrive in Guatemala and begin the process of passing through immigration, that is after a really long hike. Like most airports this one is under construction which adds a lot to your fun and pleasure. Getting checked through was a piece of cake. It happened so fast that we were out on the street before we had time to get money for GUA. We had arrived in GUA at 1:30 pm and went looking for our transportation. There was someone from the hotel in Antigua with a sign with our name on it waiting. We climbed into this rattletrap truck and took off for Antigua.
Antigua
In Antigua we found our room and dropped all of that stuff and took off for a walking tour of our area. The roads in Antigua are rough cobble stone. If you don´t need to visit the restroom before you get to Antigua you will shortly after getting a full body massage on their roads. Walking on them was also a trip. The roads are barely wide enough for the cars and the sidewalk is barely two people wide and has a lot of broken uneven places. You know me and the foot -- I had to watch where I put my foot and trust Don to do all of the navigating. I had to stop moving to take in the scenery.
Our dinner was at a restaurant that had been recommended as one that was friendly to the American tummy, ¨La Fuentes¨. The restaurant was a surprise like most of the places we have been into, the front door is nothing to look at but once you enter there is an entryway then you find yourself in a courtyard with a fountain in the middle and grass (very little grass shows in GUA because it rains a lot so all city streets are cement). Around the edge of the little courtyard were tables and chairs that were under a roof. Behind the tables were little shops and an Internet Cafe (which Don thought was too expensive). To make a long story short the restaurant was perfect for our tummys and we subsequently ate all of our meals there.
