Guatemala City

Trip Start Dec 03, 2007
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Trip End Mar 29, 2008


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Flag of Guatemala  ,
Thursday, December 6, 2007

DAY ONE   Our flight on TACA airlines to Guatemala was very good. We touched down in San Salvador for half of an hour and then took a half hour flight to Guatemala City. We were met by a taxi driver who gave us a little tour, in slow Spanish, on the way to the hotel. Our little hotel, Posada Belen Hotel Museo, was a good choice. It is located very close to the Centre of the city and in a quiet spot. The owners were a wonderful help and the staff was very kind. We were able to eat breakfast and dinner there, very reasonably priced, and met some very interesting people there. A man and his wife who worked for the United Nations and were in Guatemala solely as dental tourists. This is a new term for us! It was cheaper for them to fly to Guatemala, stay in a hotel and get their teeth fixed than to get it done in the States. Another woman was a computer geek, self-named, who grew up in Papua New Guinea and has travelled all over the world. Another couple from Wisconsin had just picked up their second Guatemalan baby for adoption. We slept well that night but it was darn cold. We needed every blanket that they had in the room.

DAY TWO  We spent the day walking around the city with the wonderfully informative geek, Tiara, as our tour guide. Lots to see and we knew that we were not in Mexico. The black smoke that pours out of the bluebird buses (old schoolbuses from the States), the speed of the motorcycles, the goatherders with whips in the park, the traditional clothing of the women vs the business suits of the office workers certainly created quite a sight. We were fortunate to be invited into a shop to see how pinatas were made - from the making of the armatures to the papier mache to the decorating. They were making a lot of red devils as Friday is the day of the Burning of the Devils. As we were walking in the park, we met a vendor who suggested that I take off my gold hoop earrings. He said that other than my earrings I was dressed okay but I would be a bit of a "mark" for thieves if they saw my earrings. Can you imagine being helped like this? I think that we did awfully well understanding all this as it was said in Spanish and we are still in the process of getting back into Spanish speaking mode. By the way, the Guatemalan spanish is so easy  to understand - slow and very clear. New T shirts cost 2 or 3 dollars.

We came home to the Inn and got a call from Amy saying that Caitlin had been in a car accident and she was fine but the Volvo has been totalled! A lady had just plowed into her on the way home from school in Hamilton. We were very fortunate to be staying the Belen as they had a toll free line from Canada and the U.S. and Amy and Tim were able to keep us informed about the situation. What a great service! We slept a little easier after being able to talk to them.

We are not sending photos at this time as we forgot the USB cable at our hotel.
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