Rules of Patience: Guatemala City to Panajachel

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Trip Start Oct 10, 2007 Previous
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  Guatemala City, Guatemala
Monday, November 5, 2007

Take all advice to put all assumptions aside and never expect anything to go as planned aka practice patience, which luckily Iīm good at having worked with kids and all. I got off the plane at 5:05 am just as planned. Got my 50lb bag full of books and school supplies and headed to the exit where my shuttle was supposed to be with a board with my name on it. First, for those who have never traveled to a developing nation, the airport exit is like this: There is a big long rigged up gate where alllllll the family and friends of those arriving are waiting. There is much excitement and hugs when they all find each other. There is also a huge crowd to navigate in order to find a man with a sign with your name on it. Thus 6:45 came around and I decided I missed my shuttle leaving at 6am. A very nice man with a Hertz sign asked me if I needed to use his phone (thatīs how lost I must have looked). I took him up on his offer and made my first call in Guatemala. I reached my shuttle service and they said they couldnīt find me and would come back at 10. That gave 3 hours to sit on a floor in a big exit area. Several folk asked me in Spanish and English if I needed any help. One woman gave me the advice to go outside 1 hour early in case they came early. Good thing because they showed up at 9:30.

Now, I can tell you that no one in the United States knows how to drive as well as the folk in Guatemala, except for NASCAR drivers perhaps. This was the fastest car drive Iīve ever been on. And it is amazing. There are trucks full of people, dogs, horses, people, motorcycles to maze through at warp speed and not hit. There are also the stop signs and curves that really mean look while driving at warp speed and there is never slowing down at a curve. I kept falling asleep and would wake up while flailing to the other side of the car (my seat belt didnīt work so much). There is also no slowing down for all those obstacles in the road. If youīre in the way you get a quick honk and you better move, dog, horse or person because there is no slowing down. After all this crazy speedy driving we stopped in Antigua for one hour for no apparent reason. Stop. Then we started again, only to stop at a bakery because the driver was hungry, or stops there every day so us gringos will buy something. We had some tea and bread and off we went. When we hit the curvy, hilly, canyon part I was grateful for the buffer of trees between us and the canyon. Finally we arrived in Panajachel where I promptly got to the Hospedaje Santo Domingo and fell asleep for 16 hours.

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Plastic boxes and sleds	Cafe Flors	My Peruvian Spaniard Friend	Lake Atitlan
Just a little closer	Boy with Plastic Bag Balloon	Hotel Penelue Christmas Tree	Volcan = Volcano in English

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