Day 1: Bienvenidos a Guatemala

We have arrived!  It was a day that pretty much unfolded the way we hoped it would. It started about 3:00 A.M., and we arrived about 12+ hours later.  It is great to be in Guatemala again; it is great to see our old friends and introduce them to our new team members.  

We started our day with an “elegant ride” to the airport in an Elegant Limousine bus provided by a team parent.  We met at Trinity at 4:00 and were at the airport by 5:00 ready to take on the world with our 67 pieces of luggage.  We had only two hitches getting to the gate. The first was Jim U. had put 11.5 pounds of Swedish Fish in one of the bags so it was way over 50 pounds.  Apparently, Swedish fish are hot items because that candy disappeared into other nooks and crannies in other bags instantaneously and we still managed to get them where he wanted them.  The other was Sue was held up by TSA when they discovered a seemly endless supply of coffee creamer in her carryon luggage.  She manage to charm her way through the incident although her luggage was gone through completely.  We had plenty of time so it was not a problem at all… only funny as we also discovered Kroger had a small sub-station in her backpack.  We also averted a catastrophe when Riley’s passport fell under her seat at the gate in Detroit.  I believe one of the guys happened to see it as we were boarding. Disaster averted!  

There were 4 mission teams on our flight into Guatemala City from Atlanta.  It was oversold and agents were offering $1000 vouchers to each of 12 travelers to take two later flights.  It was tempting but fruitless as all of the mission teams had schedules to keep.  The other teams were from Atlanta, Lauren, North Carolina, and Hales Corners, Wisconsin. It made for interesting conversations throughout the flight.

Our only other memorable moment of the day was Bruce’s advice about turbulence…”Oh, it will be fine at 30,000 feet.”  For the nervous flyers, that did not even compute.

It is 5:00 P.M. in Guatemala City, 7:00 P.M. at home.  We are journaling, regrouping, settling in, and getting ready to eat one of Ginny’s amazing meals for 19, and then on to unpacking our supplies.  I want to post this before it gets too late so family members will know we arrived safely.

Tired, happy, and full of anticipation for our time in Guatemala…blessings,

Sally y mis amigos