Everything went perfectly yesterday. As the devotional I shared said, “Let go and Let God” handle things and all will be well. We were able to catch the 11:40 plane to Guatemala City. Being on standby meant we were the last to board, but still had just enough time to call Eric, Richard and Alfonzo (the person in Guatemala who set up our transport from the airport). We had the unique pleasure of traveling with a Bengal cat named Spot who serenaded us most of the way. It was cute. At first our seats were not together. We were across the aisle from each other. Then the woman and child next to us found seats near her husband, and Maria and I had the three seat row to ourselves.

The first huge difference between Guatemala and the US is the bathrooms. They look similar, however, you are not permitted to flush paper down the toilet. Think about that for a minute. It goes in the trash can instead.:(

When we arrived in Guatemala City, our luggage was there. That was a huge concern for us. No problems with immigration or customs. When we got outside, there were throngs of people standing outside with a bar that separated them. Looked like fans waiting outside a concert hall for a big star. They cheered when whomever they were waiting for came out. Maria said it’s always like that. Our driver, Salvador, was outside with a sign with Maria’s name on it. He had a rather new 18 passenger van to drive us the three hours to Panajachel. It seemed we were going up hill the whole 3 hours.

The thing that struck me most about Guatemala City was the way things were very similar, yet very different. McDonalds, Alleve ads, Pizza Hut, Cheetos signs on trucks, traffic, same car brands… What was very different other than most signs in Spanish was the pollution. There is obviously no vehicle inspection here. Rusty trucks and chicken buses fill the air with ugly smoke and fumes. I wanted the window open, but soon closed it because of the pollution.

The other thing that struck was was the pristine beauty of the landscape. Glorious mountains, blue skies, stunning vista. We stopped as we neared Panajachel at an overlook where we could view Lake Atilan and Panajachel from above. There are several huge volcanos and an lovely lake. Pana is in a valley (sort of-it’s still really high elevation).

Got my first high pressure sales attempt at the overlook. A young lady and a young man waited for their prey. “$5 dollar for you Miss”. I told her in broken Spanish I only had US dollars. “$2 then”. $1 for you Miss. Look pretty on you. Just for you $1.” The pleading look in her eyes made it very hard to say no. But I resisted.

Maria’s house is very cute. I met Alfonzo, the guy who takes care of her property. He had a carpenter in building shelving in the den and in the bathroom while she was gone. He does really nice work. She was disappointed that he put the shelf over the sink instead of over the toilet, but the work was fabulous. Wish I could take this guy back to my house to work. Alfonzo setup Maria’s hammock in her patio. It’s beautiful. I’ll probably live there when we are not out exploring things.

After Alfonzo did a few odd jobs for her, we went out for dinner at the “deli”. I’m thinking sandwiches. Wrong! We had steamed veggies over brown rice with peanut sauce. Yummy! The restaurant was full of ex-pats. Apparently, you have to be very careful about where you eat here, and this was a known safe place. We were ambushed by “indians” selling their wares. Even though I knew I shouldn’t, I couldn’t resist the little girl selling headbands. Once I did that, I was a marked target. There were boys, girls, old ladies, middle aged ladies swamping my table, BEGGING me to buy their homemade items. Most were beautiful, but it was hard to get rid of them. I almost wanted to yell, “LEAVE ME ALONE!” I realized after a bit, that the headband I bought and my purse were on the table, clearly marking me. After I hid both, they backed off some.

Maria and I were both exhausted, so we decided to turn in early, then the music started. There is a pentecostal church right around the corner. It started with an accordion, not too bad, but then, the singing started. AY!!! Thank God I bought earplugs. Maria had warned me of this and the roosters that will begin crowing at 4:30. Thank God I listened to her.

She was right about the roosters, but didn’t mention the packs of howling dogs that would join them. 4:30 Guatemala time is 6:30 Pittsburgh time, so once I heard them, I was up for the day.

For now, all the photos I took yesterday are in the gallery. Click on “more photos” to see them. I’ll edited the gallery later, so here’s your chance to see my unedited photos. LOL!