Hola Guatemala!

Hello friends,

We have arrived in Guatemala safely and have already done quite a bit in just a few days. Judging by the number of visits to the blog by all of you, it looks like its time to let you in on what we're up to.

Well, after a red-eye flight out of Chicago at 2 am, we arrived in Guatemala City, Guatemala, at around 7 am. We were pretty amped up to start our journey, so the lack of sleep wasn't much of an issue.

Although we were excited, nerves set in prety quickly as we were immediately approached by two men offering a taxi ride to wherever we wanted to go. We had originally intended to take a shuttle bus to Antigua, as this was cheaper and recommended as a safe way of travel. But after a few minutes "Spanish Laura" (Laura with sass and 'tude) brought the price down with assurances of safety. They had plenty of certification, so we said, "let's go". It ended up costing us 160 Quetzales for the two of us, while a shuttle would have been 80 Quetzales. (The exchange rate for Guatemalan Quetzales to Dollars is Q10=$1.25, so it was a difference of $20 to $10)

Our taxi driver, Byron, immediately made us feel safe after showing us a small picture album that included his family, and fun things he has done. He also did a very good job of explaining what to look out for in terms of traveling safely.

After an hour ride through mountains and volcanoes, we arrived at our hostel, named UmmaGumma. Nice little place with an excellent little rooftop terrace and great views of Antigua. There aren't any buildings taller than 3 stories in the city, so we had a very good view.

Unfortunately, we arrived at 8 in the morning, and our beds would not be available until 11. So we took a stroll on down the the central park.

The central park was a very nice place to sit down, and watch the life of Antigua. In the park, there were a few things that caught our attention. First of all, there is no excuse for anyone in the city to have anything but freshly shined shoes. Men and boys alike (it doesn't appear that all children attend school) carried shoe shine kits to try and make some money. There were probably no less than 8 to 10 of these guys strolling around what is a fairly small park. Also in the park, were Mayan women walking around with colorful sacks full of jewelry, napkins and other weavings that they were very intent on selling to anyone and everyone. They will sit down next to you and begin handing you all sorts of things to hold and look at in hopes that you will make a purchase. "Pushy" would be too harsh a description for the encounter, but perhaps diligent saleswoman. They are also very good at carrying baskets of goods upon their heads. It is truly amazing the amount of goods they will carry, without the slightest imbalance. Fruits, vegetables, a tray of desserts, a pot full of water, whatever fits on a head, I guess.

After an hour or two of just sitting, we decided to move around and check out some of the local shops and restaurants. Very quickly, we realized that this is a tourist destination. We saw plenty of other travelers and tourists from all countries, and quite a few travel agencies. These travel agencies were funny. They consisted of a storefront with a few posters of the things you could do, a desk usually right in the middle of a small room, two chairs in front of the desk, and someone sitting at the desk, staring at the door, waiting for a customer, and looking like they haven't done a thing all day. There were all sorts of restaurants, from the very cheap and authentic, to the chain style (McDonald's, boo!, however, it was one of the nicest places on the inside - gorgeous patio, double boo!). There was also a pretty large market. This market would make a farmer's market look like fruit stand, but more on that later.

A nice little hike that we went on was to go up the "Cerro de la Cruz", or the Hill of the Cross. It was a short hike that offered great views of Antigua. With us, came along a new friend. Jack, the Frenchman, can be seen in a few of the photos. A firefighter on a sabbatacal (he didn't have to quit his job even though he left for a year), he offered many great tips for our trip ahead.

Anyway, that's all for now, we'll let you know more as we go!