Minneapolis to Guatemala

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Minneapolis to Guatemala via Atlanta

We arrived at airport parking at 3:00 a.m. (didn’t sleep last night because we attended our niece’s wedding and hadn’t finished packing) and were shuttled to the airport for our 5:30 a.m. flight. I have never been the 1st one in line before. It was eerily quiet. We boarded our flight to Atlanta where we would have 45 minutes to make it to the gate where we would board our flight to Guatemala City. Luckily, the plane arrived about 20 minutes early so we had plenty of time. Both flights were uneventful.
We decided to make this trip sponsored by the Friend’s of the Orphans because we have a Godchild in El Salvador and we wanted very much to see her in her own surroundings.

Once we landed in Guatemala City, we started looking for our group. People were coming in from several different directions so we just waited amongst the crowd until they found us. It took about an hour. We found out that the bus had been circling around looking for us. Little miscommunication there. We made quick introductions, loaded our luggage and we were off to Antigua which is about an hour’s drive from the airport. Chuck, our tour director, was going to say behind and wait for the rest of the group. During our journey we got acquainted with the folks we were traveling with and enjoyed hearing stories about their own godchildren, some of whom had as many as 3 at a time.

We arrived at our destination at about 3:30. We checked in to our hotel and after relaxing and visiting for awhile, we were told that we must see Casa Santo Domingo which is a spectacular 5 star hotel. But the real story is that several years ago there was a dump site which was mammoth and when they started excavating they uncovered what was a monastery back in the 1500s. The grounds are spectacular and at night there are candles lit everywhere. We made reservations to return for dinner during one of our free nights. We didn’t have much time to spend there as there was a wedding that was about to take place, so we are looking forward to returning in a few days. We walked back to our hotel along cobblestone streets to rest and relax until our orientation meeting and dinner at 6:30.
John and I ascended to the roof of our hotel which was by way of some very narrow stairs and along the way it looked like there was some construction work going on, but once at the top there was a wonderful view of the volcano, surrounding mountains, a church and city lights. It was breathtaking. We sat up there for awhile admiring the view until it was time to meet in the lobby and meet the rest of our group who had arrived a short time before.
Introductions were made and we made our way to a nice restaurant (the name escapes me) several blocks from our hotel. This was an included dinner with entertainment consisting of men playing some lively movement on some xylophones and then out came the dancers. After a marathon number, the dancers started bringing spectators up on the floor to dance and aid in percussion with castanets. Before I knew it I had a castanet handed to me and I was up dancing with the rest. It was a fun time and a chance to get to know our fellow travelers. After a leisurely walk back to the hotel, we called it a night and were looking for a much needed good night’s sleep.

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