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Published: August 14th 2007
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Our total luggage for one year!
Our "provisions" for the course of one year. Our travel to Guatemala went just as planned. It is really only 7 hours of flying plus a 2 hour layover in Dallas on the way down. We landed in Guatemala City at about 8pm on the 8th and stayed the night at an
airport hotel because they had a shuttle for us. It is a good option for a quick overnight with a local feel and free breakfast.
The morning of the 9th, Hugo Suarez of
Expeditions Guatemala picked us up and delivered us to our house in Antigua. Last year when we came to visit, we stayed in the same neighborhood so we knew roughly where we’d be but we hadn’t seen this particular house before. It is really terrific with 4 bedrooms a garden that is inside the walls of the house and plenty of room to stretch out. The patio on the second floor has views of the three volcanoes Agua, Fuego and Acatenango. Apparently we missed a big eruption of one of them the night before we arrived. It’ll be fun to see if that happens again.
Our first day was mainly going to the grocery store and stocking up on a few provisions. It is a
Our rental house
Our rental house fairly mundane thing to do at home, but here it is quite an adventure. There is a huge variety store within walking distance of the house called La Bodegona. We affectionately refer to it as “Walmart” because it has a little of everything. It is crowded and confusing and at first we could only handle 10 or 15 minutes before we had to bail out. I’m sure that’ll get easier with time. The good news is that we can get just about anything we’ll need right there. We picked up clocks for our bedrooms, a pitcher for the kids’ bathroom and batteries for the wall clock along with a good bottle of cheap wine and some spaghetti. The coffee, of course, is killer. We need to get cell phones at some point but I think we’ll have to go in a few days when we feel more up to it. Milk tastes a little different and the eggs are on the shelf next to the toilet paper but basically, it is all good. When you go to the checkout there are even a couple of young indigenous boys who’ll bag your groceries for a few coins. Everyone is polite and
Our rental house again
Our rental house again smiling and it feels like we’re going to be just fine.
On Friday, we went for a walk and took a break at the Plaza which is a square in the middle of Antigua. It is a great spot for people watching and to enjoy some ice cream. Some young girls who were studying English approached us to chat and practice a bit. They asked a series of questions and then asked what we liked most about Antigua so far. Grace said that she liked the people the best. Everyone was so friendly and helpful. I think we’ve all felt that already and it makes the transition to life here feel much more manageable. We’ll still need some time to adjust to all of the noises (“Chicken Buses” honking their horns at all hours, fireworks going off for no apparent reason, new birds and insect sounds, etc), but the house is comfortable and all of that seems easy enough to manage.
Saturday was a big day for us. Hugo picked us up and took us to a fair at the kids’ school. His kids go there, too, so it was a great way to make a connection. We
met with the director of the school again and found a family that we’d heard about thru Karen Woo, a Seattle friend’s sister (how’s that for convoluted?). Christine and Philip are both native Guatemalans who’ve lived in the US before. They were so generous in making us feel welcome! Christine’s mother Maria del Carmen even offered to drive us home. The fair was a little overwhelming for all of us because everything is so new but we were so grateful to be surrounded by kind people who offered us their phone numbers and any help they could give us. Even though we came home tired, we felt like we’d made solid steps forward in getting established.
Contact with the Trautman’s is going to be as easy as if we were in the States. Just call our home number and the phone will forward your call to Sonja’s computer here in Guatemala. If we don’t answer, it’ll take a message. Email works as always, too.
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