Bienvenidos a Xela!

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WE MADE IT 😊 We left Minneapolis around 7pm Saturday and by 8 pmish Sunday (tonight) we were finally here. Our travels started off ridiculous. In all our superb planning, Rog and I never thought to double check the departure time for our first flight (MSP to Dallas/Fort Worth). We thought it left at 7:40, so we got to the airport right around 6 pm (btw, we had to pay $100 to check our bags, boooo). Turns out it was supposed to leave at 5:40 and really, we got crazy lucky that it was very delayed. Yikes. We land in Dallas around 9 or 10 and the airports like shut down. We were planning on staying there but realized that probably wasn't going to happen. Then we started thinking that maybe our luggage didn't go all the way to Guatemala like it was supposed to (just a gut feeling, ya know?). So we asked the girl working the Spirit Airlines counter and she assured us they made it. Roger's gut feeling said "heck no" so we went to check it out, and sure enough, our luggage is in Dallas with us. After wandering around for 45ish minutes trying to figure out what went wrong, we find the other Spirit counters and ask if we'll need to re-check our bags and pay that dang fee again. First guy says, "That doesn't make any sense, I don't know why you would. Let me double check." Second guy says, "Yeah, you do because you're rechecking them, but let me see if I can get if down lower or something." Third guy says, "No. You're traveling on two different days so you pay two times." First and Second guy say, "Ohhhh yeahhhh of course." We say, "BOO SPIRIT YOU SUCK." Frustrated, loaded down with heavy bags, and starving (Spirit charges you for everything on the plane... no free pretzels for us), we give in and search for a nearby motel. A free shuttle and $50 later we have a room at a Days Inn. Throw in another $30 and 45 minutes and we're scarfing down wings and pizza. Four short hours of sleep, we headed back to the airport.

Where we were ridiculously late. They had us cut in lines, we were so late. We were that sweaty, running couple. It was embarrassing. We made it. We were told our luggage probably wouldn't. Too late to change that now. We fly out to Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Layover for an hour, in which case we eat Doritos and people watch. Fly out to Guatemala City, and look for our ride.

It's not there. We wait and wait. Some guy lets us use his phone. We are not thinking clearly and use it to call our landlord. He says people are definitely on the way. Guy who let us use his phone, wants a tip. "Of course! You were a huge help thank you! Here's money that will be enough for an entire meal for you." He hassels Roger for more and more money. Ughh. We didn't give him anymore and he walked away annoyed. We are the only non-Guatemalans at the airport now. FINALLY our ride shows up. They got in an accident on the way to meet us, and that's why they're so late. The smashed in fender verifies the story. Before we can even pull out of the airport, a car blocks us in and 2 men get out. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a tiny bit nervous here. Turns out the guys from the accident followed Rafael (our ride) to get more insurance information. We sit in the back of a van for another hour while Rafael deals with them.

Xela is a 4 hour drive from la Ciudad de Guatemala. 4 HOURS. Blinkers - totally unnecessary. Horns - super necessary. Lines in the road - more like a guide line for where maybe you might want to be. Speed limits - non-existent. Thank you so much Melanie for the dramamine before we left. We did stop for lunch about halfway there at a place called Chichoy. Roger got kabobs with different types of meats and sausages and veggies on it; I got something called a 5 meat stew. It looked like the inside of a sloppy joe but it actually tasted really good. We snuck some corn tortillas home for a midnight snack, too.

Oh man, I took notes of so many more things to write about, but to be honest... I'm exhausted and I wrote a whole bunch just about the basics of this weekend. I think I'll end this post tonight, and maybe write more about the crazy stuff we saw on the road tomorrow.

It's been one long weekend folks. We're happy to be *home* (still feels weird to say that!)

Besos!!

Oh PS - our apartment provides clean drinking water for us! yay!!! Hopefully we'll take and upload some pics tomorrow for you guys! (of everything, not just the water....)

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