Bienvenidos

My sister and I were scraping the car at 5 o´clock this morning before we took off for O´hare. My flights were on time and uneventful. I´d never been to the Charlotte, NC airport -- quite nice -- too bad my stay was very transit. Had three seats to myself on the way to Guatemala City and enjoyed a free movie...now that´s flying! My pick up service was late in arriving at the airport, so I had to suffer the barrage of taxi drivers and phone operators trying to lend me their services. Thankfully I have practice in the art of saying no. When they did arrive, they were extremely apologetic and made a big deal about having to make a stop on the way back to the guest house. Clearly they have had some high-maintenance customers in the past. I assured them they could take their time and I would be happy to wait wherever they needed to go. And then to my delight their much needed stop was at a beautiful roadside market. It was postcard perfect with all the baskets of local foods heaped high and a handful of Guatemalan women sitting in the shade fanning themselves as they watched over their wares. What a fantastic way to begin my time!

I head to Quetzaltenango (Xela) in the morning on a private company bus. It´s what the school and guest house recommend, so I´m following their advice. I do know that bus travel can be one of the more risky endeavors here, so why take unnecessary risks. Yeah, for all my travels, I still see no need to take risks just for the "experience of it all."