Dec 15

On our way we go!

Once we arrived, we had to wait approximately 5 hours before our next flight left, so we decided to get something to eat. The airport had a limited selection in terms of food choices, but we made things work. Cristian had a burrito (costing $10.18 including taxes) with chicken, white rice, fajitas, spicy cheese, beans, lettuce, and salsa. Giselle, Dr. Basha and Jenny had burrito bowls, while Abdullah and Angel had McDonalds. Once it came time to board our next flight to Guatemala, the airport security decided to throw a curveball at us. They changed the seats for Giselle and Dr. Basha, as well as decide to delay the flight an extra 30 minutes because someone did not get on the flight. The delay was because they had to find their bags from the baggage compartment in the interior of the plane and remove them.

Once we finally arrived to Guatemala, we had to fill out the customs form to enter the country. We were super confused as to how to completely fill out the forms but realized that they probably don’t look at it anyway. While waiting in line, we were jokingly examining the customs officers, trying to decide which ones would be the nicest to us. We successfully entered Guatemala and proceeded to grab our checked-in bags and we were on our way! Just kidding, we had to go through some strange security check, which was super random to be honest. Each of us gave the lady our customs form and we pressed a life-changing button, which would randomly separate us into two groups: one that would need to go through a bag security check and one that would be free to roam Guatemala as desired.

As we exited the airport, Dr. Basha found Bryna, one of the volunteer coordinators for Long Way Home (the organization we are working with in Comalapa) and a trusted friend Ricardo. Ricardo first drove us to Walmart, so we could do some grocery shopping for breakfast.

Afterward, we had our first cultural meal in Guatemala: Chinese food and Taco Bell. During our seemingly slow two-hour drive back, Cristian had the most difficult task out of all of us: not cracking our eggs that we just bought (he succeeded). Ricardo played some cheery Guatemalan/Christmas music, but eerily, just as his radio stopped working, he had to pull over to a gas station to fix the truck radiator (and spring), which made the truck go faster. Thirty minutes later, he pulled over again in a town below Comalapa and Bryna explained the situation in Spanish to everyone, leaving Jenny super confused (since Jenny didn’t know Spanish and Bryna didn’t clarify). Bryna later clarified that we were just switching trucks because Comalapa was on a hill, and the new truck would have more power to drive up the hill. We finally arrived at the hotel at a whopping 1AM and the moment we got settled into our rooms, everyone knocked out.