Travel Day

Portland to Houston to Guatemala city. Suzy our fearless leader booked us on a plane that took off at 12:30, much better than a 6am flight. She brilliantly managed it so our layover in Houston was less than an hour. Once we deplaned in Guatemala city, we had to go through customs and immigration. Each of us had to go through a "sorting hat" ritual in which we pushed a button and ?randomly got a red light or a green light. The light color determined your fate of needing your luggage opened and searched or not. The sorting light gave reds to Suzy and Mariah. Fortunately they got a very nice customs lady who read a letter Suzy brought from PCI that perhaps resulted in less of s search.



We were met at the airport by Estela, a timeless Chapina (Guatemalan woman) who stands about 4'10".  She had arranged a van transport from the airport to Antigua where she has a small hostel. Despite getting into Antigua around 10:30 our time, 11:30 local time, we all wanted to walk around and get some energy out before going to sleep. Antigua is the cutest town in Guatemala, but we managed to find lot of jóvenes roaming the street and helped us locate a place to have a beer. Monoloco (Funky Monkey) also doubles as a political forum with interesting political statements on the wall. Google Translate gives a few colorful options for the word "pendejo" but perhaps "stupid" is the simplest.