Arrival

Estela

Things you can count on arriving by plane in Guatemala City:

- being hit by the humidity

- praying that the customs agents don't stop and search your bags

- Estela is waiting there to bring you to her hometel

Walking the streets of Anigua

Estela is a blessing for picking us up so reliably after a long day of travel. She runs a boarding house in central Antigua that has been a place where we can spend a transition day before heading to Huehuetenango and going to work. Travelers to Antigua will know it is one of the most beautiful cities in Central America with architecture dating back to the 1500s.

One ton float

Today we were treated to an enormous procesión (parade) through the center of town, celebrating 800 years of the Mercedarian order of priests. Iglesia de la Merced is a church founded by the Mercedarians in the 1700's that survives to this day. A few people we asked about the parade told us the church had been there 800 years, it did not add up that the Mayans living there would build a christian church. The centerpiece of the parade was a huge hand-carried float carried by more than 80 people and probably weighing more than 1500 pounds. Here is a link to an article in La Prensa about the parade.

Meeting with Pascal

Later in the day, we met with Pascal who is the head administrator of PCI in Guatemala, running hundreds of programs from Casa Materna to distributing food to tens of thousands of Guatemalan kids daily. We also met up with Amalia, who is an online Spanish teacher and also runs some donation projects with rural schools.

Ceiba tree, national tree of Guatemala

At the end of the day we got to explore Antigua on foot and made it to a place called Santo Domingo, an old convent previously left in ruins and now restored to a beautiful hotel and conference center. You can see the enourmous Ceiba tree growing in the central plaza.