July 24, 2006

Well, I finally made it into Guatemala City this morning at 6:30. I was supposed to arrive yesterday with the group, but my connecting flight from Baltimore to LAX was delayed 4 hours. As a result, I had to stay in a hotel in LA and catch the same flight 24 hours later. I met a couple there and they were delayed to Guatemala City as well. Consequences for them were much worse because they had plans with some friends to tour historical sites. They were very nice and I ended up eating breakfast and dinner with them yesterday in LA.

When I got here, I was definitely feeling like I'm in another country. The baggage claim area was still a moving beltway, but I could see the guys putting it on the belt outsde. It was nice to see Karen and the Habitat Coordinator waiting for me outsde the airport. I was a little nervous on the ride to the hotel. Traffic is a little crazy here. Sometimes, it was like "make your own lane," but I survived. We stopped for coffee at McDonald's drive-thru and wre on our way again quickly. The streets were very interesting to look at. Everywhere it was so much different than in the USA. A lot of the buildings seemed run down and yet, the people here were doing what people everywhere do; going to work.

My writing feels boring even though my subject is interesting to me. Maybe I'm still out of it, or maybe I'm just a lousy writer. It's funny being in a place where English is not the primary language. Sometimes even in big public places, there are signs with no English translations. Often there still are the tourists, I suppose. The hotel is very nice and very pretty and the staff are all nice too. It's wonderful here because I have to speak Spanish if I want something! I got to feeling bad again for a while because there is still so much Spanish I don't understand and yet, when I need or want something, I have been able to express myself well. I ordered breakfast this morning in Spanish from a men in Spanish. It was delicious. I had scrambled eggs and pancakes, and fried plantains. The lady from Habitat gave me a lot of information on the foundation. The rooms are nice here. there is some sort of pen outside with various birds. Not sure what the deal is with that.

I feel so blah. I hope I can get on a regular schedule soon. When I got to my room to unpack, I found this diary and a couple shirts as well, having nice/funny things to say about being a dad. The presents and what was already written in the journal were sweet and I teared up a bit. I think I'm going to unpack fully