Guatemala City to La Antigua: Ready for the race

Lost and Found: Tackling a Changing Reality

Sunday, February 10, 2013

This is not what I expected. None of it. I didn't leave or arrive as I thought I would.It has all been more complicated than I imagined. The flights, the documenting, the hiking, the writing...the soul-lifting exhaustion...I remain surprised by it all.

But still I am smiling, from the inside. Joyful. Excited. I can't imagine feeling any more fulfilled.

My plans seemed logical...

*Pack 3 bags:
 Stuff the first with sunblock, sundresses, flipflops, beauty equipment of every manner, a stack of American $1 bills and a few trashy magazines. Be prepared for decadence.
The second is a hikers pack. There is nothing glamorous about it, inside or out. Preparation is key...A mummy-style sleeping bag, plastic sheet and pillow case; immodium, toilet paper, gravol, pepto bismol, cypro, and. Citricidal; boots, work socks, jeans, hats and long sleeve shirts...Modesty, health, respect and safety are my guides.
The third bag is reserved for giving. It is filled with handmade dolls and bears,  crayons, hair clips, pens, pencils and crayons. I carry this for others; for those who live in the spirit of generosity but whose journey though life follows a different path.

*Board an assortment of aircraft, carefully timed to intertwine with the plans of others...
It  was some ridiculously cold temperature on February 1 when Carol and I slipped (quite literally) into a taxi at 3:30am. It was Nearly 30C and stifflingly humid when we arrived at the 5* Grand Palladium resort in Montego Bay, Jamaica 12 hours later.

After a week that featured family, food, a glorious wedding and more than a few moments of delicious hedonism we arrived home to swirling snow and painful predictions of more to come. I was still basking in the glow of my first all-inclusive...changing from sandals and tee to boots and sweater...when I received a text from Liz. "All United flights are canceled. Saturday departure rescheduled to Monday, February 11.

Better late than never! Challenges, Choices & Comitancillo

Getting there is half the fun. Right?

"Once social change begins, it cannot be reversed. You cannot un-educate the person who has learned read. You cannot humiliate the person who feels pride. You cannot oppress the people who are not afraid anymore."

Cesar Chavez, address to the Commonwealth Club in San Fransisco

It wasn't just that I wanted to get out of the skin-numbing cold. I wanted to get back to Guatemala's tough sweetness; the shy, distraught, sad happiness that I struggled to understand in 2011. Two yearforward I feel differently about me and I am curious to see how my perceptions might change. I know I want to give more...or at the very least do more. Let the learning begin...

Damn, but first I  have to get there!

TACA, the Central American airline we are booked on from San Salvador to Guatemala City,  takes over from the grounded United. They get the connection right but mess up tbe Ottawa to Toronto piece of the puzzle. Liz spends Saturday on the phone, like thousands of other weary winter travelers,  trying unsuccessfully to print boarding passes. Although our tickets are now dated Feb. 11, we decide to head to the airport Sunday evening. Our comrades, Janice, Ken and Janet, are already in Comitancillo, San Marcos.  We have a busy schedule planned, with 100 stoves to document in a dozen rural communities...most not reachable by car.

Freezing rain is predicted. Our Ottawa to Toronto flight is still uncertain. 

We do what any hearty travelers would do. We head downtown to the bus station, where we wait for 4 hours before departure.