All I really want...is to STOP traveling!

What a day! maybe not quite as exciting as ayer--naahh! just kidding, it was! but today, instead of a huracán of negative emociones, the ups and downs came in waves. 

My morning started off rough (otra vez), but it got better and then worse and then better again. This morning we (mi amiga, Kristi and her daughter, Lidia) woke up at 4:30 to get to the shuttle at 5. There wasn’t enough espacio on the shuttle for all of us and our luggage so we got separated, and since we were traveling together, she had all our plane ticket información, etc. Not at all like me, I spoke up and told the conductor that we could not be separated and (the nerve) the guy told me that we didn’t have a choice, that we had to leave, and that she would be coming in another van to follow. She did, but my guy was an idiota and first dropped me off at the wrong spot. I kept on questioning him, asking things like, dónde is my friend? Finally, he asked what airline (which I had already told him). Of course, he took me to the wrong friggin’ terminal. When get got to the terminal correcta, I asked if there was any way he could call his friend to see where they were...ya know so I could board the avión and have the rest of my luggage. He was pissed I was giving him a hard time and didn’t tip him, so he said (or better, lied) that his friend, the driver of my friend, didn’t have a radio. Anyway, I started freakeando out and crying for obvious reasons. I told myself to suck it up and that what’s done is done. There is nothing I can do to change what has happened. Then I just decided to check inside the terminal instead of continue waiting, and there they were searching frantically for me with my luggage and everything!! Gracias a Dios that I could trust them. We made it through to our gate only to see…no, it can’t be. Well, it was, another notice on the screen that our flight to Mexico City was delayed.



Turns out, it was a human error and our flight wasn't actually delayed...TO Mexico City. Our flight FROM Mexico City, however, was. We began boarding when we were supposed to have been taking off, and then sat on the tarmac for another hora, for which we never received explicación . And then from the time we took off until the time we landed, I was praying for my vida. I had never experienced turbulence like that. They would even let us get out of our seats to go to the baño. Come to find out later, my friend Alex, the tropical storm, killed two people in Guatemala today. After landing, kissing the ground, and attempting to calm down, I hurried through immigration only to wait for my luggage, which didn’t come and didn’t come. Kristi had all FOUR of hers (keep in mind we were traveling together so our bags should have been together, too). I just had this gut feeling that my equipaje was not going to come. After everything I had already been through in this nightmare of an experiencia—I knew it. My bags were lost in the aire somewhere. Then I see this hombre putting my luggage along with several others on a cart. I said “oh no no no” to that, he smiled, and said oh sorry. Umm…no. you’re not. You were trying to robar my bag.


I arrived at the hotel to meet two others that had been waiting for me along with a professor. From Guatemala City, we traveled 3 hours in a minivan to Lake Atitlan. That was great! Ha! Ya’ know that giant sink hole in the city? Well, I didn’t see that one, but I saw several more—out of the side of the road. Mudslides are ridículo here! We arrived, the hotel is B-E-A-UTIFUL and the people seem to be fantástico. So I am ready for some actual stress-free sight-seeing tomorrow. I’ll let ya know how that works out! 