Category: Guatemala

One thing you always have to keep in mind when traveling, particularly in developing countries, is that shit happens.

Our plans for our first day in Guatemala were to fly into Guatemala City and then fly to Flores, where we would walk the island, have dinner and drinks, and tuck in early for the night. So last night, I checked into my flights for the day to make sure we didn’t get bumped from any of them. I went to bed, seeing on my phone “MCI to IAH – On Schedule  IAH to GUA – On Schedule GUA to FRS – On Schedule” and felt at peace.

We woke up at 5am to finish getting everything together and head to the airport for our first flight. At 5:45am I looked at my phone and saw “GUA to FRS – Cancelled”. Shit.

We immediately sprung into action, calling the airline to see what was up. They confirmed it was cancelled for “internal reasons” and suggested we reschedule a new flight right away. They only have this flight twice a day, so we would have to wait until early the next morning which meant our hotel for the night was a waste of money and we’d have to find a different one last minute in Guatemala City. I contacted our driver in Guatemala, who is a life saver and is also the one who booked the flight, and he said he’d look into it. I cancelled our reservation for tonight, even though we were going to be charged for it anyway because it was within 24 hours.

We hopped on the first plane, and knowing that I couldn’t do anything about the issue for awhile, I tried to relax. I looked down at my boarding passes and noticed that the flight we were on would land at 10:43am…and boarding for the next one was at 10:50am…. Shit.

We talked to the flight attendant, and he looked concerned, but said “You should be able to make it, but I will tell everyone else to stay seated when we land so that you guys can run out first. And I would definitely run a little. If you don’t make it on time, I would file a complaint because they should not have allowed that connection.” So he was not terribly comforting, but very helpful.

Sure enough, when we landed, he announced “If everyone could stay seated, we have a couple passengers who have a very, very, very tight connection that need to get off of here first.” So we heard the bell ring, grabbed our bags, and made a run for it.

And ran. And ran. While carrying all of our luggage. We got to a part where we had to go up a floor. Anthony stopped, so I stopped, trying to catch my breath and swearing to myself I’d work out more. He took one look at the escalator that had a ton of people just chilling on it, then at the 5 gajillion stairs in front of him, and started running up the stairs. Shit.

I hitched up my bag and ran after him.  Finally, we arrived at the tram, making it on as the doors were closing. I stood panting while we zipped through the terminals. Then we stopped, and we were off running again.

We made it! I checked my email and see that our driver had gotten things sorted out for us- we were rescheduled for the flight in the morning, and the airline was going to take care of our dinner and hotel. Things were turning around for us!

So then we landed in Guatemala City, and things went smoothly. We get our card, our money, our bag, and go to the desk for the airline that would be taking care of our hotel and dinner. The first guy we talked to informed us that the flight isn’t cancelled after all, but is delayed until 10pm. The next people we talk to assure us that the flight is no longer cancelled or delayed. They gave us our boarding passes showing that we are to take off at 5:30pm. Because Guatemala. We then start calling the hotel again to try and re-confirm our reservation tonight without being charged twice. Success. Our luck had improved tremendously.

We were excited and relieved and went and got our free meal and then arrived at the terminal when boarding was to begin… except no one was there. A few people eventually trickled in but no employees. Finally, I turned my wifi on and saw that our flight was delayed until 10:00pm. SHIT.

So here we are. Sitting at the airport, drinking Gallo beer and laughing about the whole ordeal with the other people waiting on the plane. Hopefully, in a few hours we will be getting a taxi to our hotel in Flores, but who the hell knows.

Because Guatemala.  And shit happens.

We finally decided on our next destination. Me being me, I have been planning my next vacation since the day I got back from my last one, but I changed my mind about every week until a few days ago. Seriously guys, I’m ridiculous and incapable of making decisions on my own.

A few days ago, my daily check (ok, fine, thrice-daily) of air ticket prices finally sprung me into action- tickets to Guatemala had dropped for the dates I wanted. I jumped on it, and here I am, finalizing all the plans and details that I had been half-ass working on for months. WOOHOO!

Guatemala will be an entirely different trip from Iceland. Iceland was fairly cold (obviously) and packed full of adventure– which I absolutely loved (like, really loved). But I love other things too, which is why I decided my next trip would be warm, relaxing, and filled with fascinating culture.

From my previous travels to Central America, I already knew that the area is extremely cheap to travel to and around, but Guatemala is even cheaper than most of the other countries. A lot of people have this idea that it is dangerous, and so tourism has not really picked up as much there. While there are certainly parts of Guatemala that I will want to avoid, as long as you are smart, there’s really no more danger there than anywhere else.  Since it is so cheap, I will be able to afford nicer accommodations and personal transportation. Because this girl is not jumping on a chicken bus town to town. No thank you.

Guatemala is also a cultural gem of Central America. There is still a large indigenous Mayan population, particularly in the highlands. There are many local markets, like Chichicastenango, full of colorful woven textiles, fruits, and vegetables. Old colonial cities like Antigua are full of charm, and Lake Atitlan, one of the most beautiful lakes in the world, is surrounded by small Mayan villages.  There are also several Mayan ruins, including Tikal, a major site in the middle of the jungle.

While I hope to relax quite a bit on this trip- do some yoga on my terrace, sit on my dock and sip coffee with my feet in the water, curl up next to the fireplace in the cooler evenings and read a book-, there are also plenty of activities I look forward to as well. I plan on hiking a volcano or two, maybe doing a canopy tour, kayaking around the lake, and definitely jumping off a cliff and paragliding.
Because YOLO ;).