Guatema-holla!

The flight to Guatemala was incredibly short and easy compared to the flight from Tanzania. In a blink of an eye it was done. And I had good luck, to boot. When mom dropped me off at the airport, the guy at the American Airlines counter was in an especially good mood that day and even though I had two overweight bags, he just waved at me and said, “Oh we won’t charge you for that!” I thought he was joking, but he wasn’t.

Tisa had no problems on the flight. She’s a pro now at being stuffed under airline seats. Bringing her into the country was swift and painless thanks to the blood, sweat and tears that went into getting all her documents done in the states. (I had to get a international health certificate from a vet, then take it to the USDA to have them certify it. Buuuut USDA office lady was a bit of a nitpicker and told us that vet had drawn lines on the form where she wasn’t supposed to and therefore the papers could not be certified. IN order to get all the paperwork on time I had to have it certified that day so Mom and I sped all the way from downtown Richmond to Manakin-Sabot, got the vet to resign the papers, then back to the USDA office we did this all within 40 minutes. Thank god the USDA office lady certified that batch.  Then we had to mail those papers to the Guatemalan consulate so that they could certify them. Long process.

Jennifer, the school’s business manager, picked me up at the airport and dropped me off at the hotel with a welcome basket, cat supplies and a phone. I was the first of the new teachers to arrive but the rest (theres only 5 of us) came the next day.

The week after I arrived was spent doing  some intro to the school stuff, searching for apartments, and basically getting oriented.

Myself, Jen (my roommate, we decided to live together because our housing allowance stretches farther if we combine it), and the new high school principal went on a day trip to Antigua. Antigua is the old capital of Guatemala and has beautiful architecture and on old-timey feel. 

These brightly colored buses are known as chicken buses. They are old school buses from the states that are used as public transportation here. They are pretty dangerous though because they refuse to pay bribes to the gangs and so occasionally get shot up.

Artisan's market

This is the McDonalds in Antigua!