Arriving in Guatemala

A storm woke us at 1 am but we were happy to get the rain. We slept a little until 3:30 when we got dressed and left to pick up Kent and Becky to drive to Bluegrass Airport. There was a light rain on the drive and while we parked in the long-term lot.

Boarding the airplane in Lexington

Because we were traveling as a group, we couldn’t check-in online so we went to the Delta desk. We were surprised to learn that we had to pay for our checked bags for the flight which was $70 for our two bags. Had we known, I could have carried my bag on. The agent at check-in initially didn’t designate us as Pre Check but they eventually checked and corrected our boarding passes. There was no issue going through security with our TSA PreCheck.

We didn’t have much of a wait at the gate since our 6 am flight started boarding around 5:30. We were concerned that Terry and Payton on our team were not at the airport when the flight started boarding. They were able to make the flight just before the aircraft door closed. The one-hour flight from Lexington to Atlanta was uneventful.

Once in the terminal at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson Airport, we got a breakfast wrap from Subway which was good although the young man working there was very slow. The line at McDonald’s and many other restaurants in the food court had a long line. After breakfast we took a long walk around concourse E then joined the group at our gate.

Fontaine meeting our group in Guatemala

On the three-hour flight from Atlanta to La Aurora International Airport in Guatemala City was very smooth and seemed to go by quickly. Mary watched HGTV and read her Kindle while I read the latest Anne Hillerman book, Lost Birds. There was a long line to enter the country but it went quickly. Most of us got our bags from the carousel quickly but Kent and Andrew’s bags came out last.

Lunch at Taco Fresh

There was no issue at customs since we had completed the online declaration form in advance. Fontaine met us outside the airport and helped us load our bags onto a truck. We gathered into a small bus and took the drive from the airport toward CRI in Mixco. Traffic in the city was wild, there are few traffic signals, so it was a free for all. The inner city of Guatemala City reminded us of inner cities in China, Egypt, Ecuador and other places we have visited. Small businesses crammed into tiny, dilapidated storefronts with bars on the windows and razor wire over the roof. We stopped at Taco Fresh, a local taco restaurant and had an excellent meal. Mary had flautas, I had a chipotle chicken burrito with an assortment of salsas. Mary had a glass of watermelon juice, and I had tamarind juice both of which are our favorites. Everything was excellent.

Mary with one of the orphans

The drive from the restaurant to CRI was still crazy but short. We were taken to our rooms where there are four of us to a room where I got a bunk bed above Kent.

Once we got our bags in the rooms we visited the Mimi’s House Orphanage. There were only seven children at the orphanage at this time, but each child came from dire circumstances. One boy was placed in a trash bag and dumped when he was one day old. Others were abandoned or given up by their parents. Each child at the orphanage is raised with love and care until they are placed with a forever family.

Dinner was hotdogs with chili, corn chips, beans and corn. Drinks options were tea, fresh squeezed lemonade and hibiscus juice. There was a brief planning meeting in the lounge between the men’s and women’s rooms then we turned in for the night.