Guatemala City

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 22, 2000. I got up at the ungodly hour of 4:00 in order to catch the early connecting flight from Charlotte to Houston. In Houston, I found Al at the gate for our Guatemalan flight. Bea, it turned out, was arriving on the same plane that we would be taking to Guatemala City. She arrived, found us, and located Bette and Sunny as we were preparing to board.

Arriving in Guatemala City, it took some time for us to collect everyone’s bags. I got through customs first and located Marco Antonio by the little sign he was holding up with Al Meador’s name on the top. Gradually the others joined us. Marco Antonio and his lovely daughter Flora took us through the busy Guatemala City traffic to our hotel, the Pan American, right in the heart of the historic downtown district.

The hotel is also a museum, displaying magnificent examples of Guatemalan textiles and illustrative paintings in its two-story lobby and large dining room. The waiters are dressed in a variety of examples of traditional dressߞ absolutely gorgeous! This was no sterile Holiday Inn environment. We knew we were not in Kansas anymore! Kathryn and Nick greeted us and helped us get checked in. Our rooms were decorated with typical Guatemalan textiles and were delightful. Most decided to take a little nap. I had not changed money at the airport, and Nick took me around the corner to a bank to do that. Afterwards, I joined Kathryn and Nick as they grabbed a quick lunch in a hole-in-the-wall family-run restaurant. Delicious! Later, I still had a little time on my hands before we were to collect for dinner. So I spent the time exploring the street market near our hotel. It was an interesting immersion into the sights, sounds, and smells of Guatemala. It was great to be back!

Dinner that night at the hotel was festive and well done. As would be our habit, we all ate entirely too much, but enjoyed it thoroughly. Since we again were facing an early morning flight – this time to Flores - , we turned in early.