The question that I got the most pertaining to my most recent trip to Guatemala was “So why are you going to Guatemala?” The answer was simple enough: No reason really. My friend Bob was looking for his 42nd foreign country to visit and Guatemala seemed as good as a place as any. Many say that the culture and landscape are enticing, so I decided that I’d tag along in touring this foreign and exotic country. This was my first trip with the A.C.T. (Adult Customized Tours) group that is based out of Palm Springs, CA. The only bad thing about the all-inclusive trip was that it left and returned to Los Angeles only, so I was forced to buy a round-trip ticket to L.A.
The day to depart on this little adventure was Friday, March 27, 2009. I had gotten all of my packing done the day before and went off to work as usual on that morning. I left work a couple of hours early and headed over to my Dad’s house, arriving at about 4pm. I changed clothes and tinkered around a few minutes, checking out his ’57 Chevy before we departed for the Dayton airport. My flight was at 6:10 and as always, I got to the airport, through security, and made it to my terminal with a good hour to spare. Soon however I began to have flashbacks to my last time in this airport, when I saw that they were not boarding my flight as it got to be within 15 minutes of the supposed departure time.
Fortunately, this flight wasn’t postponed by too much, but by the time we boarded, it was running about an hour late. The bad news was that my layover time in Houston was only an hour. I arrived in Houston at 9pm, which was the exact time that my connecting flight was to take off. Nervously, I hightailed it off the plane and checked the schedule to find out that my next flight to L.A. had been delayed by 22 minutes. Naturally it was taking off from a completely different terminal than where I arrived. I was actually more concerned with my luggage than myself.
Others were running along beside me as we made our way to our connecting plane and one couple was also going to L.A. on the same flight. We took the monorail to the correct gate and had fifteen minutes to find the terminal so I slowed down while they ran ahead. I figured I was in the clear by this point. Still this couple flagged down one of the guys driving the carts and jumped aboard, inviting me as well. I went ahead and took this mad and reckless taxi through the airport. When we arrived at our gate, there was a huge line to get on the plane, so we had had plenty of time to spare. The net of all of this was that I was over an hour late arriving in L.A. – but fortunately my luggage did show up. Another nice point was that Continental airlines supplied some very good snacks. This almost made up for the $15 baggage surcharge…but not quite.
Speeding through the Houston airport on a cart bound for our gate
My friend Jimmy picked me up and we drove back to his house in San Pedro to spend the night. Although it was actually about 4am back at home, I still stayed up for a short time, eating the standard fare of Goldfish crackers, perusing So, What About Fin? and the companion tome that he had created exclusively for me, So, What About Guatemala? – and watching the Newhart episode Mrs. Newton’s Body Lies A-Mould’ring in the Grave.
Jimmy and stuffed bunny that was located in my room in the Wiley estate. Neighbors said that he was always a quiet boy…
With a pair of masterpieces. Maximum entertainment derived from these editions can only be enjoyed at Jimmy’s house
Kicking back with some Newhart and Goldfish
After about five hours of sleep, I got up, got ready, re-packed, and Jimmy and I headed out to meet his parents for breakfast. We ate at the Pacific Diner, where I enjoyed a delicious avocado omelette. Bob thought that it would be a good idea to arrive at LAX about three hours early since we were embarking on an international flight. It turns out that there was no earthly reason that we had needed to do this, but ironically there was a celestial one. You can see my completely chance encounter with Star Trek‘s Leonard Nimoy here.
Breakfast in San Pedro with the Wileys
I met up with Bob as we were checking in with our passports checking the luggage. After going through security and meeting Mr. Spock, we made our way to the gate and had well over two hours to wait. The head of the A.C.T. group, Steve Kinold, met up with us there and we chatted for a while. It was rare that he went on the group’s tours, but he wanted to visit Guatemala on this occasion.
Ironically, the first leg of our flight, scheduled to leave at 12:15 took me back to Texas, this time to Dallas/Ft. Worth. We were delayed about 30 minutes leaving LAX and then had to leave through the international gate in Dallas at 6:55, so we had very little time to spare during our layover. From Dallas, we traveled on to Guatemala City. During the flight I became acquainted with Randy and Sharon Scott, who were sitting with me and would be part of our tour group.
Bob on the plane from Dallas to Guatemala
We landed at the La Aurora International airport in Guatemala at about 9:15. Oddly, we had lost two hours between L.A. and Dallas, and then gained an hour back as we traveled to Guatemala City – even though we were traveling further east. As we went through customs, Steve told us that he had become a bit nervous about the trip when flight attendants from Guatemala had warned that we could expect that several women in our group would have their purses stolen, that thugs wouldn’t stoop past putting a gun to our heads to steal a necklace or cutting off a hand in order to get a wristwatch. This was certainly enough to make us all a bit paranoid about leaving the airport.
To make it worse, our local tour guide Antonio from Clark Tours hadn’t yet shown up to meet us at the airport. I think we all felt a bit vulnerable once we went outside with a mob of people standing behind a barrier staring at us as we tried to find our guide. Finally he showed up and we all piled into our van to head toward the hotel, the former Marriott, now the Barceló.
The group arrives at the airport, desperately hoping our guide would show up!
The hotel was very nice and we were greeted with some strange Hors d’œuvres (melon and bacon on a toothpick) and fruit punch. It was all a little disorienting to be in what I was thinking might be an unfriendly country. Bob remarked that it looked like helicopters might be flying in sometime soon to rescue us from behind the gated and protected hotel, ala Saigon. Still, I quickly became comfortable inside the hotel and almost immediatley located the ‘Crew Lounge’ VIP room on our floor, which had a working internet. I was very excited that I would have contact with the outside world, especially since my cell phone wouldn’t work in Guatemala.
Kicking back with a fruit beverage upon our arrival at the Guatemala City Barceló
With the find of the year: a computer with internet access!
Our luxurious lodgings for the week
There was a bit of comedy that night as Steve got us an upgraded room in the other wing of the hotel. But when Bob and I moved over there, we found that the beds were harder, that there was pulsating music coming from the downstairs bar, and that now I was further away from my computer! So I talked Bob (seen with multiple room keys at the top of the posting) into moving back to our original room 321. Although the desk clerk spoke perfect English, it was still difficult to explain why we had moved rooms and were now switching back into this now-dirty room…although it had merely been us who had dirtied it. All in all, we were fortunate though, as one couple Donna and Michael, had their luggage taken to the wrong room. It didn’t resurface until the next day.
Bob makes the room switch
So there I was in the heart of Guatemala City, in the Mountain Time Zone (two hours behind Ohio), heading to bed around 11pm on Saturday, March 28, a little nervous, but ready to embark on my first day’s adventures in Central America.
Bob hadn’t brought his razor with him, so his beard began to grow.
Guatemala will continue…
Bypass the trip and continue with 2009…
Yikes, you are a braver man than I am. I get nervous traveling any further from my home than Palm Springs (120 miles away). I’m glad to have a friend who travels and takes pictures, because I’m just as happy seeing these sites through your eyes as mine. Happier, in fact!
Randy Skretvedt
April 17th, 2009