Friday, Oct. 16, 2009

I have been home for about a week. I arrived late Saturday night (11:30 pm) from my trip to Guatemala. The bus ride from San Pedro to Guatemala City included a 2-1/2 hour "lay over" in Antigua. A very nice town with lots to see, but way too many tourists for me. There are hundreds, if not more, Americans living full time in Antigua and it shows, not to mention all of the tourists, American and European. I did get a chance to get out and walk some of the town (and use some Spanish). I went to a grocery store and bought some tea to bring home with me, Jamaica Tea and Apple & Cinnamon Tea. Then the over crowded, one hour bus ride to Guatemala City. My last night was spent at "Hostel Los Volcans" in Guatemala City. It was a little expensive, $25 per night, but came with breakfast and a shuttle to the airport in the morning. The "2 hours early" at the airport in Guatemala City was nothing compared to the 3-1/2 hour wait at Atlanta International... The plane was loaded with "missionaries" returning home after a week of work (house building mostly). I thought it would be nice to sleep in my own bed, but found it hard to sleep, but only that first night. The transition to home life was easy, it was all of the "catch up" that took so long, work, email, work, etc.. Our 15th wedding anniversary was yesterday, Oct. 15th plus I had a short doctors visit Wednesday afternoon and an all day in bed Thursday from an outpatient procedure (nothing major on either account). We did get to go out for our anniversary dinner. It was nice to spend some alone time with my wonderful wife and as a bonus, Outback Steakhouse didn't screw anything up. I have been so busy with life that I have not a had a chance to update my blog, so here is a little for you. I will get around to writing a "reflections" post but it will have to wait a little longer. PS, I finally figured out how to the "panoramic" setting and could still only get half of the lake in it... I just posted the picture of myself in the same place as Felix Gonzales to show how small these wonderful people are. Note the placement of the fence and yellow flowers in the back ground.