The Start of a Guatemalan....er El Salvadorian Adventure

Guatemala and I did not get off to a good start.

Our taxi picked us up at 6:30 a.m. in Sacramento and we were expecting a couple short flights with a 3 hour layover and an hotel arrival of about 7 p.m. The first leg of the trip was uneventful - we slept some, adding to the 4 hours of sleep we got the night before. In the Dallas airport, we attempted to find some healthyish food at an Asian food place but ended up with disappointing spring rolls and a veggie sushi "roll" that each consisted of white rice, carrots, and cucumber - not a lot of variety, but no biggie.

At about 5 p.m., our flight took off for Guatemala City, full of excitement that our month-long adventure felt like it was finally beginning! The next 24 hours did nothing to dampen our excitement, despite the challenges we encountered.

I got a lot of reading done in the next couple of hours - a book called "The Boy who was Raised as a Dog," detailing stories of childhood neglect and abuse, the lessons learned about these children, and the hopeful therapies currently making a difference from the perspective of a child psychiatrist. Enormously helpful book for anyone working with abused children and I expect it to me incredibly helpful in my work as a Court Appointed Special Advocate volunteer.

About 45 minutes after the pilot's message of descent, my husband Ken turned and mentioned that it seemed it was taking a longer time than usual. Sure enough, 15 minutes later the pilot announced that due to a storm the visibility at the Guatemala City airport was too dangerous to land. We were running low on fuel so we were going to head over the border to El Salvador and get some fuel and then come back, with the hope the storm would have cleared.

After 30 minutes on the ground at the San Salvador airport that was closing, the pilot announced that the Guatemala airport was now closed and we would need to stay overnight in San Salvador. At that, the man sitting next to us said, "wow." He had lived in Guatemala for two years as part of the Peace Corps, and went into San Salvador one day with friends. Within an hour, he said, they had paid a taxi to get them out of the city. Great.

We left the plane and were directed to sit at one of the gates in the closed airport while they arranged for the paperwork to process us through immigration and customs. There were a couple of announcements made in Spanish from the airport personnel - at this point our flight crew was nowhere to be seen. Luckily a passenger stood up in front of the group and translated for the rest of us poor English speakers. How interesting to have the shoe on the other foot! Definitely gave me pause to think about the courage it takes to go into a foreign land to build a life.

About 45 minutes later, they came for us and led us downstairs to immigration, where we were lined up behind several hundred people already there. At first the line did not move at all and one hour into the wait at 12:00 a.m., we were not sure it would make any sense to leave the airport when we would need to be back in the morning to fly back. They kept saying they would be providing us with a voucher for a hotel and meals, but the transportation to such hotel had not yet been explained. It appeared our flight crew was long gone.

The line started to move, I later found out they had called airport employees back in from home to process us and that was the reason it went so slowly at first. Another hour into the line and we were through! They would be putting us up in the San Salvador Sheraton, all we needed to do was to go around the corner and get our vouchers. We were to leave our checked luggage on the plane. Good thing I finally paid attention to those travel tips and kept our essentials with us in our carry-ons! Things were finally looking up.

The relief was short-lived as we turned the corner outside the airport and saw another long line of people waiting for their vouchers. Really?

Standing in the second line, we made the most of it, chatting with a Palo Alto based doctor who was on his way to volunteer for a week and a Guatemalan couple returning from a visit with family in Tennessee. The couple gave us a list of spots not to miss, and even a Quetzal when Ken his expressed his admiration for the design of the bill.

An hour or so later, we emerged with our vouchers and the first bus was about to leave. They had one seat left and there were two of us. If we didn't catch this bus, we would have to wait in the next one until it filled with people. The airport personnel were creative and suggested Ken could ride on the stairs of the bus - we said yes, and he enjoyed a very bumpy 40 minute drive to the Sheraton.

As we drove away, I felt a little ashamed for the sour attitude I had developed. Yes, it wasn't how I had imagined my trip starting, but how absurdly fortunate I am to even have the means to take a vacation. I thought of the employee we talked with at the gate who was supposed to have left the airport at 3:30 p.m. that day and was still smiling and helpful as he gave us our vouchers at 1 a.m. Or how about the two men who were polishing the stone sidewalks outside the airport and were sleeping on those same sidewalks as our bus pulled away. In the scheme of things, we had it pretty darn good, even on a day like this.

The Sheraton was amazing. We walked straight in, got a room, walked to the restaurant and they brought us plates of dinner. Obviously, someone had told them there would be busloads of hungry people! It was a nice touch that the restaurant and I shared a name - Marquis! It really felt like we were finally in safe, good hands.

About 2 a.m. we made it to the room and collapsed on to the very comfortable bed, and awoke at 6 a.m. to grab some breakfast and head for the bus for the airport.