Well...let´s just say our adventure started way before we even stepped foot in Guatemala! We left Broadway at 4am just as planned and arrived at Dulles 2 hours before our flight-flying has never been this easy with Joe and I. We said our goodbyes to Joe´s parents and went to check in. As soon as we told the check-in people our final destination they looked at us and said you have the wrong airport, you are flying out of Reagan International. Oh my! We called Joe´s parents to come get us and off we went across town in the middle of 6:30am DC traffic. Somehow we found a toll road that saved a huge amount of time and we actually made it to Reagan around 7am for our 8am flight. This was after stopping for gas as well because we didn´t know if we could even make it to the airport. We were nervous we might be too late considering the 2 hour mininum check-in for international flights but they let us check in just fine and then asked for our passports. They looked at Joe´s and said, "This is not a valid passport and you will NOT be allowed to travel." What the heck! He had accidently washed his in his pants about 3 years ago but has traveled probably 4 times since with no problem. They told us he had to go to the passport office to issue a new one which sometimes takes more than 1 business day. We decided for me to stay at the airport with all of our bags and for Joe to take a taxi into DC to deal with the passport. We only had 1 phone so Joe took it and off he went. About 4 hours later Joe came back and said he gave the sob story to some sweet lady and it should be ready in about an hour. The airlines changed our flight to 4pm so we were doing great! They were going to charge me extra to stay back with Joe since nothing was wrong with my passport and I just knew I was going to Guatemala City solo but the lady waived the fee so we could fly together when we said we were newlyweds. Joe then went back to the passport office and we both thought it would take about 30 minutes to pick up his passport and then he´d be back at the airport. At 2:15 I decided to ask a police officer if I could use his phone to see what was going on with Joe. Joe answered and said he was still waiting along with about 12 other people and it didn´t look great...and the office closed for the day at 3pm. Then, thank the Lord, Joe arrived at the airport around 3:00 so we checked in and FINALLY got to go to our gate. Other than that our flight was just fine.
We arrived in Guatemala City around 9pm and took a cab to Antigua and stayed in a hotel for $10. It was probably the moistest (I don´t even think this is a word) sheets I have ever slept on and didn´t smell too wonderful. We walked around the next morning getting aquainted with the city and decided to upgrade hotels a bit a few blocks away. Then we went for a short hike in the city and planned the rest of our stay. Yesterday, we climbed a volcano called Pacaya which was awesome! It was a pretty steep climb and super foggy! We got almost to the top and saw no magma or active lava and was pretty bummed. Then we decided to keep going a little bit farther and there it was...it was crazy! 10 feet below I was freezing in a fleece and then when we got to the top I felt like I was getting burned. The red was so vibrant under the rocks-it was beautiful and well worth the hike!
Today we are taking a bus to Panajachel and going to San Marco to do some yoga with some hippies and go to Lake Atitlan for a couple of days before starting our first stint of volunteering and language school in Xela. AND...Joe got an email last night for Christina Colopy who he lead YL with at Monticello and guess where she is right now??? Antigua!!! She has been volunteering in Nicaragua for the past year and is just traveling a bit before going back to Cville. We are actually meeting her in the parque central in just a few minutes...small world!
Well, that´s the Kidds so far. We still think it´s crazy that we are already down here and doing this thing that we have talked about for so long. Thanks for your many prayers and we already miss you guys like crazy!
Julie and Joe
This is us in the fogginess of Volcán Pacaya. Our guide, Lerry, said there wouldnt be any lava when we got to the top, but when a few of us wanted to go all the way anyway, there it was. Too bad we didn´t buy marshmallows from the 6 year old kids trying to sell them to us at the bottom!
