Our first day in Guatemala City began with tearful goodbye in Xela. My dear cousin Mishel dropped us off at the bus station where J-rod and I boarded a coach bus, and thus we began our long ride to Guatemala City. Thanks to a good dosage of Dramamine, J-rod was able to avoid any motion sickness throughout the mountains and slept for the entire ride. This time we the trip wasn't extended by rain, fog, and road construction like on our way to Xela.
J-rod did sleep through an unexpected stop for a road closure--apparently there had been a rock slide the night before. Fortunately by the time we got to that part of the mountain pass, the road was almost completely cleared and our wait wasn't very long. It was however long enough for our bus driver to let on a few vendors selling their wares and fresh cut fruit. Not sure how J-rod slept through all of that!
Once we arrived at the bus stop in Guatemala City, we took a taxi over to Hertz to rent a car for the remainder of our stay. After getting situated with a rental, we headed to the city. Our first stop was the Guatemala City Temple. It had been a long time since either J-rod or I had been to the grounds of this beautiful place.
Zippy, Guatemala City Temple
Guatemala City Temple
After enjoying the peace on the grounds of the temple, J-rod and I stopped to get some lunch--it was late afternoon and we were rather hungry--at the closest spot we could find, ironically it was a Wendy's across the street from the temple. The amount of "westernization" that has taken place throughout Guatemala over the last ten to fifteen years, was a bit saddening as to us as it seems like the original identity of this beautiful country is getting swallowed up by all this "progress". I'm sure my Dad would just shake his head to know that there are so many "American" fast-food chains not just in Guatemala City, but in Xela as well. While at Wendy's we visited with a small group of Elders having a taste of "home" before returning to the United States the next day after completing their two year missions in Guatemala. It was fun to talk to them for a few minutes.
Once we finished up our lunch, we found a mall down the road where we stopped to buy a map of the area to help us in our upcoming adventures. Then we headed out toward my Aunt Z's house. Next to J-rod's motion sickness on our drive to Xela, finding my Aunt's house was likely the most frustrating point of our journey--we got LOST for quite a while trying to find the turn off to her neighborhood! We drove in circles for FOREVER in height of bumper-to-bumper-end-of-the-work-day-traffic, it was NO fun. Even after numerous calls back and forth with my Aunt, we kept missing the exit--it was not clearly marked and extra difficult to find in the now dark. The map we had bought earlier in the afternoon was of no help either! When my cousin G got home from work he got on the phone with me, I told him where we were, he gave us directions where to stop so he could meet us (a Burger King, next to a big mall). We met up and were able to follow him from that point. Ah, relief! It was so good to see my Aunt Z and my cousin G! It was fun to visit with them while eating a yummy home cooked meal my Aunt had prepared for us. When we finished up dinner, my Aunt showed us around her house, we got situated, and then we stayed up for a bit catching up with her some more.
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