Guatemala Team Reports

After being in four countries and nearly a full day of driving out of Guatemala City over the past 24 hours, the team is now settled into the Hotel California in the large city of Huehuetenango. (Pronounced Way Way) Such a lovely place – and it truly was a fine sight after our travels in the neighborhood of 3,500 miles so far with six hours of driving ahead of us on Saturday.

Seven of the nine team members left Seattle a little after 3 p.m. Friday, crossed the U.S. Canadian border then to the Vancouver airport where our Aeromexico flight departed at 11:20 p.m. Six fairly sleepless hours later we arrived in Mexico City, where we had less than an hour to change planes for Guatemala City through a complicated airport. Thankfully there were no serious hitches.

Those of us who had left from Vancouver were greeted in Guatemala a little before 10 a.m. by Marco Tulio Moldanado, who heads Hands for Peacemaking in Guatemala, and our coach driver and assistant, brothers in fact. We have 17 large bags plus carry-ons we are transporting, all of which were loaded in the back. (Team members Loren and Caren arrived a day before us and also met us at the airport after a relaxing night in a hotel).

After clearing Guatemala City we stopped a few hours later for lunch at the Hacienda de Tecpan for a delightful Guatemalan buffet costing about $6 each.

It’s a good thing that our coach driver is about as crazy as all of the other drivers on the road. The way to drive in Guatemala is to pass around blind corners and on both to the left and the right along the busy two lane highway. While he has our highest confidence, sometimes it’s best just not to look.

One of the highlights was seeing a real live volcano along the way, with smoke belching from one side like an ancient chimney. Otherwise we mostly chatted, dozed and got to know each other a little better as the coach bumped along.

We enjoyed another fine meal tonight at the Hotel California. In the morning we will wind our way through the Sierra Madres, hitting a peak elevation of more than 11,000 feet before dropping back down to the Hands for Peacemaking mission house and Aler Skills Center in Barillas.

Weather today was a mixture of sun, overcast and even heavy rain. Hoping for bluer skies tomorrow.

The team has been thinking a lot about all of our supporters and very much appreciates your prayers for our continued safe travels.