My next numerous posts will be chronicling our 2-week adventure in Guatemala (only one of which was planned). I’ll post general trip posts, interspersed with fun/random thoughts and lessons learned. Enjoy!

Looking back, there was a sense of doom from the start. Meghan and I left Friday, May 21 after work to drive to Atlanta to my parent’s house. Simple enough, right? Nope. We drove to Atlanta by way of Birmingham due to a 20-foot wide sinkhole, shutting down I-24. Nothing major, and didn’t take too much longer than the normal trip.

We got up Saturday, May 22 to a wonderful brunch made by my mother and were joined by my two best friends, Natalie and Tess. My dad dropped us off at the airport, and the 9 of us were together, heading south! David R. was already there, exploring Guatemala City while he waited for us to arrive.

Leaving Atlanta was a little soupy, and we took off about 45 minutes after our scheduled departure time to Miami. We arrived in Miami and literally ran off the plane 3 minutes after our scheduled departure for our connection. We sprinted to the gate to find the plane gone. American did not hold the plane 5 minutes for 9 passengers. We then battled with the airline, but eventually got put up in a hotel and given food vouchers for the night, as the next flight was not until Sunday morning.

After a good sleep in Miami, we finally got a plane to Guatemala City on Sunday, May 23. We took off and landed without a hitch. We quickly found David Richardson, who had been living it up exploring the city for 24 hours, loaded up the bus and took off towards Santiago Atitlan. It was a beautiful day. The group was already meshing and there were already numerous inside jokes floating around. It was going to be a great week.

We took off straight toward Panajachel to take boats across Lake Atitlan to Santiago Atitlan, where we would be spending the week. We stopped for a delicious lunch along the way. Guatemala is a gorgeous country, so the drive was great.

We hopped on the last boat of the day and arrived at Hotel Posada to settle in. A few of us walked to get groceries for breakfast and lunches for the week, then started preparing mentally and physically for a week of physical labor.