A little idea of what we've been up to!

We left Sacramento last Thursday and headed to Guatemala, where we will be for 3 months. We had a red-eye and it was exhausting! Our first flight left at 12:30 am and landed in Houston, TX at 4 am where we had a 4 hour layover - then we hopped on another flight to Guatemala city. All I can say about Continental is this...NO LEG ROOM!!! Oh my goodness! My knees were totally up into the back of the woman in front of me. Ugh. But it was a good indication of things to come for the next 3 months - because let me tell you - there is no leg room on the Chicken buses, either!

So, we landed in Guatemala City and were picked up by Bruce and Marianne, who work at the Antigua base. Bruce is the director here. We grabbed some lunch and went to the base to get settled in. Later that evening we went to worship night at the coffee house - it's really cool there and we think we're going to really like it!

So far we've settled in and found our way around a bit...Guatemala is beautiful and green and the people are very friendly. They remind me a lot of the Mexican people, although they would probably not like that as Mexicans and Guatemalans have a bit of attitude about each other!

In order to work at the coffee shop I have to get a health card that indicates I am healthy and do not have TB. I got a chest x-ray last week and then I had to give a blood, urine & fecal sample. Ewww!! I was handed a plastic OJ single serve bottle to go pee-pee in a Gerber baby food jar for my poo! I was pretty grossed out!! The things I do! I was gagging and coughing and Sierra was worried I was sick...ugh!

Tomorrow I need to get to the health department by 6:30 am to stand in line (reportedly a fairly long one) and get my card. That entails catching a bus at 6 am and walking about 1/2 - 3/4 mile through town - hope I find it alright!

Here is a video that gives you an idea of where we're living...as you can see, there are mountains and volcanoes all around! Only one of them is active - it is called Fuego (Fire) and reportedly you can see it having "mini" eruptions on occasion. I'll try to get a video of that when it happens!!

Most of the time we'll get around on "Chicken Buses"...these are old US school buses that somehow make their way down here, then they are painted wild colors and outfitted with ginormous speaker systems that blare latin music and have icons of Mother Mary and Jesus all over. They are called "Chicken Buses" because you will often see baskets full of chickens sitting on top, along with all manner of other things - fruits & vegetables, bikes, blankets, etc. Inside it can get very, very crowded, with 6-8 people sitting across the 2 bench seats that are intended for 4. The two who sit on the aisle part of the seat prop each other up with their shoulders to make a complete row across. Add a few kids on laps and you've got the idea! If I didn't feel big before...Haha! Sierra says I constantly smack people in the head with my backpack. Here is a picture of one, but there are not chickens on top - alas, we'll have to get that another day!

Sometimes we'll ride a "tuk tuk" - they are 3-wheeled vehicles similar to a golf cart. The steering is done with handles, like a bike. You can see a tuk tuk in the picture above, at the lower left hand corner, next to the motorcycle. Tuk tuks are a bit more expensive, but they get you right where you need to go and are a life saver if you are carrying a lot of groceries! Below is a little video to give you an idea of what it's like to ride in one! Caution - ride is bumpy!

Well, that's all for now - I'll put more in soon! Be blessed!