Travel to Guatemala

Day 1: Today we traveled from Western New England College to Guatemala with a few stops along the way. Most of the group met in the Sleith parking lot where we transferred luggage and said farewell to our families. We drove to Boston for dinner – amazing how quickly students fall asleep when the van gets on the highway. We detoured from our trip to Boston with an excursion into Cambridge where we had a terrific meal at Fire & Ice, followed by ice cream at Lizzy’s, and a return to Fire & Ice for karaoke – Dr. Rust is a country music maniac, who knew he was the next Garth singin’ “I’ve got friends in low places”, Dr. Northrup and Nick imitated ZZ-Top with “Sharp Dressed Man”, Ashley, Jill, Lindsay regaled Backstreet Boys with their rendition of “I want it that way”, Nick and Nate celebrated a 9th inning come from behind Red Sox victory with “Sweet Caroline”, Briana and Christine gave us a fantastic rendition of “ Broken”. Later, Briana fell asleep during the rock fest.

We left karaoke at 1am and went to the airport via the long-term parking. Arriving at the airport, most of the students were quite fatigued so they slept wherever they could find a comfy spot. Around 3 or so the other students rolled into the airport and we queued up for check in. The cost cutting measures at the airlines are working well. Only one agent trying to check in several hundred patrons… WOW is all I can say. Eventually we got the attention of a supervisor who arrived around 4:15 am and we were completely checked in at 4:40. Security was a breeze because most of the airline passengers were still queued for check in. We got our requisite Dunkin Donuts breakfast and boarded the plane. The flight to Miami was turbulent but otherwise uneventful. Most of us slept. After a short layover in Miami we embarked for Guatemala City. That flight was even shorter and we arrived and promptly headed to the money exchange service. This was the students’ first encounter with non English speaking people. It was a good experience for them. After immigration and customs, we found our guides who brought us to Quetzaltenango. The ride was long (about 4 hours) and winded through a high mountain pass.
We saw a lot of the rural areas along the way. Students asked the guide, Jairo, about abundance of single the cows, the prevalence of painting on utility poles and rocks. It turned out to be a lot of political advertizing for Guatemala’s next major election.
We arrived in Quetzaltenango (Xela for the local people) and settled into our hotel. It is luxurious compared to where Dr. Northrup has stayed before. At dinner, the students were able to sample some platos typicos (typical food). Some liked it (some did not), but at least they all sampled the local food for a good overseas experience.
All-in-all the day was long, but a very good start for the students’ Guatemala adventure.