No sleep 'till Guatemala!

There's so much to say that it is almost overwhelming to start this entry, but maybe I'll have to save some for next time under the assumption that I have more to say today than I will tomorrow, because they always say that half the fun is in the journey, not the destination. My journey wasn't particularly fun but it was a journey none the less. This keyboard is a bit annoying so excuse any typos.

I didn't sleep at all the night before I left. Even if I had fallen asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow, I would have gotten less than 4 hours of sleep anyway, so I don't think there was a big loss.

I got to the airport at 6 am, 3 hours before the flight, because I was concerned about overbooking. It turned out that an hour before my flight, which went to San Salvador for a connection to Guatemala City, there was a direct flight to Guatemala. My dad suggested trying to get on that flight because it was "better to wait there than wait here" but I wasn't so sure that was true - JFK was a known quantity while the Guate airport was not. I am not superstitious, but I wondered a little whether there might be any potenial fallout from a deviation from the original plans...whether that might be tempting fate. Anything from an accident, which I wasnt really concerned about, to having baggage lost (which I admit is more likely on a connecting flight). I did ask at one point about switching, but the guy sort of gave me a "hold on" signal and then I decided not to press, mostly because I was supposed to be picked up at the airport from the original flight and I wanted to be walking out of the exit at the time expected, in case there were tons of people and it was hard to find my ride. There were some people at the counter as I was in the next line who were trying to check in and very upset about something. There was a lot of gesticulating and even some pounding on the counter with a fist. The lady behind me wasn't sure what was happening, but I'm one of those nosy people who likes to know what is going on with others, and so I thought that maybe a goal for my trip is to be able to understand such a conversation in Spanish on the way back. We can hope (I think they'd checked in to late for the Guatemala flight, or it was already full).

Anyway, after checking in, I realized I was in the same terminal as my flight to Israel in May. The security people were none too friendly, but I guess that is to be expected since a) we were in NY and b) it was 7 am on a Sunday morning and they were working. There was actually someone who had gone all the way to security with all kind of bottles, not in a little plastic baggie - who gets that far anymore? Once in the gate area, there were actually 2 huge El Al planes at the gates across from my plane, and so when I saw one guy in a black suit, white shirt and kippah, and another with a big black hat and tallis hanging out of his suit, I wasn't surprised. But I WAS surprised on the gangway to my actual plane (after you've given them your ticket etc) when I turned around -as there was the inevitable wait to get on the plane even when there's no line at the door - to see that those two guys were also boarding my plane. Not that religious Jews can't go to Central America, it just made more sense for them to be going to Israel.

The flights were unremarkable, except that I was grateful to the person who sat in first class and left Star, Us Weekly and some other crap magazine on her seat for me to grab and read in the San Salvador airport. My second flight was about 20 minutes and I was the only one in my 3 person seat (this detail is only interesting to my parents). Arriving at the airport, I saw a guy with my name on a sign (I've always wanted that to happen by the way) and we left when I got in the van. there were 2 other girls in the van but they got dropped at a hotel.

The driver turned out to be my host father, and he spoke some English. there was a procession in Antigua, even though it was still 2 weeks to Antigua, and a lot of traffic once we got to the town, and it was quite hot in the van. Finally we got to the house where I met the mother, grandmother and one son. I thought she said there were 3 other kids but since then I've only met one more. I had some tea and ate a fruit I've never seen. I cant even begin to describe it, except that you spoon out the inside and its sort of the same consistency as a kiwi, a pale peach color and maybe tastes a little like papaya. OK that was a better job at describing than I thought I'd do. I tried to nap but couldn't, so finally fired up these Spanish lessons I downloaded to my iPod - they're podcasts. "Coffee Break Spanish." I was waiting for dinner, which was supposed to be at 7, and was sitting in the living room as 7 came and went...until I remembered you don't get meals on Sunday. I wasn't that hungry anyway and had a piece of cake from the plane left over. So I spent a few hours watching TV - it was Lost in English, with Spanish subtitles, and I did actually learn a few words. I went to bed at 9 hoping to be able to fall asleep - finally. And I did. And lying in bed I wasn't freaking out quite as much as I would have expected I would. And I'm sure that each day will only get better, as I'll learn some Spanish and make friends. So I think the first day went pretty well.

Today I had 4 hours of class, and went on an excursion with the school to a macadamia nut farm. The most exciting part was that we took a "chicken bus" to get there. Its the local bus system, old American school buses repainted in bright colors. More on today tomorrow. Sorry if this entry wasn't as interesting as it could have been, this keyboard is frustrating.