Day 1: Wednesday, January 13th, 2010. We're here!

Hello all!

After over 5 hours of flying and a 2-hour lay-over, we finally made it to Guatemala City! We were so excited to see the country's beautiful mountains (some volcanic ones) and colorful capitol city from the sky above. After landing and going through customs we ditched the airport for the balmy air outside. There, we had the pleasure of finally meeting Olga, our host at Los Andes, who gave us warm welcome and clued us in to the day's events. We also were introduced to Fidel, our awesome driver, who jokingly assured us that he was nothing like Cuba's Fidel. After some hearty laughs, we packed into our van and made our way to El Universidad Francisco Marroquin, where academic Luis Figueroa showed us around the Lienzo de Quauhquechollan exhibit and explained "Cortes the killer" and the conquest of Guatemala from an indigenous perspective. The talk was an enlightening one to say the least, and we were happy to get the chance to pick Luis' brain and admire the beautiful campus of Univ. San Marroquin.

We then got back into the van and the landscape outside changed dramatically. We were on our way to Antigua! and of course that meant getting out of Guatemala City first. Fidel expertly navigated us through the treacherous traffic and tricky streets (and through the city's poorest area, which was as heart-wrenching as you could imagine), and an hour later, we rolled into Antigua. We were stunned by the beauty of this post-colonial city. We were also completely happy with the prospect of getting pizza at Queso y Vino, seeing as our airport food had long since worn off. The food turned out to be almost as excellent as the company that was kept, and our round of Roses and Thorns wasn't so bad either--especially since it involved the infamous Lisardo popping in and joining us! We were happy to meet up with Joey's friend, who is a grad student at UMD and a native Guatemalan. The vibe was great and the conversations enlightening.

Now we're at the hostel ($7/night--woo!) and everyone except for me (Genna) is asleep. Tomorrow we will be going on a history tour in Antigua and stopping by the city's Handicraft Market--all before we make the 3-hour drive to Los Andes and crash there for the night.

Things are going great and we're all very excited! Stay tuned for updates as they come (which will be when we next have email access)!