Central America - Day 1 (St. Louis, USA to Antigua, Guatemala)

I have promised myself that I was going to revive this blog for the past few years, so damn it, this summer I am going to post during my vacation in Central America. I am on a 17-day adventure through Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Costa Rica with G Adventures. 

Dad and I woke up at 3 a.m. for me to catch my 6 a.m. flight to Guatemala. I packed a few doughnuts for my breakfast because I love a sweet breakfast and well, it’s vacation! I rarely take US carriers, but for this trip, I took Delta. The flight was painless and on time, which I attribute to the early morning departure. I transited through Atlanta and I was impressed with how easy and efficient it was to navigate the airport. While on the second leg, I sat next to a guy who was a jockey and raced horses in Dubai. After he had an accident, he retired and lives on the East Coast with his wife and kid. He was going to Guatemala to visit his wife’s family and then over to Panama to visit his family. 

Atlanta International Airport

Immigration was easy and the luggage are quickly. Once I exited the airport, I found the driver and it was off to Antigua, the starting point for the tour. I found it interesting that just outside the airport, there were places to buy balloons, flowers and gifts for family and friends flying into Guatemala. 

The transportation guy told me it would take about 90 minutes to drive about 30 miles because of the traffic. We arrived at the hotel and I checked in. The front desk told me my roomie was already here, so I walked upstairs to meet my roommate. She was an Australian girl, super sweet and is also a guide, but is on vacation for this trip. I dropped my stuff and headed out to find lunch. Antigua was a really cute town with lots of colonial-style houses and friendly people. I found a cute bar and caught the rest of the World Cup. I also ordered a shrimp tostada and a dark beer. It was divine and a fun atmosphere with the game on.

La Quinta Santa Lucia - Antigua, Guatemala

I came back to the hotel and took a nap for about an hour and then met the group around 6 p.m. There were 12 people in the group and most everyone was from North America. As we got to know each other, we quickly realized that most of the women on the trip are teachers, so we had a lot in common. I love these trips because I meet so many interesting people, mostly single, independent women like myself. After our meeting, we headed out to dinner where I had black bean soup and horchata. The food was delicious. I feel asleep relatively early after a long day of travel.