I have been spending the past few days near Chicago with my good friend Tammy. Laura also came up to visit. The highlights of my stay included excellent fireworks, beating people at games, rollerblading around a lake and paddle-boating on the same, and attending an outdoor concert. For this reason, I was already in Chicago at the beginning of my trip.
It has been several years since I have traveled by myself. The last place I went alone was Argentina. I had been somewhat anxious about my solo trip to Guatemala, but Tammy and Laura were encouraging to me. I spent a good chunk of time late Wednesday night in prayer, and I went to bed with a peaceful mind. I am trusting that God is more than enough for me.
I had set my alarm for 6:45, but I woke up at 6:30. The other girls were still sleeping, so I went downstairs, let Tammy’s dogs out, folded my laundry, read my Bible, and started to eat breakfast. Laura soon came and joined me. We chatted while we ate, and then I finished getting ready and packing my final things. We loaded my large brown suitcase, yellow carry-on bag, and blue backpack into Tammy’s car. We left for O’Hare around 8:30. We found our way perfectly thanks to the GPS person with the British accent. I said goodbye to the girls, wished that Tammy were coming with me, and headed into the airport.
We had weighed my suitcase the night before, but I had added a few more items since then, so I was not sure of its weight. However, when I weighed my suitcase, it registered as 50.5 pounds at first and then dropped to the exact weight of 50 pounds! I guess I couldn’t have done it any better! I made it through security quickly and found my gate. I called and texted some people while I waited. Then they changed my gate, so I moved to that one. I had over 2 hours before we started boarding. My flight left at 11:55am. This plane was really small with two seats on one side of the aisle and only one seat on the other side. This is the first time I’ve ever had the aisle AND the window! The flight was uneventful but productive as I read Jenny’s Guatemala book and sipped on tomato juice.
We landed in Tulsa, Oklahoma around 1:45. I was a little confused at first because my next gate was A27 and I didn’t see any signs for terminal A, only terminal B. I decided to ask a bored-looking shopkeeper, and she told me that I wasn’t seeing signs for terminal A because I was already IN terminal A. It makes perfect sense looking back on it! I quickly found my gate (which was only a little way from the gate at which I had arrived). I sat on the floor and plugged in my phone which was getting a little low on charges from its busy morning. I ate my picnic lunch from Tammy’s (PB sandwich, carrots, and grapes). I noticed a large group of people wearing yellow T-shirts with a Bible verse on it, but I didn’t know where they were going. Tammy, Laura, and I chatted together on 3-way calling before I quickly hung up to go to the bathroom before boarding around 3 for a 3:30 departure. On the way to my seat, I saw that the mission group’s shirts said Guatemala on them. I was passing quickly by, so I only got to ask how long they were staying (10 days). I didn’t recognize the name of the city on the shirt, and now I forget what it said. I spent this flight in a window seat reading a Spanish magazine from the plane. The most interesting article I read was about an electric auto called Rinspeed UC? that can ride on trains. I also read about Recoleta cemetery in Buenos Aires (I’ve been there). I read the English magazine next. The best article in that magazine was about a major league baseball player named Albert Pujols who apparently has morals and is committed to sharing his faith, particularly with poverty-stricken children in the Dominican Republic and children with Down Syndrome. There was also an intriguing article about a lake where you can swim with tons of jellyfish that don’t have a sting strong enough for humans to feel. This same article talked about an underwater hotel near Key Largo, Florida where you can get married. They even bring a wedding cake to you in a waterproof suitcase! Something that I thought was funny was that the first plane I took was a “cash only” cabin, but the second plane (still American Airlines) was a “cashless” cabin. I had more tomato juice on this flight.
We landed at the Dallas-Fort Worth airport around 4:15, although we weren’t supposed to land until 4:40. We had to wait a long time to go to our gate, so we didn’t end up getting off the plane much before our appointed time. However, we were allowed to use our cell phones, so I made the most out of my last bit of time by texting. I had to take the train to a different terminal. I went to the bathroom and then they started boarding. I was in group 5, so I had to wait a bit extra. I thought it was interesting because they started loading this plane from the back to the front, so group 1 people were those who sat in the very back of the plane, and then we worked our way to the front. I have never been on a plane that boarded that way.
I sat between a very chatty old man named John who has traveled to 108 countries and a retired 5th/6th grade teacher who is a Christian. They had both done a lot of traveling for extended periods of time. John talked to me from the time we boarded (about 5:20) until long after we took off finally at 6:30. I’m sure we talked for over two hours. We talked a bit about religion. The Guatemala mission group was on our flight, of course, and so was a group of 7 Latter Day Saints. John thinks the best kind of service is that that is done apart from any religious influences and is simply done for the good of the people. I had cranberry juice on this flight and wrote in my journal since John had fallen asleep. I had to smile because every time he woke up, he would start talking again, blind to the fact that I was writing. I would listen, and then eventually he would doze off again.
I wasn’t quite sure of the time difference in Guatemala, so I wasn’t sure when we would arrive. We eventually landed around 9:30, I think. We were supposed to land at 8:15. I was sitting in seat 10B, so I got off the plane quickly and booked it to immigration. I was ahead of most of the people from my flight, and since I could read Spanish, I found the line for foreigners quicker than almost all of them. I sped through immigration, assisted by the friendliest immigration person I had ever met, and went to find my suitcase. It was at this time that my speediness came to an end as I had to wait for quite some time for my heavy suitcase to appear. I was starting to get a little nervous when it finally appeared. I breezed through customs with nothing to declare and headed outside to find Raquel, the woman who was supposed to pick me up.
I went outside to find a pleasant surprise. Instead of the hustle and bustle I was expecting, the people waiting for passengers were calmly corralled behind a movable gate-like fence. There was a large open area where passengers could seek out their families/rides before exiting the safety of this area. I found a man holding a sign with my name on it (except it said Shyrock but what can you expect?). I waved to him and met him at the edge of the barrier. He introduced himself as Gustavo and took my suitcase. I followed him a bit down the road to a van where Raquel was waiting. We loaded my stuff as we chatted. They drove me to their house. I felt like I was playing a “let’s speak Spanish” game because if I hesitated a second in answering a question, she supplied the English word for whatever she thought might be confusing me. It was clear she spoke English well. I was pleased by how easy it was to understand her.
When we got to their house, I had a little dinner which consisted of cut-up hot dogs and a potato-like vegetable in red sauce and also mashed potatoes. Then I went upstairs and showered in a suicide shower. A suicide shower is a shower head that heats the water before it falls on you. Unlike the modern-looking ones in Costa Rica, this one was made of metal and was painted light blue to match the bathroom (which had swans on the wall tiles). The spout looked like the spout on a watering can. It was very low which meant I almost hit it several times. If Tammy were here, she would have to duck! I quickly got ready for bed, read a little bit, and went to bed around 11:30pm. I was sleeping in a room with a double bed (where I slept) and a double bunk bed (double bed on the bottom and on the top).
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