Guatemala Day 1: Travel Day

Our team (I am 2nd in from the left side)

I always love to keep a journal when I travel so that I can look back on it. Also so that when people ask how the trip went I don't leave out any major details! So I kept a detailed journal while I was in Guatemala with what I did and thoughts that were going through my head. So here is what occured and crossed my mind on the first day.

I woke up and got ready then headed to Campus House. For those of you that don't know what Campus House is, it is my church at Purdue. Our team of 20 people (17 students and 3 leaders) left Campus House around 8:30AM in two 15-passenger vans. I was in the "party van" with Mitch as our driver. It was a lot of fun. Garrett, Michael, Alex C., Jessica, Sara, Kyle, JD, Adam and I were in the van. The leaders of the trip were Alex, Mitch and Garrett. We arrived to Chicago around 10:30AM. We had 3 hours to kill before our next flight to Dallas.

We ended up playing banana grams. I had never played this game before and it was pretty fun! I bought a $7 bagel for lunch at the airport. So pricy! We left Chicago at 1:45PM (sorry I am so exact with my times- but that is why I have my journal!). We got to Dallas at 4:30PM. Our flight for Guatemala was leaving at 5PM. We all literally ran through the airport to catch our next flight! It was awesome. I felt like I was on the amazing race. There was another Guatemala team too and they were running to catch the tram to the terminal and we beat them! #AmazingRace

We made the flight to Guatemala. I sat next to Sara Hoppe and we played games and riddles the entire flight. She is quite entertaining! We got to Guatemala and exchanged money. We went through customs no problem! We took a school bus to San Raymundo (the village we stayed at). It was about an hour and a half bus ride. A little boy helped us put our luggage on the bus without really asking anyone, so we had to tip him.

Guatemala City was much bigger and spread out than I had pictured. There are lots of shops made from tin and concrete blocks. There is lots of trash lining the streets. Stray dogs are walking around. We drove up and down hills, over speed bumps and arrived at the compound with the 2 guys from Casas por Cristo (they met us at the airport). Side note on Casas: Casas por Cristo is the organization that we worked for while in San Raymundo. They build houses for families in Mexico and Guatemala. For more on Casas click here.

We arrived to the compound (a compound is a school with boarding) and unloaded our luggage. Guys and girls each had their own rooms. The rooms are full of bunk beds and each have a bathroom. We ate dinner prepared by the school family. For dinner we had ham, cheese and egg sandwiches and Chiky cookies (so good!). We drank purified water (don't worry I didn't drink the water). We also could not flush our toilet paper down the toilet because of their plumbing system.

At this point my thoughts were as follows: I am loving the trip so far. Can't wait to see the village in day light! We are waking up at 6:30AM tomorrow! I am falling asleep to the sounds of Spanish music (maybe TV?).