I want to go to there

I am currently on my comfy little bed, in my comfy little room, far more connected than I expected to be on my first (very, very late) night in Guatemala. Seriously - the cell phone coverage here is frickin' amazing. And they gave me one.

I will tell you all a little secret: I love airports.

It could be that they almost seem like home away from home (so much traveling back and forth to the West coast and the Rico-rico and other places). It could be the fantastic people-watching opportunities. But really I think it all boils down to the fact that if you arrive early, and not on a major holiday, airports are shockingly calm places. You can find a corner and meditate to your hearts content, and nobody bothers you about it because they think you've just got the airport zone-out. Airports are that perfect place to get away from everyone without being alone. Not as nice as a park or a forest; but there also aren't as many distractions because everyone else is a travel zombie, and if you manage not to be bitten by the living deadness its pretty awesome.

My flights were a bit crazy though — about 30 minutes away from DC we heard a scratchy/loud voice from the intercom saying "Are there any doctors, nurses or medical professionals available?". Ten minutes later it was repeated in a slightly more urgent tone.

A fellow passenger had a heart attack (I hope he is okay!), and for once I can really commend American Airlines because they kept that skyship calm as day. We turned around and got him medical attention, taxied for an hour, and then took off again with profuse apologies for the delay from the flight crew — something I found rather ironic because they never apologize for anything, yet they choose to apologize for an uncontrollable medical emergency?

The second leg was quite a bit better — the flight attendant guy gave me free wine (welcome to Latin America!) and I sat next to a Guatemalan woman with a serious need for a life coach. She kept piling papers on me the entire time, and had a million pictures from when she was sixteen, but she was so nice and chatty that I didn't mind. We taught the older gentleman next to her spanish so that he could talk to his grandkids, and he later made sure I knew exactly where to find his son who works for Catholic Charities in case something unspeakable happens while I'm here. I truly doubt it will — the volcano, the tropical storm, the sinkhole, and a last minute call for an EMT could not keep me away. Bring on the locusts.

So now I am officially in Guate, and even though it's only been a few hours I feel very, very hopeful. Everyone is so nice — they are planning out my entire trip for me (hikes, weekend trips, volunteer work, REAL work) and are maybe slightly overprotective but I think they are probably right to be. I don't know the city and it's awfully big and currently covered in sand (strangely not ash) from the volcano. I'm staying with one of the partners' mothers who rents out rooms, and she is lovely and only speaks in spanish which is great because everyone else is pretty fluent in English.

And I just heard R2D2 coming from the t.v. room....I think I'm gonna like it here.