Two days ago, I was talking with a couple staff members, and we realized that we had a day off. (Woot woot!) Not wanting to waste a moment, and because I've been insufferably close to Guatemala, I suggested that we take a road trip. Nancy, the queen of Zaragosa, and Hermana Belin, the Spaniard, got right on it. This morning, we staff members and the engineer we convinced to come with us got up at five and left the house for Antigua, Guatemala.
Immigration was an interesting little flick in which we went through a little bureaucratic stint in El Salvador and then drove over a bridge and did it again in Guatemala. After a time (during which I slept soundly), we could see Guatemala City, but from above, which I've never done. Thrilling! And then I proceeded to do a little blabbing about the history and culture of Guatemala to all the people in the car. I was totally shocked to find out (from Nancy) that Guatemala is actually richer than El Salvador. I might have exaggerated my memories of Guate in my mind...
We finally got into Antigua around noon and went to one of my favorite restaurants. And then we went on a little whirl through the nunnery. Our crazy, mismatched group (a Gringa student, a Puerto Rican teacher, a Portuguese teacher, a Salvadoran driver, a Gringo engineer, and a Spanish nun) attracted a lot of attention with our obnoxious cackling (I think we were thrilled to have a break) and bizarre collection of accents in Spanish--because we were all speaking Spanish but with various levels of success and having learned to speak Spanish in various parts of the world.
After MORE shopping (it seems to be a favorite with these tour groups) we went to Hermano Pedro's church. I love going to churches in central America. They are so beautiful and I always feel so reverent because there are always people praying fervently. This was no different. I lit a candle for Papa, said a prayer, and went outside to putz around and talk to more people. I was just so happy to be talking to Guatemalans again.
On the way home, Hermana Belin and I chatted tons about the Catholic church, and canonization, and the Congo, and Cameroon (she's worked in both places), and Hermano Pedro. At the border, we went through the same process as earlier, only reverse. The one difference was once entering El Salvador, they searched the car. As they were doing so, I saw this guy with a potted plant take off into El Salvador and leap into the back of a pickup truck. If only the US-Mexico border were that easy to sneak over! Haha. Awesome day, but I'm wiped.
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