Traveling to Quetzaltenango

After breakfast we got ready to leave Guatemala City for Quetzaltenango and then our first visit to a Compassion project village. We found out we had a 25 pound limit for our bags so quickly scaled back what we would take. The representative for K-Dove from Visalia, CA. had a big bag so I put a few things in his – we left that bag in Guatemala City and he put some things in my smaller bag for the two day trip – we’re good!

The flight was a great experience. It was a chartered small plane – seating 21 seats or so. As we took off we got a good view of Guatemala City – over 3 million people live there. And right to our left was an amazing conical volcano. We all took a bunch of pictures out the windows and in the plane as well. As we traveled over the countryside I was struck by how different everything looked. The structures – houses, apartments, business buildings – all looked like they were half built. Perhaps build many years ago then partly added on to. Many were in severe disrepair and crumbling.

The small bus ride from the airstrip in Quetzaltenango was spectacular. It was truly what you might expect – like out of the movies – for Central America. Hundreds of small shops in buildings that looked a couple of hundred years old. People everywhere – they live outside here. And the older women were almost always in a traditional blouse and skirt, very colorful. They often carried bags or baskets on their heads. Many of the women, young and old, had braided their hair into one long braid down the back.

And interesting side note… I saw two radio station vehicles – like station vans – with big speaker horns on the top and the radio frequency on the side. Unfortunately I was too slow with the camera as the sped by.

It’s obviously a poor country, the people don’t seem to have a lot when you look at the surface. But as I’ve talked with our hosts and interacted with locals at the hotels and restaurants it’s apparent that they don’t need “things” to be happy and content. I’m reminded that simple is good. And I’m reminded that even the poor in America are rich by much of the world’s standards.