The First Day in Guatemala

Mom and I arrived in Guatemala City on Sunday at 12 10 at the very modern, all concrete, steel and glass airport. After pushing our way through a loud throng of people, many waving signs with names on them and many others selling nuts and bread, we waved down a cab and asked our driver to take us to the bus station. We had thought that we would have to wait for the 3 30 bus but because our flight was a bit early we thought we might be able to catch the 12 30. Our driver hurtled through the streets and after 15 minutes stopped in front of the ALAMO bus station. We began to get out of the taxi but he was out and back into the car in a few seconds and motioned for us to stay put. He took off again, rounded a corner and came up beside an ALAMO bus. Honking and waving at the driver, he pulled in front of the bus and slowed beside the sidewalk. The bus, thankfully, slowed behind us and Mom quickly paid our driver and we switched vehicles. Forty or fifty people took up nearly every seat on the bus but, thankfully, we found the last two seats together at the back and settled in for the four hour ride.
The journey was beautiful, which made up for the fact that we quickly became uncomfortable in the small bus seats. Most of the trek was on winding, two lane, mountain roads that would be scary enough to traverse on a large bus without other vehicles hurtling along in the opposite direction. Regularly, our driver overtook the smaller trucks in front of us and I often saw out the front window another bus face to face with ours. I was surprised that I was not more afraid, but, I figured that our fifty or sixty year old driver had been doing this long enough to know how not to kill his passengers.
Before coming to Guatemala, I knew that it was a volcanic country and very fertile, but I never considered just how lush and green the whole place is. It is ridiculous to think that eighty percent of the population lives in poverty, for the country is so rich in fertile land. I found out yesterday that the main problems are the local government (big surprise) and, guess who, the U.S. The US company, United Fruit, owns over 75 percent of the land in Guatemala and exploits ít´s workers to no end. It also cheats the Guatemalan government by not paying proper taxes.
Anyway, back to the bus. At one point we stopped and five or six women wearing traditional Mayan clothing came on the bus selling delicious looking chicken, tortillas and other delectible items. Unfortunately, we had been instructed not to eat street food and we had to content ourselves with the few carrots and bit of trail mix we had left in our brown paper food bag. We passed many small farms and towns, all very ragged in appearance. We saw many, many corn fields, though not the huge, endless, flat ones you may find in Indiana, these fields extend over steep mountain sides and are as ragged as the houses.
Finally, we arrived in Quetzaltenango, took a cab to the Proyecto Linguistico, and settled in with our families. I´m out of internet time, I´ll write more tomorrow.