P.S. Being drunk, climbing trees, and throwing coconuts at the po-po is not such a great idea

Journal #53 April 28, 2009

I woke up this morning by the alarm going off saying “welcome to Guatemala.” Its our first day here and I am very excited. Today I am going to hang out with Meghan and we are just going to stay around the port. Now at the port we are at there is one main dock that only holds on boat and an industrial port that holds 4 ships that is about a mile away. Our ship was supposed to be at the main port but we were bumped by a ship named “The World.” This ship is a timeshare on the water. People own rooms on the ship and get to choose whenever they want to travel on the ship. It seems so amazing but extremely expensive. The average age on the ship is 65 so I am sure its all the old folks who have the money :) The ship was supposed to be in Mexico during this time but it stayed in Guatemala for an extra week because of the swine flu outbreak. So because of this we had to take shuttles from the ship to the main entrance every single time we got off the ship. It was a little bit of a pain but it worked.

So when we got off the ship we found the first shuttle and hopped on. We had to sit on the bus for 30 min because the port gates were not open. That was a little bit of a pain. When we got to the port there were shops all over the place. We did not go shopping because we had to find an ATM to get money. Of course the nearest bank around was 8 miles, so we had to take a taxi. By the time we got our money and were situated it was lunch time, so we went back to the ship to get lunch. We had planned on going to the beach today but our plans got a little messed up because the beach was closed during the hours of 12-3. They love their siesta time.

So after lunch we rested for a little while and headed back to the main entrance to get a taxi to the beach. On the way another shuttle stopped us and asked if anyone wanted to go to San Jose. San Jose is the closest town to the port. Meghan and I decided to go because it was getting a little cloudy out. When we got to San Jose I was a little scared. It did not seem like a safe place and it was just Meghan and I. We walked along the streets and went to a couple markets. It was crazy because they sold machetes on almost every corner. I was extremely scared. At one point we stopped to look at some pirated DVD’s and this drunken man stared talking to us. You could smell the alcohol from a mile away. He told us how all his family is in the States and that he misses them and wants to come to the US with us. At that point the police came over and took control. We left and went to some more markets and after about 30 min we decided to leave. It was just to scary. When we were leaving we saw the same drunken man climbing a tree to run from the cops, hahha. When he go to safety he started picking coconuts and chucking them at the police, he was hiding the coconuts in his shirt. It was really funny.

When we got back to the port entrance we did a little shopping and after a while we headed to the restaurant that is right by the shops. There were not a lot of people there but it was right on the harbor and had a gorgeous view. We ordered a couple drinks and got some food. After sitting there for a while the owner of the place came over and talked to us. He was a very nice guy and I do not remember his name but I recall it sounding god like. He is Greek. He bought us a couple drinks including an apple beer. It was quite gross. The restaurant actually had free wifi and free international calling. So that got me really excited and I was able to call my family and my boyfriend :) At around 7 we left and headed back to the ship to get some rest. We had to wake up really early the next day to climb a volcano.

Love
Michelle