Vuelo y llegada

Before we left, Allie and I predicted three cruxes on our trip down. First, we had to make it through the flight without Allie having  major panic attack. Second, once at the airport in Guatemala City we had to successfully find our ride to Santiago. Third, we had to actually make it to Santiago.

Regarding the first crux, Allie did not have a major panic attack on the plane. Good. But this was an eventful flight for another reason. About 30 minutes into the flight we hear over the intercom, "Is there a doctor on the plane?" Well, technically yes, since Allie is a doctor (veterinarian) and sort of yes since I'm a med student. So we pushed our call button as instructed and were called back to the back of the plane. There we found a 20 something lady with her husband. She is lying in his arms on oxygen recovering from having lost consciousness briefly. He says she's having a panic attack, and sure enough when the plane hits another bumpy patch her eyes get huge and she starts hyperventilating and then passes out again. After talking with her and her husband, making sure she was alert and coherent, checking her vitals, and assessing what the plane had to offer in terms of medical equipment, we decided it was ok to continue and that she'd be fine. She has a history of significant panic attacks like this (but she said no one has ever believed her), and she was incredibly appreciative of some simple comforting and reassurance. I have to say, it was a new and somewhat unnerving feeling to have the whole staff asking whether we needed to turn the plane around and looking at me for the answer. I guess I could have made that call if the situation was different and more serious, but that would be pretty tough, to turn a whole plane around!

Regarding the second crux, Juan was right there and it was as easy as it could be to get from airplane to van. This can't really be considered a crux in retrospect. Good on ya, Juan!

Regarding the third crux, which was in our estimate the real crux of this process due to the recent tropical storm rains and huge potential for mudslides and consequent road closures, we accomplished it thanks to some great driving by Juan. He took us down a longer road to Santiago to avoid the potential mudslides on the usual more direct road. But the road we took was not without damage. During the rains, a large bridge over a medium sized river collapsed, but that road was still our best option. Juan did some quality off-roading and we forded the river successfully! Otherwise everything was fine. Crux accomplished.

Santiago is a cool place. In my estimation, it's a pretty typical small/medium sized latin american community. The streets are all stone, and pretty narrow. The cars and trucks zig zag past copious pedestrians, and the tuk-tuks (little scooter taxis) dart around everything. The buildings are mostly one story, occasionally two or three, painted in every color you can think of, and are all made from "block," which is cinderblock. The roofs are tin. They are all contiguous, as is the case nearly every latin american town I've been to, which gives the streets the feel of a corridor with no ceiling. Santiago is not a "tourist town" by any stretch of the imagination, but there are enough tourists to support a "gringo street."


Peyton met us yesterday evening and after he spoke to several of his friends who work here at Posada we walked to town. It's about 10 minutes from Posada to the center of Santiago, so quite close. We walked down gringo street with the primary goal of finding Allie a new pocketbook since hers broke on the plane. After some quality bartering by Peyton, we got a great one that Allie loves. We kept walking and ended up at the docks where you can catch lanchas (small ferry boats) to the other towns on the lake. By then we were beyond famished; Allie and I had breakfast early before our flight out of Raleigh, but since that time had only eaten some peanuts. Dinner at Posada was incredible. Best beef I've had in a long time. The owner is a chef - that is, an officially trained legit chef - and the food is GOOD. Normally I like to eat at the local places when I'm in a foreign town, but we might have to make an exception this time, the food is just too good.


This morning, Allie and I went canoeing for a few hours on lake Atitlan. Santiago sits along the shore of a bay of lake Atitlan, so we weren't out in the middle of the big area of the lake, but still it's pretty wide open. It was good exercise and we just finished a well earned lunch. Life is good.


Tomorrow the plan is to go horseback riding with this couple down the way. We've heard good things, and we're looking forward to it.


I'm really looking forward to getting to work at the clinic in Santa Cruz. I'll start on Monday after Allie leaves. Peyton has been filling me in on the goings on, and it sounds like a really wonderful experience. This should be a great month.


Here are a few pictures from around the Posada this morning.