8:30am
I’m at the gate in Atlanta waiting for my flight to Guatemala City. After waking up at 3 this morning, I’m tired. I miss Catie already. She’ll be waking up soon. I know she’ll be alright, but I think I’m going to be a big mess after a few days without her. Lots of video calls in my future, I think.

I’m still feeling a bit nervous about my checked bag as it has everything in it. All I’ve got in my backpack is 40 packs of 24 crayons. If my checked bag gets lost, I’ll be stuck in Guatemala for a month with no clothes, no laptop, no research materials, just 960 crayons and some lemon drops.

12:25pm
The flight was overbooked. They asked for volunteers to wait for the next flight at 5pm, and at $800 I decided I wasn’t in much of a rush. After a bit it went up to $1000, then $1600, and I started thinking about where I could go on a $1600 Delta voucher. That sounds like round-trip airfare to any domestic conference… but eventually they “unvolunteered” me and put me on the plane anyways. While I don’t get the voucher, I’m now sitting in first class for the first time ever and in some kind of shock. Is this how the other half travels? They handed me a mimosa before we even took off. I haven’t had to bump anyone’s elbow, and they even gave me a pillow, blanket, and pair of headphones.  Apparently they’re coming around with lunch soon! I need to get rich so I can do this all the time.

2pm
I’m safely in Guatemala City and at my AirBnB. I mistakenly told the taxi driver the address to my homestay in Patzún, so I accidentally got a bit of a driving tour of the city before realizing that the AirBnB is supposed to be less than 5 minutes from the airport. Luckily the taxi driver was quite kind and only charged me double (160Q instead of 80Q).

3pm
I went off on my own for a while and explored the neighborhood in search of a “frijolito” or small disposable phone. It’s a gated community and very nice, so I wasn’t too worried. No luck finding a phone, but I did find the neighborhood to be quite nice. If not for the security guards with shotguns on every corner, I’d live here in the States. Now I’m thoroughly exhausted and in need of a nap.

6pm
Well, they certainly weren’t kidding around when they said it’s the rainy season. I just woke from my nap to some kind of snap monsoon. Watching the rain fall in-between my detached room and the main house, it’s occurred to me that my raincoat is still in my closet in Utah. I’m going to have to figure out how to go shopping. Perhaps tomorrow when I meet up with the rest of the Field School group, I can convince someone to go on an adventure with me. I’m tempted to try and see some museums tomorrow morning before the meeting, but it’s somewhat daunting to venture into the city on my own. We’ll see how brave I am in the morning.