| Round 1 - Guatemala (2003-05-11 -> 2003-05-23) |
This was the first trip I did working for our state department and as such will always be special.
After going through a week of different sessions hearing everything from "do's and don'ts of travelling" to "do's and don'ts of
working with the state department" I was plenty worried that I'd mess up. But the good thing about this
trip was that I was going as a student to see how it was done. So I didn't have alot of responsibility on me,
and there was another techician there as a student so there was 3 technicians, what could go wrong? :)
We started REALLY early (checked in at 5am!) on Sunday May 11th and took a flight to Madrid and transfer to their
international terminal and boarded a jumbo jet. They had crammed way too many people in there and alot of tourists
and stuff so it really sucked big time! After 9 hours on that plane we landed in Miami to transfer to the next flight that
was parked at the gate right next door. But nonetheless we had to go through INS to check my identity and that
I wouldn't blow anything up. Can't really blame them but it still felt excessive since we never really
entered US soil. Anyway, next flight for like 2 hours to Guatemala! The airport was really bad but we didn't expect
anything else but atleast we got a leased buss to take us to the hotel. The embassy had made some special arrangement
with this hotel and when I saw my room I was totally fine with it. But the 2 people that were there that have
done alot of these trips were kinda disappointed and wanted to transfer to the regular hotel. And that turned out
to be an awesome choice since I ended up in a huge 2 room suite! I could really get used to that!
Our embassy in Guatemala is absoultely lovely! It's located in the inner zone of the city in an old
villa which made our job much harder since it wasn't really designed to carry computer equipment up the
stairs. But we managed pretty well anyway and since there were 3 of us we didn't have any problem
keeping up with the very strict schedule.
The biggest surprise I got in Guatemala however was the restaurants and food! There were so many restaruants
around and I don't think we ever tried the same one twice 'cause they were all awesome. Some of the best
food I've ever had was there. Spicy and tasty and just awesome! Lunch wasn't a problem either since there
were some hamburger and sandwhich places around and always fresh fruits at the embassy so food was never an
issue here! The local beer was "Gallo" (pronounce gaio) and tasted like most local beers and was perfect
for the juicy steaks! The only problem was the language barrier! ALmost everyone spoke spanish and it was
really hard to find anyone who spoke english. Fortunately I've studied spanish for 2 years in high school and
I was pleasently surprised at how fast some of it came back!
One of the guys at the embassy invited us home to his big apartment he had that overlooked the entire city
and we were fortunate enough to have some bad weather with thunder which was just perfect and cosy watching
from up there. This guy had been in the service of the state department for most of his life and travelled
the world and had an unlimited amount of stories to tell. Unfortunately at that point in my life I couldn't
fully appreciate it but it was still a very pleasant evening.
During the weekend we took a guided buss tour to Antigua - Guatemalas old capital that was almost destroyed thanks
to earthquakes and the nearby volcano. It was a very religious city with tons of churches everywhere and our
guide Edgar went on and on about their long history of this place and I kinda felt bad for
how europeans colonized it. But it was a very nice day out of the city. One of the negative things we saw was getting in
and out of the inner zone of the capital. In the zone where we lived and the embassy was located was a very rich
part of town and the rest was very, very poor. It wasn't fun to see that total contrast but there it was. One
of my concerns was that I was gonna miss the F1 race from Austria but there was no reason to worry since there
are enough south americans drivers that they were showing them live (which meants 6am!). And the commentators
were funny as hell. That was the race that Schumachers car caught on fire and the cut away from commercial
and just yelled "FUEGO!". One of the funnier moments from that trip!
Then it was time to get going back but this time a woman at the embassy heard us complaining about the fligh there so
she had called the airline and made sure we had gotten the seats at the emergency exits so we had plenty of room
this time. Fortunately we ate before we left for the airport because something I learnt about myself on this trip was
that whenever I get up to 30.000 feet my metabolism goes straight to hell! I don't eat and I don't go to the bathroom!
From when we lifted off in Guatemala and changed flights in both Florida and Madrid and then landed in Stockholm I never ate once!
And spending 4 hours at Madrids international airport was alot harder than it sounds. Never been so bored in an airport, ever!
When we landed it was with a great smile on my face! Not that I was happy to be back but because I was feeling so
great after this trip and this was just the beginning! Unfortunately I knew I had just one day here in Sweden until
I had to go off to Singapore so I'd better make the most of it! And if you know where Guatemala, Stockholm and
Singapore are you cdan imagine the jet lag I had to live with!
Click here for the image gallery!
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