Kara Andrade

When it rains, it pours. On the brighter side, rainy season typically ends in November.

I am getting to know RENAP well today. Pushing two hours now.

It’s 6:43pm in Zona Viva, Guatemala City and we’re getting nowhere fast. In fact, in the past hour we’ve advanced only a couple kilometers as we crawl back to Antigua after our security briefing at the American Embassy. More on that later- for now it’s the oh-so-authentic experience reminiscent of being shoved through a funnel with traffic cop glow sticks while listening to “Footloose” on the Crazy For The 80’s radio station. Note to selves: never attempt entry or departure into the capital between the hours of 5-7pm!

After the 3200 mile drive from Oakland to Antigua, we figured it was time for an oil change. We took the car to a garage called Repuestos La Recoleccion (Avenida La Recoleccion #4) that was recommended to us by our friend and trusty Antigua-advisor, Rudy Girón.

Damage? Around $40.00, but this included a 1/2 liter of oil for the rear differential, plus all fluids topped off. Great work and service all around, and it also included the pleasure of witnessing this:

In all the wrong places.

Looking for apartments.

We had our first brunch at Cafe Condesa. We’ve got some altitude sickness, but still managed to unload our car and make it into town for a day of setting up the HQ. I was a bit annoyed by the mandatory Q10 for parking anywhere in Antigua. It’s a change that makes sense when you think about the lack of parking meters in Antigua. But to charge on Sunday? Next stop is Mono Loco for some house hunting. It might be time for me to request a Craigslist network in Antigua again. I do it every three months and one day Craig will care enough about Guate as I do.

Brad calls this his Zolcalo now.

Por fin! Llegamos! We are here and now to find Nelly.

We are about an hour from Antigua after a quick stop at Casa de Don Robert for hot chocolate, pasta and to alert Nelly, our kind host, that we had not been swallowed up by the cerros.