Estamos Aqui!

We have arrived safe and sound at San Lucas!  Our early morning departure had us arriving in fog and wondering if we were going to be delayed.  As luck would have it, we were not delayed in Harrisburg but Atlanta!  Apparently  too many planes over the Gulf of Mexico.  Pilot explained it as Saturday morning traffic! Rush hour with tourists on their way to Cancun.  Our group arrived in Guatemala City only half an hour late!  Not too shabby since we were delayed an hour.  But in true Guatemalan custom, our vans were not there.  They eventually arrived and we started our 3 hour adventurous drive to San Lucas.

 It is wonderful to see the brightly colored dresses of the women and young girls.  Driving through Guatemala City, you could see the men proudly carrying their wives and children on the backs of their motorcycles.  Stacks of beautiful pineapples and coconuts line some of the streets.

 We stopped at a small 7 -11 kind of store with an armed guard by the door for a little break from the drive. Seeing an armed guard by the door as we purchased sodas was just a little disconcerting.  About 30 minutes away from San Lucas the van I was in started to spew black smoke and  dropped its speed to 5 km hour!  An emergency stop forced the 3 of us to crowd in with the 13 others. I did casually wonder if all the luggage in our original van was going to make it to the mission! Thank goodness it was only another 20 minute ride to the mission because we were packed in like sardines!!  San Lucas is much larger than I had imagined.  The church is more beautiful in person than in pictures.  We met several other missionary groups here and somehow managed to pull dinner duty dishes on our first night and Breakfast tomorrow too!  After dinner cleanup, we had a brief orientation meeting and were given our time to return for breakfast set up in the morning. Long, long day!