Day 1-Wednesday Feb 11

Not much to say about this day. I had a travel award ticket (I was the highest bidder
for it in a silent auction at a charitable event last year) and that means you go when they say you go, and the route they choose. Haven’t quite figured out why specially when I go to their website and see that there are plenty of seats available for the route I wanted to take. So I started out from Boston at 8pm bound for Dallas where I had to spent the night. It wasn't worth going to a hotel for 6 hours and was able to use one of the cots that are placed around the International terminal and get some shut eye.
I did quite a bit or reading about Guatemala in the weeks before I left. I’ve found it helpful to know about the history of the countries I visit. It’s official name is The Republic of Guatemala. The country finally became a democracy after the longest civil war in Latin American history, from 1960 to 1966. More than half the population are Mayan descendants, and there are 21 distinct Mayan languages still spoken as well as several non Mayan Amerindian languages particularly in the more rural areas. Spanish is the official language however. Guatemala is bounded by 4 countries, Mexico, Belize, Honduras and El Salvador, and 2 bodies of water, the North Pacific Ocean to the west, and the Caribbean Sea to the east. It’s very mountainous.
As some of you know I have been doing volunteer work in the Boston area for a few years now. I’d been thinking of doing a stint overseas but never really taken the time to figure out where or when til last month. The opportunity to go to Central America and locate a program that fit in to the timeframe I had all happened quite quickly, and just sorta fell into place. Over the past few years I’d periodically look at various organizations that arrange for international volunteer experience. Cross Cultural Solutions - www.crossculturalsolutions.org seemed to present the best opportunity. Their mission is to “operate volunteer programs around the world in partnership with sustainable community initiatives, bringing people together to work side-by-side while sharing perspectives and fostering cultural understanding”. From all that I’ve read they are a well respected organization, and others who’ve worked in their programs have nothing but good things to say about their experience.