Today was the start of our 10 day adventure into Guatemalan coffee country. However, when we all arrived in Guatemala City, first impressions were of a very modern city, much more similar to the U.S. than different from it. Two people, John and Sophie, were delayed in arriving, and Anna is unfortunately not able to join us. However, everyone else arrived without mishap and made their way to the Holiday Inn, Guatemala City.

In the afternoon, the first orders of business were food and obtaining quetzales, the local currency. After a short, but unproductive trip to Citibank, where they didn’t have an ATM and did not oblige our request to change money, we tried to pass ourselves off as guests at the Hotel Intercontinental to utilize their foreign exchange. Unfortunately, they saw through our ruse, and we ended up back at the Holiday Inn, where they had both an ATM, and a willingness to exchange our dollars. Armed with currency, we headed out to Tacontento, a restaurant with a striking similarity to Chevy’s, and a fantastic DVD of 80’s soft rock playing in the background.

After a satisfying meal, several of us headed out to explore the local mall, which came complete with the “GAP.” “GAP” is in quotation marks because, despite the logo on the front of the store, the clothing bore little to no resemblance to the establishment we know in the U.S. Nevertheless, undeterred, we pushed on and managed to supplement our wardrobes with various t-shirts and other items that we had somehow forgotten to pack.

Dinner was just across the street from the hotel, at the Hacienda Real, where we probably managed to eat a good portion of a cow between the 20 of us, and certainly enjoyed doing so! Post-dinner, a group headed out with our guide, Chris Eaton from Bridge Builders, to explore the best disco in the city. Jet-lag foiled any late night plans though, with everyone headed back to the hotel to get some rest after a short stop at Guatemala City´s hippest bar.