Wow, what a day! We all met at the clinic mid morning to await the taxi that would take
us to the airport. This year we had some awesome donations so we actually had 2 extra
totes to bring with us. Lisa added up all the weight and it was around 350 lbs of
medical supplies to take with us. Most of this will be staying in Guatemala to help with
the medical needs of the animals there. Thank goodness for baggage carts as it took 4
to carry all the stuff from the taxi to check in. Last year we brought an autoclave (to
sterilize the instruments) and it was quite the ordeal to get it there. This year even with
the extra baggage we flew through check in and customs, thanks American Airlines! The
flights aren't to long (about 3 hours each) and we had a layover for an hour in Miami,
Florida. It was good as we all needed dinner and it was just enough time to grab a bite
to eat. We boarded and headed off to Guatemala. We arrived in Guatemala City about 9
pm and claimed our totes and baggage quickly. Guatemalan customs was fairly easy to
get through and we had a driver waiting for us outside the airport. Is was a great
surprise to have Heidi waiting for us also. We had so much stuff it took the driver two
trips and Heidi to get everything to our hotel. We had a nice visit with Heidi and met
with Stacy a tech from last year who would be joining us on our journey to Todos
Santos. We were in bed by 11:30 pm as the van coming to get us in the morning was
arriving at 7:30 am. Up at 6:00 am for a quick shower (it might be our last warm one
for a week) and a wonderful ethnic breakfast, we awaited the van. It was very prompt
and we were loaded and on our way by 8:00 am. It is an eight hour drive but with
lunch and bathroom breaks it takes about 10 hours. The roads very curvy and we were
thankful our driver and guide tied our luggage and totes tightly to the top of the van. We
were very lucky to have time to stop and do some sightseeing this year as last year we
made the 2 day trek in one day. Our guide took us to a Myan ruin historical sight and
we got to spend about 40 minutes walking around and learning Myan history. Back in
the van and onward. One more stop in San Francisco ( not in the USA) for lunch and
then again in Wawa for ice cream at Mc Donald's. Fortunately the scenery is very
beautiful and the company was good so the drive didn't seem to long. We arrived in
Todos Santos just as it was getting dark (around 6:30 pm). We met the rest of our
team at the the Municipal Salon and they helped us unload everything quickly. We
headed off to dinner and to hear the itinerary for the week. Saturday is a community
kids day so we needed to get settled and get to bed. We are all staying in the same hotel
this year so that will definitely be more convenient this year as it is right across from the
Salon. We settled fairly quickly into our rooms and were asleep by about 10 pm as we
had an early start the next day.
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