After escaping the cats’ clutches, the four of us (two middle-aged moms and two 11-year old-daughters on an adventure) made our way to the Miami airport. Guatemala, here we come! This time flying standby went off without a hitch. Within a few hours we found ourselves in Guatemala City. We were super excited to visit Antigua – a place I, personally, think might be the perfect place to visit to expose younger children to [Read more…] about The unexpected parade: Mommy-daughter trip: Guatemala – Part II
Roaming through Ruins
On our second attempt to visit las ruinas in Copan Ruins, Honduras we succeeded! The park requires all visitors to show a passport or driver’s license and it costs 315 Limperas to enter. I had purchased a Promo Dias discount card when I booked the Hedman Alas bus ticket from Antigua to Guatemala (saved 25% off the cost of the bust ticket for me and Rhiannon). The ruins accepts the Promo Dias card, but only lets you use it for one person. Final price was 291 Limperas. [Read more…] about Roaming through Ruins
Monterrico es muy bonito!
I heard Carrie’s alarm going off for about fifteen minutes so finally I dragged myself out of bed, gathered my shower items and clothes and stumbled into el bano. After a nice hot (finally) shower I nudged Carrie, “Wake up! The shuttle is coming within the hour.” Groggily, she replied,”what time is it?” It is 7:15 a.m., I said, as her hand swept the floor looking for her phone. “No it isn’t! It’s only 5:15 a.m.!”, she exclaimed. Oops! Her phone alarm woke us up at the right time….if we were catching a shuttle in New York!
My map with squiggly lines is not proof of onward travel
It seems that there is this pesky thing that airlines require before they will take you to another country. It’s called “proof of onward travel.” And I ain’t got it. My beautiful map with my itinerary doesn’t count. The fact that people are trying to leave Guatemala, El Salvador or Nicaragua to go to where I am coming from, also isn’t proof that I wouldn’t try to stay. Apparently, I need a bona fide ticket out of Guatemala in order to get in. So, rather than play around with booking a “refundable” ticket home and then canceling it (and likely waiting weeks to get a refund) tonight I attempted to purchase an e-ticket from the well known Hedman Alas bus company. Rhi and I are leaving Guatemala on June 20 to begin our southward adventure in Honduras so it’s the perfect proof of onward travel! Unfortunately for me, the bus website is entirely in Spanish. Fortunately, I was able to figure out which ticket I needed, for which day, and even got to the section to fill out the e-form to buy it. But, I hit a snag when it said the passport expiration date that I entered was not valid. I know it is, so it has to be a glitch in their system. I found a “Contactenos” button and it gave me a bunch of phone numbers. But, then I found an email address to, I think, ask questions! Hooray!
I decided that it would be rude to email them in English since their website was entirely in Spanish. I really need someone to get back to me tomorrow a.m. so I made my first attempt at communicating in the very rudimentary Spanish that I’ve been trying to learn with the Duolingo app.
[Read more…] about My map with squiggly lines is not proof of onward travel