Arrival in Central America

Yesterday morning at 5 40am local time I landed in Guatemala city airport with a bump.... I think only then I realized where I was. Somehow this trip seems to have snuck up on me.
I waited for almost an hour for my bag to come through, the last one of course, before heading out of the airport into a mass of pressing bodies and expectant faces holding up signs. I had a bus booked leaving a few hours later to Copan Honduras where Maritzia would be picking me up. What I failed to remember being so exhausted was which bus station it was! It took some time working with a cab driven in broken English and a few words of Spanish to figure out where I needed to be. Luckily in the end we figured out, with me paying an exuberant price in American dollars since I had no currency (lesson learned).

When I arrived at the bus station it was closed so I spread myself over my bags and passed out. For the next 7 or so hours I was utterly useless and would have been left behind in the bus station if I hadn't been woken up. When we arrived at the border I was once again fast asleep and drooling. I was rather dazed and confused and spent some time bumping around the border digging for American dollars not sure where I should be. When I finally arrived in Copan and saw Maritzia I was so relieved. It was an intense and long trip starting off with a nerve racking American border crossing where people were being searched and where the customs officer scowled and looked at me in utter disbelief when I told him where my final destination was. "Why would you want to go there?!?!?!" he said in utter and confused disgust.

Maritiza lives with her husband and two kids. David (three months) and Natalie (I'm guessing about three and a half) and Dunya the young girl that helps around the house.The house is located strait up a cobbled road off the Gran Plaza in downtown Copan. Its a simple house with iron gates creating one wall looking out into the courtyard. Attached to the house is a room with several beds and a shelf of books that she sometimes uses for births. In a few weeks she will be helping Dunya's sister give birth in the room. This is where I sleep.

I'm still feeling spun and not totally present, it always takes me a few days to "arrive" in a place, especially after traveling. I'm also adjusting to the intense humidity. Even though its a pleasant warm temperature out I find myself shivering with the dampness....