Friday, February 22, 2019
Antigua to Knoxville

I had a relapse last night of what I'm calling traveler's flu and didn't get a lot of sleep. Not fun. Tom's belly isn't quite right either, but we've got a 9:00 a.m. shuttle to catch to the Guatemala City airport, so we've got to be moving on. We both had pancakes for breakfast, which sat in our stomachs nicely.

Volcan Agua

Antigua, Guatemala

The 9:00 shuttle arrived at 8:45 – you just never know! We made two more stops in Antigua and were on our way, arriving at the airport at 10:05, which was way, way, way too early for our 2:34 p.m. flight, but the shuttles from Antigua only leave at certain times, and if we'd missed it, we would have had to take a much more expensive taxi.

Despite being a country of over 17 million people, the international airport only has 19 gates. Check-in at the Delta kiosk, security (no shoe or liquid removal required), immigration, and finding our gate only took a matter of minutes. I spent our last few quetzales on some snazzy oven mits, a bottle of water, and some M&Ms, and then we just waited and waited.

Oh, come on...

The list of prohibited items posted at our gate was one of the most unusual I've ever seen. After reading the list, I thought they were going to trash my power cords when we were rescreened at the gate, but then they never did the extra security usually required for flights to the U.S., so they didn't confiscate any additional carry-on items outside the ordinary anyway. They did rescreen us in Atlanta, however, and took away everyone's water and juice. Whatever.

Regarding the Pollo Campero, a VERY popular fast-food chicken restaurant in Guatemala, there were people carrying on bags of take-out chicken that were literally as large as a rolling suitcase, so I can see why they counted that as a personal item. LOL

Flights as scheduled: Delta 906: Leaving Guatemala City at 2:34 p.m., arriving in Atlanta at 7:10 p.m. Delta 5310: Leaving Atlanta at 9:07 p.m., arriving in Knoxville at 10:05 p.m.

The second flight was late, but we made it home about 1:00 a.m., reuniting with Carlos Cat immediately and with Bosco Dog the next morning. It looks like it rained two feet here while we were gone. It was raining when we left, and it is still raining!

THE END

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