Friday, October 3, 2008

Pink Floyd in Guatemala?

Estamos aqui!
We arrived this afternoon and were greeted at the airport in Guatemala City by the Director/Founder of Salud y Paz, Dr. Phil Plunk. Since then our heads have been spinning as we try to take in everything from our new world, but so far it seems like we're off to a great start (good flight, luggage made it, weren't run off the road by any of the crazy bus drivers, etc.) We're staying the night in nearby Antigua because the drive is too long to Panajachel where we'll be living for the next several months. Apparently Antigua is the "Disneyland" of Guatemala (very touristy), but it will make for a good first night transition into the country. After checking into our hotel Phil took us out to dinner - we ended up at a local place that was blaring Barry White music : ) We spent the next couple hours asking Phil about every question you could imagine about the country, culture, etc., etc. Near the end of dinner they killed the '80's soundtrack they had going on the speakers and a man with a guitar came out to entertain. I was expecting some "local" music, but about 30 seconds into it I realized that he was playing Pink Floyd's "Stairway to Heaven." Carey and I couldn't help but smile. Antigua will likely not be our typical Guatemalan experience!

Thanks for your thoughts, prayers and support to get us here. We are absolutely thrilled and feel so thankful to be here. This adventure has been a long time in the making, and we both feel like we're exactly where we need to be in life, and that's a good feeling.

Memorable quote for the day (for Jay at least): In the midst of our conversation with Phil we were talking about how most individuals and teams come to Salud y Paz expecting to give so much to the Mayans and Guatemalan people, and how they always end up receiving more than they gave. To this fact, Phil said, "You can never out-give God." I think he's right.

Peace friends and we'll post some pictures this weekend if possible when we arrive in Pana.
Jay

2 comments:

Unknown said...

glad you made it!

s h a n n o n b u r n s said...

Pink Floyd's "Stairway to Heaven." i think that's Led Zeppelin, lol.
glad you guys are doing well.