We had a Guatemala City plunge in Zone 1 this morning. There are 14 zones in Guatemala City with Zone 1 being downtown and the most poverty stricken, and Zone 14 being the richest of the rich. On the way downtown on another rented Chicken Bus, we stopped at an over look of another gorgeous valley. This time instead of being filled with trash it was absolutely covered with little shanty-towns with only footpaths as access and zero electricity and water. Our guide said that during the civil wars a lot Mayans and indigenous Guatemaltecas came into the city seeking a new home and some shelter from the massacres. It was another very humbling moment. Once we got downtown we split up into teams and did a small scavenger hunt. It was a crazy first real test of our Spanish, but really fun. We visited a movie theater and several stores and markets in the downtown area. Following the scavenger hunt we toured the Palace – the old building where the leaders of the country worked (kind of like a Capital building but crazy fancy). We also looked around in the main old Cathedral, while prayer was going on. We ate lunch at an amazing restaurant and ate the world’s best vanilla ice cream – no joke! After our plunge we packed up our stuff at the seminary and loaded up a rented Chicken Bus with ourselves and all our junk and headed up the mountain to Magdalena.
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