Guatemala: Day 9

Today was my final morning in Guatemala before heading back home. I woke up for breakfast and spent some time rearranging my suitcases so that everything would make it back in one piece (hopefully). Once I was satisfied, I went with my friend and her mother back to the main market in Guatemala City for one last walkthrough. I was looking for a painting of Antigua, but I doubted I could find anything similar to what I had seen in the actual town. I also needed ingredients for mole and some tortilla napkins.

We wandered first into the food section to bargain with the sellers and see who had the cheapest chocolate tablets. After finding what I was looking for, we proceeded to look for the sesame seeds and pepitas I needed. The pepitas didn't look very good, so we passed. After searching for quite a while for tortilla napkins, I finally agreed to take the ones that my friend's mother had purchased. She said she would find some more in her extended stay in the country.

Once I had found what I needed, I asked about getting something for the woman who had allowed us to stay in her house during our visit. My friend's mother told me that she would be very happy to receive some ham. I personally was thinking a big Easter ham, but no, it was ham lunchmeat. I think I spent a total of seven dollars on a bag of it. On the way home, I learned that ham (or jamon) is very rare and out of the price range of most Guatemalans. There are many students that learn about it in school, but never actually get to taste it. I was pretty shocked at this revelation. Think of all the ham sandwiches I had turned down as a child!

When we got back, I gave the woman my ham present, and she seemed very happy. And lucky for me, she had sent her housegirl out to purchase the sesame seeds and pepitas I needed for a mole recipe. We had a quick lunch and waited for my friend's uncle who would drive me to the airport. He showed up late (Guatemala time), and I started to worry about making my flight. Adding to the trouble, the traffic was impossible. I got to the airport with an hour to spare.

Of course the line at the airline counter was four rows deep, and it took half an hour to even reach the front. As I passed over my luggage, I was convinced that it would never make the flight on time. I also had to rush to the outgoing flight fee counter to pay my security inspection fee. When I finally reached security, I was starting to panic. It didn't help that a group of Japanese tourists were in front of me, and from all appearances, they didn't speak Spanish or English. The conversations with the security team proceeded by gestures. Somehow I managed to make it through before my flight left.

The flight to El Salvador wasn't that bad, but once I got to the airport there, I had a few hours of layover before my flight back home. I got off my Guatemala flight and was surprised that I had to go back through security even though I had gone through in Guatemala. There were no signs about water bottles (I had gotten some at the Guatemala airport), so I figured it was fine to continue on with mine. No such luck. The woman at security stopped me and demanded that I give her my bottle cap. Yes, just the cap. I could keep the bottle and the water in it. I was confused, but handed over the cap. To this day, I still don't know why the cap was illegal but not the rest of the bottle.

The flight back to New York was uneventful, and my friend's uncle was waiting for me when I finally got in around one in the morning, exhausted.