eKaqchikel 2007 - Safe in Antigua, Guatemala

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Made it to Antigua with minimal delays. We're all here - Marie, Valerie, Lee, me and our nine over-packed and over-weight bags of production gear. Actually, they weren't over-weight at all. Was very careful to stay in the 50 lbs. checked baggage limit. Makes it hard to get a full two-camera production set up into Central America when you're dependant on your crew's baggage allotment to move everything, but we did it.

Arrived in Guatemala City and took prearranged shuttle to Antigua, about an hour away. This is a beautiful, ruined city. It was once the capital of all of Central America, but a series of earthquakes finally convinced the population to move the capital to what is now present-day Guatemala City in 1773. It took another 200 years, but Antigua's finally started looking up when the tourist and cultural value of the colonial ruins was finally recognized. Some of the sights here are truly breathtaking!

We stopped in Antigua to meet with some of the teachers and then discuss among ourselves production and organizational strategies for the week. We know it's going to all work out it's just a matter of how tough it's going to be. The advanced planning should minimize the potential drama.

We leave for Panajachel in the morning. That's another 90 minutes from here. Pana is a tourist town on the shores of Lake Atitlan. This is where we did all the production last year, and we're going to follow suit again this year.

I've loaded all the pix I took today. If you want to see them, go to www.flickr.com and search for the tag "ekaq2007"

And check this out... an iPod vending machine in the Houston airport! I kid you not! Insert 1600 quarters into the slot and this shiny new video iPod can be yours!

Can't keep my eyes open. More tomorrow...