Tuesday, September 7, 2010

The Daily Commute

While it is nice to live in the city because of all the conveniences, there are some inconveniences.  The biggest inconvenience is the traffic.  In Cubulco we never had to worry about traffic except for on market days.  Even then it was a minor nuisance. In Guatemala City on the other hand traffic is a major headache. Most mornings I leave for work after dropping the kids off at school at around 8:00 and it takes me anywhere from 40 minutes to 1 hour. to get to the office.  Getting home however is another story.  A few days ago I left the office early and it took me almost 2 hours to get home.   It was not even rush hour yet, but what caused the delay were road crews fixing the road at the beginning of rush hour.  Not good planning on their part, but that is life in Guatemala  What often makes matters worse is the rain.  This year has been an exceptionally wet year and the rain causes a lot of problems.  The streets are littered with pot-holes and when it rains the water often can not drain away fast enough and causes the streets to be filled with up to a foot of water in some places.