Our family was excited to come to Guatemala to participate in a memorable Volunteer style vacation experience. We had been working with our own travel company which has been doing trips every year for the past 10 years and it was finally our turn to go. We came to Guatemala on March 12. We checked the Canadian government website prior to departing to make sure it was still safe to travel. With only one case of Covid-19 in Guatemala, there was no travel warning and we felt safe to go.

My wife and I came to Guatemala with our 8, 12 and 17-year-old children along with 7 other homeschool students, and 4 chaperones. Two to three days after arriving in Guatemala, things started to change quickly.

We enjoyed our first two days in Guatemala with a homestay family. They gave us a place to sleep and lunches while we went to work on some projects such as painting at a school and constructing a workshop for homeless men that want to get off the streets and move away from the addictive behaviour that has overtaken their lives. They were some very fulfilling activities and we enjoyed it thoroughly, even though we did not come prepared in painting clothes.

On March 15th the Guatemalan President had a national address on TV announcing that all flights into Guatemala would be suspended. The Canadian government the next day told all Canadians on March 16th, it was time to come home. With all flights in my airline reservation systems from Guatemala city being cancelled I did manage to rebook us to return home two days earlier than the original March 24th return date. Two days later, however, we noticed that United Airlines cancelled this flight home.

Being in the travel industry for the past 25 years, I know how to arrange travel but this experience has given me a big job for the past week, day and night. I have spent hours rebooking flights over the past few days only to have flights cancelled and having to rebook them again. We have to stay together as a group and its hard planning for 16 people on the same flights.

We have registered with the Canadian government with our location. We have contacted our MP’s offices, we have been in touch with the Canadian Consulate in Guatemala. The most they can tell us is to get out of the country by land while the border to Mexico is still open. Our latest plan is to get a permit from the government allowing our minibus on the road for our group of 16 to take us 5 hours to the Mexican border. We will then walk across the border and take a taxi to the Tapachula, Airport. A flight will take us up to Mexico City where we will spend from 8 pm to 3 am at the airport. If we are permitted on a flight home through the USA, we will do that at 5 am. If not, then our backup plan is a non-stop flight two days later from Mexico City to Vancouver. The challenge is that rules and closures are changing not by the day but rather by the hour. Planning 2 to 4 days in advance works against you in so many ways but for a group, we have to do this.

No busses have been allowed on the roads for the past 6 days. The 16 people in our group had to catch Uber taxis for the 2 and a half hour ride from Lake Atitlan to Antigua a few days ago.

Curfew: Starting tomorrow there will be a 4 pm to 4 am curfew. Everyone is worrying, and stocking up at the stores. Stores are limiting purchases to a maximum of two of each item per person.