I arrived in Guatemala City on July 23, found the closest thing to a Youth Hostel and had supper at Wendy's. The next day, I wandered around the down town area where the streets were packed with vendors whose stalls were spilling over into the street, just leaving enough room for traffic to squeeze through. Back at the hotel, I had lunch, practiced Spanish and did my laundry The laundry facilities consisted of a concrete wash basin and a clothes line.

         On July 25, I mapped out a route that would take me to a video store to buy more film, to the Embassy's of El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua for information on entering their countries, and finally to a bike shop to buy a mirror for the bike. My search took me into a richer area of the city with malls, embassies, ritzy hotels and expensive car dealerships. I found the film and the embassies but I could not find the bike mirror.

         Back at the hostel, my Italian roommate, Alfredo, had come up with a scheme to get a bike company to sponsor my trip. He said he knew someone who worked at Maya Tours, one of the largest companies in the country. We had dinner and sat around the courtyard while Alfredo drank rum and coke, and told stories.

         The next day while I waited for Alfredo to get up, I watched the people coming and going. One of the long-term residents was a very attractive girl who was always getting phone calls and rushing off. I later learned that she was a call girl who was supporting her mother in Mexico. Alfredo finally got up about 11 am and we were off to make a phone call to the bike company. They suggested that I write up a proposal and fax it to them. Alfredo then went off to his day job, selling watches on the street. I headed back to the hotel where I met Tom from Edmonton, Canada. He had been spending his summer vacation in Central America for years and he proved to be a fountain of information on Guatemala City and Central America.

         One day was spent with Alfredo and Julio, (a native Guatemalan who now lived in Miami), learning the trade of selling watches to tourists passing by. On another day, I went with Martin, who was from Ireland, to look at some ruins. Later we went to find the Hippodrome where the Pope was to speak. We walked around the area which was actually a very large race track. Then we found the road that the Pope's procession would follow from the airport to the Vatican Embassy where he was going to stay.

         The next day, Martin, Tom from Edmonton, an American and myself jumped on the bus and made our way to the route where the Pope would pass, along with thousands of others. We managed to find a spot that would give us a good view. When he finally arrived late, the procession flew by and I was unable to get a good video shot of the Pope.

         On July 30, the four of us were joined by two American ladies and someone from Norway. We all jumped on the bus and made our way to the Hippodrome where the Pope was to speak. The day was declared a National Holiday and everyone was going to see the Pope. After getting off the bus, we joined the thousands making their way through all the vendors to see the service. The ceremony took about three hours, after which we joined the masses to leave. I decided to go back to the road where the Pope's procession would pass when he returned to the airport. After about an hour, the Popemobile flew by and I shot some video and still pictures.

         The next day, a group of us went out for supper and a movie. We went to different movies depending on what we had seen. I ended up going with the American to see Star Wars which was dubbed in Spanish.

         Another day was spent trying to find a mirror for my bike and a cable to connect the video camera to the battery on my bike as the video battery was fading. After two days of searching, I decided to buy the only mirror I could find and adapt it to my needs. I found the cable I had been hunting for and I also bought some copper tubing to fix my tent pole. I spent a day on all these projects and then had supper on the patio watching all the activity. Martin had left for his Spanish course, the American had continued his travels through Latin America and Alfredo had finally convinced his girlfriend to leave her abusive husband and join him.

         I had found out from Alfredo that the bike company would not sponsor me but I felt the Manager of Marketing would be a good person to interview for my film. I spent a morning writing out a speech and translating it into Spanish. After many tries, however, I was unable to reach her by phone. That evening, Tom and I went out to shoot some video of people sleeping on the street. Later, he took me to a seedy area near the bus station where there was a lot of activity. I shot some video and then we had a couple sodas in a restaurant and watched the activity. When we started to leave, we were approached by a person asking for money. He said his friend across the street was carrying a gun. Tom suggested that we hail a taxi and get out of there.