During a 5pm conference call, it was confirmed that Dalyn's assistance would be needed in Guatemala City. On Saturday, December 1st, his flight departed on time at 6am. He arrived safely in Guatemala City at 12:30pm. His return flight into Kansas City was December 11th. He wanted to return for the Cisco Certification Course he teaches at Allen Community Collage on Wednesday, December 12th was the last class and finals.
In Guatemala there were issues with technical upgrades in the stores. The vendors were not going out and doing what needed to be done. Dalyn worked closely with concept stores last year, traveling to New York for the grand opening of the first store to open as a "Fashion Lab" on Fifth Avenue. Then, he was off to San Fransico, L.A., San Juan as well as several trips to Canada. Though he is no longer in Tech Support, he was at the top of the list if assisance in Guatemala would be necessary on site. The request was presented to his current supervisor in Networking(IT) by his past Tech Support supervisor to allow him to... as Dalyn said, "...put his tech support hat back on"
I had to find photos for this post and decided to go with one I took of Dalyn this summer while we were hiking at the top of the Rockies in Summit County, near Breckenridge, Colorado. This past year he has been quite the traveler. I also found a map... I was curious exactly where he was going. The red map pin indicates Guatemala on the map below. He has the camera, once he returns I will post any interesting photos he takes. He told me he wants to find a volcano. There are 33 volcanoes spread throughout the highlands of Guatemala.
Hopefully he takes photos of something besides computer wires. (...we have photos, I just need to get them all downloaded. Select 'travel photos' to view what I have posted.)
sat, 1 dec 2007 19:38:07
We're just leaving our first store. You would not believe the holiday party that is going on at this mall. It is unbelievable.
sat, 1 dec 2007 22:52:03
We just got back to the hotel. Need to unpack. We are going to be out early in the morning.
sun, 2 dec 2007 07:34:34
I have my BlackBerry so I should get e-mails. At $1.99 per minute for Int calls I won't be calling.
mon, 3 dec 2007 07:59:11
The Swiss embassy compound is across the street from our hotel. We walked around the block last night and ate at an Italian place. I had a seafood pasta with a cream sauce.
We're going to the office this morning to plan our activities for the week. We have a lot to do just in Guatemala City and it's going to be a real challenge to get it all done.
mon, 3 dec 2007 08:52:59
Can you imagine having refried beans for breakfast?
mon, 3 dec 2007 15:22:57
I had to have a scoop to go with the Virginia ham and crepes.
mon, 3 dec 2007 22:20:52
We've returned to the hotel for the night. Tomorrow we have to drive 3 hours to fix a store that has some major issues. The other guy is going 7 hours away and taking care of several stores. They will stay somewhere that probably is not nearly as nice as the Intercontinental.
tues, 4 dec 2007 09:20:34
We're on the move this a.m. Had to stop at Javiar's house to pickup his cell phone. We're going to see some winding roads today.
wed, 5 dec 2007 00:13:27
Over the hills and through the sugar cane fields ... smoking volcanoes ... winding roads ... darkness ... winding roads again ... through the sugar cane fields ... lava flows ...
wed, 5 dec 2007 09:29:12
There are 37 stores in Guatemala. By the end of the year, there should be 40 stores. The most distsant store from Guatemala City is a 9 hour drive. However, the district manager sometimes flies to that store. This is the big selling season with the mandatory employer bonus I mentioned before. (double pay for a 6-8 week period during the holiday.)
thurs, 6 dec 2007 00:05:54
We're traveling with bilingual Payless associates and both district managers are helping. A few associates know a little bit of English. I'll have to check on the nationaliity.(Guatemalan: Mestizo (mixed Spanish-Indian) --in loacal Spanish called, Ladino.)
The driving manners are interesting here. Everybody is pretty aggressive. You just nose your way through traffic and honk for good measure. Then, there are all of these old school buses that may literally have people hanging out of the doors. Some of them have some wild paint jobs. Oh ... They have loud air horns because you certainly don't want to tangle with them.
After the first day, I don't think twice about all of the armed guards, police and military. The police and military patrol together in some areas for extra presence.
thurs, 6 dec 2007 17:50:40
We just escaped Zona 1.
thurs, 6 dec 2007 20:02:08
We're eating at a restaurant with no menus.
thurs, 6 dec 2007 22:02:22
(in response to all the questions coming in about the Guatemalan culture) Check out the link ...
In 1996, a peace agreement was signed ending a 36-year guerrilla war. In some ways, there has been quite a bit of progress to reach the point the country is at now.
There may be some dancing somewhere(in the streets), but it is dangerous enough to just walk across the street.
I have not heard of any "head hunters" yet but I will watch for them.
thurs, 6 dec 2007 22:14:30
(Guatemala is divided into 21 zones.)
Zona 1 is the center of the city ... and we have a store there.
When we parked in a secure parking lot, the training supervisor suggested I put my BlackBerry and cell phone in with my laptop. You just keep an eye out for anyone suspicious. Of course, it is quite crowded with street markets and what is barely a two-lane street.
thurs, 6 dec 2007 22:40:38
I am starting at 7 a.m. tomorrow. Calling it a night.
thurs, 6 dec 2007 23:01:47
(any dirty computers?)
It is just thick, dark dust. I did see a dead roach. It is worse in places where the doors are open to the outside all of the time. There are nice malls that are fairly clean.
fri, 7 dec 2007 11:02:41
(no menus?) We split an order of small steaks, shrimp, and fish 'Grouper'. The food was prepared in lots of oil and seasoning. This little place was packed. We walked around the block while we waited.
fri, 7 dec 2007 21:10:25
We're eating at Kloster restaurant tonight. We had a menu but couldn't figure out what to order. So, we asked what is "popular"? We had a mushroom and white cheese blend that you dip bread in. We ordered a salad just so we had one thing that wouldn't be to much of a surprise. The appetizer had potato salad in the middle of it with sliced cheese, wafer thin meats, and what appears to be pepperoni slices.
Oh ... today is Devil Day.
The locals sort of explained the tradition. They say it is to get rid of the bad influences. The event also tends to snarl traffic since they burn these in the streets and many places.
fri, 7 dec 2007 23:20:41
We have another long day tomorrow. May try to go to Antigua for awhile on Sunday.
fri, 7 dec 2007 23:33:38
Antigua is a tourist destination. It used to be a capital. There is
some interesting architecture that I am sure dates back a couple of
centuries. Many of the buildings have been damaged over time by
earthquakes.
sat, 8 dec 2007 10:06:05
I have some pictures including one of the highest volume stores in the Central America/South America market.
sat, 8 dec 2007 23:04:12
I am at CAFE de la PAIX. I ordered the most popular fish dish ... Sea Bass. ... the waitress placed a napkin on my lap.
I think they may do this in nice restaurants. I need to be courteous since I am representing Payless and the U.S. of A. That is my story.
sat, 8 dec 2007 23:50:56
She can speak some English so I didn't want to make her mad by saying "no thanks, I'll just use my shirt sleeve." Anyway, l just left and I am in the hotel lobby listening to a wild party upstairs.
sun, 9 dec 2007 09:32:24
Working this a.m. We plan to go to Antigua this afternoon.
sun, 9 dec 2007 18:35:19
We went to Antigua this afternoon. The hotel found us a driver so we didn't have to get a regular taxi. We had to eat when we got there so ended up at a popular restaurant. We went to the market just to see the many handmade goods and fabrics. Took some pictures. Then, we went to the central square and wandered around some more. I am sure that there is much more to see but we took in what we could. We may eat later.
sun, 9 dec 2007 21:53:01
We are just finishing a combo platter at the taco something or another. I think there is probably a lot more to see in Antigua, but I am not sure that I would travel here only to visit Antigua. I took quite a few pictures.
We're going to the office in the a.m. to plan our last visits. We mostly have simple stuff to wrap up.
sun, 9 dec 2007 23:04:39
No Mayan ruins where we were at. That would have been interesting. We did learn about jade and how the Mayan people preferred jade to gold.
mon, 10 dec 2007 00:10:54
I am ready to leave in the a.m. We're leaving at 5:30 a.m.
tues, 11 dec 2007 06:56:30
The pilots just arrived so we should begin boarding soon.
tues, 11 dec 2007 10:33:01
We're in Houston picking up baggage. Then, we have to change terminals.(...to board CO 5836, departing at 12:52)
tues, 11 dec 2007 12:09:20
We are rescheduled standby on flight CO 2176Y departing at 04:20 p.m. We are confirmed on CO 2281Y departing at 05:35 p.m.
tues, 11 dec 2007 15:38:59
It looks like the early flight will depart. The crew is onboard. We are standby for this flight. (...made standby.)
tues, 11 dec 2007 18:08:46
We're on the ground (in k.c.). No precipitation here at the moment.
...Dalyn arrived home safely tues. eve.
I had to find photos for this post and decided to go with one I took of Dalyn this summer while we were hiking at the top of the Rockies in Summit County, near Breckenridge, Colorado. This past year he has been quite the traveler. I also found a map... I was curious exactly where he was going. The red map pin indicates Guatemala on the map below. He has the camera, once he returns I will post any interesting photos he takes. He told me he wants to find a volcano. There are 33 volcanoes spread throughout the highlands of Guatemala. 
