We had a good omelet breakfast at 8:00. Everyone was ready to go at 9:00 so Stan gave them until 10:00 to shop which everyone appreciated. I finally got a blanket and bought some other trinkets for gifts. After a stop at a farmácia for some drugs for Jonathan, we left Panajachel by the east road to look at some of the 84,000-year-old tuff deposits. We headed for Las Trampas to look at some surge deposits. When we stopped, a truckload of police pulled up and warned us that a lot of robberies had happened around there. They hung around while we looked at the exposure in a road quarry but when they left for lunch; we took off too.

We went to see a quarry that exposes a nice co-ignimbrite lag deposit on the road to Patzón. We found nice accretionary lapilli up to 2 cm across. Newhall found some that were 5 cm when he worked here.

Up to this point we were hoping to have time to visit John Lyons at he Fuego Observatory. Unfortunately, we were delayed in traffic by a : 1) fair in Patzón, 2) funeral in Patzicia, and 3) road construction in Chimaltenango so that option evaporated. We stopped for dinner at a simple roadside restaurant just before the main road to Antigua . We ate a good meal for Q360 for the group! It was twilight by the time we left and dark by the time we got our first view of the lights of the city. We tried to find the hotel, knowing it was near the airport.

Stan turned off the main road into a rough-looking neighborhood near the airport. He then turned down a very steep hill into what I figured was an even rougher area. I told Dave not to follow. We backed up. An inebriated guy confirmed that we were going the wrong way. We radioed that information to the other van. They had hit a dead end. They tried backing up the hill but couldn't cut the corner. They went back down and managed to turn around and succeeded in getting out on their second try.

We followed directions that a couple of people gave us but quickly gave up. I decided to go to the airport and get a cab and have the vans follow the cab. We got to the airport quickly. The cabbie charged Q60 but I didn't care. Even he had to ask for directions twice. I think Stan was ready to give up just as we found the Hostal Hermano Pedro I. Arturo, the owner, seemed like a good guy. He explained that we would put the women up there and the guys at the Hostal Los Lagos, a few minutes away. I bid farewell to the women in case we didn't see each other in the morning.

The Hostal Los Lagos is another nice small place run by Luis and Mariloli Sosa, a very friendly couple. I also met a Mexican-American woman who had just adopted a 1-year old Mixco girl named Alexandra.

Stan tried to call Melvin to return the vans but none of the numbers on the contract were his cell number so we gave up and Stan went to bed. About an hour later Melvin showed up with two others! He explained that the vans had GPS transmitters so they tracked them right to the garage and rang the bell! They catalogued the extensive undercarriage dents, bent bumpers, and scratches and estimated about $1,000 in damage charges. After some discussion with Stan , Chad , and me, we decided that was a fair deal and paid them in cash. Everyone left happy and we hope to do business with them again.

The three of us sat out on the balcony and recapped the trip. We were all very happy about it. The students were already asleep so we went to bed too around 11:30.