We slept through my Spotify alarm for a bit as the loud air conditioning was drowning out the calming music until it got to a loud ad. We had some pastries for breakfast at the Double Tree before checking out and taking an Uber to Ezeiza International Airport. It was about a 35 minute drive to a chaotic drop off point. For some reason the arrivals hall was placed directly in the middle of the check-in counters causing a bit of a jam.
Despite the poor layout, check-in was easy and security and customs weren’t too bad either. Despite there only being a small number of seats available, I saw on the Copa app that we had been issued seats together in the same row! Big doings on this trip. Boarding was slow on the Copa 737, but we were able to find space for our luggage which makes our transfer in Panamá City all the more easy. The plan is to get into Guatemala City tonight and there are two flights that go there. The one that gets in a little earlier arrives at 830p whereas the later one gets in close to midnight. The choice seemed obvious for people with an early morning flight the next day, but the earlier flight was showing full. As a safeguard, I used miles from my credit card to get us confirmed seats to Guatemala to avoid any worry.
We departed on time for our nearly seven hour flight to Panamá City. Our previous flight to Buenos Aires on Avianca served no food or drink, so the mediocre Copa cuisine was actually quite a novelty and I have a newfound respect for an airline that is otherwise pretty average. After a scenic approach over the canal, Casco Viejo, and the financial district, we landed to thunderous applause.
We emptied into Tocumen International’s chaotic terminal 1 and took a walk through its chaotically busy terminal 2 before returning to 1 to board our flight. They made us check a bag because they didn’t fit in the sizers that can only fit briefcases. Not only did we have clearly labeled crew bags which are specifically sized to fit in all overheads, but Copa only flies one plane — the 737, but the gate agent acted like we were getting onto a smaller plane. While there are variants of the 737, they are at their core the same (crappy) plane. Whatevs.
We took off into the night sky in our smaller 737 for the surprisingly long (2.5 hour) flight to Guatemala City. Customs was predictably a bit disorganized yet didn’t take us too long. Our bags had already been removed from the belt by the time we got there and we flashed a meaningless QR code at a customs officer stating something like, Yes I attest that I arrived on the date that you see me arriving on. Regardless, we were soon in an Uber and at the Hilton Garden Inn Guatemala City. We are going to make it an early night because we have to get up quite early to catch an Avianca flight to Flores tomorrow. Buenas Noches.
passports & pepto bismol 