Guatemala – Day 1 – Travel

December 31, 2023 Assignments, Blog by James Pratt Leave a Comment

My assignment to photograph electrical linemen from Oklahoma and Arkansas as they wired homes for electricity in Guatemala started out in the early hours in Oklahoma City. First task was to catch a Delta flight from OKC to Atlanta with the Oklahoma team, then an international Delta flight to Guatemala City, where we would later meet up with the team from Arkansas and two guys from Colorado, plus meet with our interpreters for the week.

I met electric co-operative linemen – and women – from across Oklahoma well before sunrise at Oklahoma City’s Will Rogers Airport for our trip to Atlanta and then on to Guatemala City.

Sunrise out the cabin window on my Delta Airlines flight from Oklahoma City to Atlanta, on my way to Guatemala. I had a great seat to see the engine and wing of our Boeing 717 – a renamed McDonald-Douglas MD-95.

I had an aisle seat on a Boeing 717 narrow-body jet on my trip to Atlanta. I have made this same flight several times before – my company has a major office in Atlanta so I would often catch this same flight on probably this exact same airplane.

I have gotten where I like flying Delta Airlines. I get assigned seats each time and great coffee and cookies. The flights are usually pretty crowded but that is pretty well the norm with all airlines now.

I started to haul my camera gear in a Milwaukee Packout case like the linemen used on this trip, but the cases alone weighed about 25 lbs. and left little weight for my gear. I went with a traditional roll-around suitcase that weighed under 10 lbs., leaving me plenty of room under the 50 lb. weight limit per checked bag.

One of the coolest things I saw when I first got to Guatemala City was just how many darn motorcycles there were. I am quite sure there were at least four times as many motorcycles as cars on the road. They were everyone, darting in and out of the highly congested traffic, loaded with families or students or messengers or delivery drivers – anyone who wanted cheap transportation to get around the constant traffic jams. I knew I was gonna like this place.

Toyota Hilux pickup trucks ruled the road as far as 4-wheeled vehicles go. This older square-body Hilux was carrying people in the back going down the highway – a sight that became quite common as we traveled inland.

Another cool site was a Tuk Tuk. Little did I know I was going to see hundreds of these three-wheeled death traps if not thousands of them in north central Guatemala.

We got into our first overnight destination near Coban late at night. This lady was just closing her fruit stand as we passed. We saw hundreds of these fresh fruit and produce stands set up on roads all throughout central Guatemala.

I am an Oklahoma based writer, commercial photographer, editorial photographer and adventurer based in Oklahoma City. I love telling stories about people. A motorcycle is my preferred means of travel, and I have over 5,000 hours piloting small airplanes. My editorial photography has been published in hundreds of magazines and my commercial photography has been used by dozens of companies worldwide.

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Guatemala – Day 1 – Travel

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