We have arrived!

It has begun! Our first day in Guatemala for the 2009 research is completed. What an exciting day we had as we traveled during a flood of notices from all sorts of media sources warning of a dangerous virus call the swine flu. If you haven't heard of that until now, and you are reading our blog, maybe you should re-prioritize your reading list. Anyway, just to put everyone at ease, I (Bryan), as you can imagine, am taking all the necessary precautions I can. We bought one of these suits. We were going to buy two, but they are a little expensive, so we are trading who gets to use it each day.
No, but in all seriousness, we are washing our hands frequently and avoiding people displaying the symptoms. I read some 15 articles on it this morning, so I feel well-versed, for now, on what everyone supposes to be the problem. And, we will continue to stay updated.

Anyway, so our plane flight left Salt Lake City, Utah at 12:50 a.m. MST on Saturday, April 25, 2009. We flew to Atlanta, Georgia, arriving at 6:07 a.m. EST. We then had a wonderful 3 hour layover, during which I ate a bacon, egg, and cheese bagel from McDonald's (this was only to help me prevent too much weight loss while in Guatemala). I also paid $7.95 to use the internet in the airport, and I ended up infecting my computer with a virus because of it. So, yes, I have a virus, but not the swine flu. My symptoms include "Anomalous Behavior". My bad. Sorry.
Anyway, at 9:45 or so, we left for Guatemala City, taking 2 turns around the runway, waiting for a backup of several other planes. The flight was fantastic. I loved the biscuit I was served on my Delta Flight, and I washed it down with some tomato juice. Lucky for Dave and me, I have one of the most caring and prepared mothers one could ask for. So, while others ate their biscuit and were left wondering what other scrumptious foods they might see a little further on in the flight (which ended up including a glass of free water), Dave and I, and the other people on our row, enjoyed boiled eggs, pea pods, carrots, broccoli, fruits, delicious sandwiches, graham crackers, and gum. Thanks, mom!

We worked our way through the Guatemala city airport. I made sure to thank the workers, all equipped with face masks, for taking proper precautionary measures:) Dave's friend (and previous companion from his two year mission he served in Nicaragua with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints), Hector, did the huge favor of picking us up at the airport. This was an awesome reunion, seeing Hector again! He traveled a little with us during our research last year, including a beautiful visit to Semuc Champey. It should be noted that Hector's first comment to me was, "Hey, you got a little chubby." So I have decided that going on grueling runs through the highlands of Guatemala will need to be part of my experience here. With that increased activity and the parasites we will likely rendezvous with while here, I might come back a new man. Watch out!

Anyway, (is that the third time I have said that word in this post?) just in case any of you think I am going on and on about nothing because I like hearing myself blog, you are right. This is still a pretty new concept to me, as a habitual thing at least. I hope the content will be more interesting as time goes on. But, hey, if you are bored, please go read more about the swine flu on some other site.

We love you all, family and friends! Really, thank you for all the help many of you offered to make sure Dave and I were able to wrap up the semester, move out, work, pack, and get to the airport in time to leave for this trip ready to go.

One last quick note: this research is awesome! I love it! But, the thing that makes the experience most enjoyable is the chance to see and be with all the loving people of Guatemala again! Here are some pictures of our experience thus far (and please, no comments on our physical condition--Dave and I both know that he looks perfectly normal and I...well I do too--I'm tired and just finished a crazy semester--give me some time to recover :)

We're at it again!

The time has come! We are diving into the detailed planning of this year's phase, phase two of the three total phases, of the microfranchise research in Guatemala. David (Dave) Richards and myself (Bryan C. Bennett) will be heading for Guatemala on April 25th in search of last year's interviewees for the purpose of followup interviews. We want to see what has brought the successful businesses to more success. We also want to see which ones haven't made it through this year and find out why (mostly by obtaining and analyzing numbers). The research targeted at quantitative results more than qualitative results.

Planning the details of the trip has been exciting. Yesterday, we did a fly-by review of the cities we will be visiting and set tentative dates for seeking the clients in each of those cities. It is exciting to have year number one behind us because we are taking so many lessons learned with us as we form this year's operational plan. We will be traveling in a rented vehicle for the entire trip. We are also allocating a chunk of our stipend to pay interviewees to come find us in central city hubs rather than going out to every village we visited last year. This will benefit both us and them. We will save considerable time and money. The interviewees will be delighted because they will have their periodic trip to the city paid for by us. They can do their monthy or semi monthly compras (purchases--both food and other), and perhaps use it as a chance to connect with others in the city as well. Usually, they are in a crunch for money moreso than for time. So it will be a symbiotic relationship! I love symbioticicismnesshoodship!

Anyway, Dave and I are excited. We have planned to listen to some great audio books on our travels between cities. We are excited to visit the congregations of members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints whom we met last year. We will also surely be swinging by the orphanage to visit little Moses and the other adorable children there in Panajachel.

We are determined to be more effective and efficient in this year's research. We will be photographing more of the locations we visit as well as each individual interviewee (and this to facilitate third year research, in case we can't be present).

The hunt for economic self-reliance in Guate continues! Three cheers for the MicroFranchise Development Initiative (headed by Jason Fairbourne of the Economic Self-Reliance Center at Brigham Young University [BYU] in Provo, Utah)! Also, special thanks to Jorge and Gregorio (the two men in the middle of the picture above) for allowing us to network in and work through the connections of Community Enterprise Solutions (Soluciones Comunitarias)! We'll see you in less than four weeks!