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The next morning we woke up aat 6 a.m. and took showers right away, thinking that Yoselin and Yasmin would be heading to school at 7 o'clock. They had said they would knock on our door before school to say goodbye. At 7:30, we still hadn't heard from them, and we feared that they had forgotten.
We went outside and ran into them, surprisingly not dressed in their school uniforms. They explained that there was a free dental clinic today, and Humberto and Paulina would be taking all of the kids shortly after our departure. So no school today after all! We walked up two flights of stairs to the roof terrace to have a look around the neighborhood. You can see a glimpse of Lake Atitlan and the surrounding volcanoes from up there, and it is a very pretty spot. Humberto joined us up there and explained his plans for the space: he wants to put a small kitchen and a dining table up here to serve breakfast to clients who rent the guest rooms. He plans to put some sort of canopy to provide shade as well. We are sure that it will turn out beautifully, like all of his projects always do! We went down to the dining room and had cereal and coffee for breakfast with the entire family. Aracely said that she doesn''t want us to leave. "When you are in the avion (plane), will you have your computer? I will ask my father to use his Facebook so I can see you." Though a couple of the kids had wanted to drive to the airport with us, the free dental clinic rightfully took precedence. At 8:45, We all walked down the alley to the office, where Adrin was waiting in the van. We hugged and kissed everyone, saying goodbye for now, but that we would be back before they knew it in 6 months for Paola's quinceañera. Craig and I got into the van and took a picture of the whole family from the van window. Yet another great pphoto of the entire family that we would cherish. They waved and clapped as we pulled away, and I wiped a small tear from the corner of my eye. It took about 2 hours and 45 minutes to get to the airport in Guatemala City. Once we had checked in at the American Airlines kiosk, we ate lunch in the food court at Pollo Campero. The chicken and fries weren't as fresh and hot as they usually are, but they were still tasty. We saw signs advertising their new hamburgers. Perhaps they should stick to what they know: chicken! Our flight to Miami took off on time at 2:15 p.m. When we arrived in Miami we went through a new customs area. The line was long but moved swiftly. However, you still end up getting into individual queues at the very end, which means you can still end up in a slow line (which we did). When we got to the immigration agent, he mispronounced Guatemala, called us Yankees, and asked why our godchildren were in Guatemala to begin with, instead of here in the U.S.A. "Um, because they're Guatemalan citizens?" I said, biting my tongue so that I didn't say the rest of what I was thinking. Then he said, "You Yankees steal things, like your team, the Steelers." Huh? Some welcome home. We were able to go through a very short security line because we had no checked baggage. The bins to put your personal items through the X-ray scanner were decorated with song quotes about travel. I grabbed the one which said, "'I found out long ago, it's a long way down the Holiday Road' - Lindsay Buckingham - Holiday Road." Brilliant! I love the movie (Vacation), I love the song, and my former colleagues and I have some great memories of riding around Cambridge in a Jeep with this song blaring. But the best part about it was the appropriateness...it is ALWAYS a long way down the holiday road when you have to go through Miami International Airport. We got to our gate and got sandwiches at Cafe Versailles. We got the same sandwiches as on our flight down: chicken salad croissant and jerk chicken wrap. The flight home boarded on time for our scheduled 9:15 departure. The plane was not full, and I was able to convince our seatmate to move across the aisle to give all of us more room. We landed in Boston at around 12:25 a.m. The next morning, when we opened our bags, we found that Yoselin had snuck a surprise into our bags: a very sweet goodbye letter containing a photo of her, and a cute little stuffed animal. She is so thoughtful, and it really brightened our morning, when we had to go to work with little sleep. |
 View from the roof deck  Eddy  Adrin and Aracely  Vanesa, Paola, Yasmin, Yoselin, Paulina, Aracely, Eddy, and Humberto  I Don't Want to Grow Up(72 MB 2:31) Video by Steph and Craig, Music by Tom Waits  |
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