|
We were very excited about this trip, as we were about to become padrinos (godparents) to our darling 2 1/2 year old Aracely. It had been six months since we had seen her last, and we were wondering whether she would remember us. We usually go to St. Thomas to visit our friend Marty at Thanksgiving, but it turned out that the time that lined up best (as far as our vacation days and the monthly baptism Masses at San Francisco de Asis in Panajachel) was over Thanksgiving. With a promise to reconvene in St. Thomas for Thanksgiving '08, we bought our tickets to Guatemala City.
On Thanksgiving day, we woke up at 3 am and left for the airport at around 4:30. Steve was going to carry on the tradition and go to St. Thomas, so we drove to the airport with him. The check-in line was relatively short. We checked in and Steve (whose flight took off later), waited with us at the gate until we departed. The flight actually took off prior to our 6:55 scheduled departure (how often does that ever happen?). We arrived in Miami early which gave us the chance to get something to eat. We got Quiznos cold turkey, bacon, and blue cheese subs. We boarded the plane and found that we had three seats all to ourselves, which would make for a comfortable trip to Guatemala City. We half-watched "Evan Almighty" without sound and found it amusing enough. We landed in Guatemala City at 1:15 and were picked up by Miguel, the owner of Voyageur Travel in La Fuenta Plaza. There was a lot of traffic just to get out of the airport garage. We had fun talking with Miguel, and his Rav4 was quite comfortable. When we finally got out of the garage, we drove through the now-familiar streets near the old aqueduct. There was a giant Christmas tree with various other decorations on the main road, sponsored by Gallo beer. Miguel told us that they had sponsored one in each district. We had been in Guatemala for Easter time, but never Christmas time. It was fun to see how they decorate. We heard Enrique Iglesias' "Somebody's Me" on the radio, and it brought back memories of our trip to Bhutan, when Dorji had called into a radio show and dedicated this song to his girlfriend. This version, however, was in Spanish. It was a weird kind of deja vu. Then U2 came on the radio...Bono called out "Hello? Hello? Hola!" and Miguel promptly shut off the radio. The timing was too funny. We arrived in Antigua around 3 pm. This was our third time in this town, and it felt so familiar and welcoming. Miguel brought us to his office in the La Fuenta plaza. This was the picturesque courtyard and art gallery where we had enjoyed so many breakfasts in 2004. We felt so comfortable here. We were told that our shuttle to Panajachel wouldn't be leaving for another hour. At first we felt a twinge of disappointment - we wanted to see our girls, the sooner the better. So close and yet so far. But that feeling subsided as we realized we could spend the time wandering through the cobblestone streets of this colonial city which feels so frozen in time. We walked the short distance to the Plaza de Armas in the beautiful late afternoon light. Men were standing on precarious ladders hanging Christmas lights in the trees. We took pictures of the catedral and then walked past the gorgeous yellow Arco de Santa Catalina. Men were sitting on the sidewalks painting pictures of the gorgeous colorful architecture. We hadn't gotten a chance to go inside the wedding cake-like Merced church when we visited Antigua in 2004 because of the Easter festivities taking place inside. But this was our chance to go inside the yellow building with gorgeous intricate white embellishments which looked like they could have been made out of vanilla frosting. It was very bright and white inside, with skylights shining down from small turrets diffusing gorgeous natural light that seemed to shine down from heaven. There was an old fashioned wood confessional and a chapel with a gold altar. It was beautiful to behold. As we exited, a Mayan woman tried to sell us a cute necklace made out of little dolls for $2, and another woman tried to sell us a square of embroidery for $1. I was reminded how inexpensive things are here, as opposed to Bhutan, where most souvenirs were comparatively pricey. I would have bought these, but I was totally unprepared and didn't have my money handy. The last thing I wanted to do in public is go rooting around in my purse or moneybelt to extract a single one. I made a mental note to have some small bills handy the next time we were in Antigua. We passed Nim Pot, our favorite bulk handicraft store, and heard marimba music from Casa Don Roderigo. It was amazing how familiar and comfortable Antigua felt. We went back to the office at 4, and our shuttle driver arrived at 4:10. We then went to two different hotels to pick up Conroy and his wife Celine, Cassie and Julia, and finally Martin from Germany. We chatted with everyone. Conroy was a reality TV editor and had worked on Survivor and The Amazing Race, and we had a lot of fun chatting about that. He and Celine had done lots of traveling and we all swapped stories.The conversation came around to our late friend Frank as well. Once in a while Martin would chime in from the back seat. He was pretty quiet, but it was obvious that he was paying attention to the conversation. We could see the sunset from the road and the clouds were absolutely gorgeous. It was dark by the time we arrived in Panajachel. We told the driver to take us to the utz Hay, as Humberto's place is right next door. When we got there (around 7:30) he asked for a voucher and we were trying to explain that we didn't have one when Humberto rode up on his bike and explained everything. He kidded us about not having been studying our Spanish enough to communicate with the driver. We were so happy to see him! It had been a long journey. We walked down the alley and the girls came running to greet us. It was overwhelming; they just descended upon us, and we were all so excited at the reunion. We were curious how much Aracely would remember us, but she came right over with her arms open wide for a hug. She had grown up so much. As we walked toward the house we saw Paulina and Vanesa. Meanwhile, Humberto and Paulina showed us to our own room - the single unit from the guest house which was nearly finished. The second story floor concrete had just been laid the last time we were here. Amazing. The new bed, tables with lamps, a water dispenser, and the doilies that my mother had sent Paulina as a gift decorated the room. The door had not been installed, but a tapestry was hanging over the door, and we could push it aside to enter. The windows also were not yet installed, but there was clear plastic sealing the window holes. They apologized that the bathroom wasn't done, but we were just amazed with the amount they had managed to progress in just under 5 months! We were just so overwhelmed by everything! All of the neighborhood kids were soon swarming around. Two-year-old Neli was incredibly friendly - gravitating specifically toward Craig and hugging him. Cousins Rocio, Luis, and little two-year-old Josue were also there. As usual, Josue stuck close to older brother Luis, and was a bit standoffish with us, though he was clearly curious about our arrival. The girls had a small fish in a blue plastic bowl and were playing with it and very eager to show it off to us. With the...ummm...vigor...with which they played with it (especially Aracely) it seemed like it wouldn't last too long. Yoselin ran to get the stuffed unicorn and put it on Craig's head, clearly remembering last time we had been there, when a unicorn on your head was THE fashion statement of the visit. It turned out that Humberto took a tourism class several nights a week, and he was on a break now and had seen our taxi arrive and had rushed home to meet us. After getting us settled in, he pedaled off to finish his class for the evening. Paulina called me into the house to show me that the room we had previously slept in now had a very nice large new dining room table and eight chairs. Humberto had just bought them. The kitchen no longer had a table in it, so it was much less tight. Aracely still slept with mom and dad, while Vanesa, Paola, Yasmin, and Yoselin shared the second bedroom. We hung out with the kids inside and outside. Everyone was so excited and energetic. Then dinner was ready, and we sat at the new table. Paulina had made very thick and rich chicken soup, which was delicious and really hit the spot. Aracely still needs to have multiple napkins when she eats, and she is always very neat, dabbing at her mouth and wiping her hands throughout the meal. The girls remembered the game of poking one another's noses and saying "Beep!" and we did it to one another. I even got Aracely to say "Beep" once. We gave them a photo album full of pictures from our last visit and they all had a lot of fun looking at them. The younger girls were playing with a bug. It was like a little tiny pill bug which would wrap itself up into a ball when scared. Aracely covered it with both hands and looked at me. "Where is it?" I said in my high-pitched toddler voice. I shrugged. She revealed it with a big smile. "Thheeeere it is!" I squealed. She giggled. She did not tire of this and we repeated the same routine about 20 times. Occasionally I would mix it up and use Spanish. "Aqui!" Then one time she revealed it, and was quite shocked to see that it had disappeared. The look on her face was precious, total surprise. She then looked at me and we both started laughing uncontrollably. Rocio walked me over to her house and introduced me to her mother. Her grandmother was there too, and Rocio mentioned in Spanish that I had met her before. I greeted both of them. Yoselin was absolutely camera crazy. The girls hung out at the table coloring. Vanesa and Paola played the game where you draw straight lines on a grid and you get a point each time you complete a square. Yasmin styled Craig's hair into a pair of devilish horns. Humberto didn't get home from class until around 11 pm. He has class 4 nights a week for a 2 year program. He's due to finish in March. We chatted for a while drinking Rosa Jamaica tea. Humberto had a San Pedro volcano trek (the very trek on which we had met Humberto in 2004) the next day and needed to leave the house by 5:50. We all went to bed at midnight. |
       
|
|
 |
|
 |
