We woke up at 5:45 am after a fitful sleep. We packed up and went into the house for 6:30. Paola and Vanesa were awake. Paulina made a breakfast of toast, scrambled eggs, frijoles, and cheese. Humberto had bought some fresh orange juice from Paulina's father. Yoselin and Yasmin didn't want to get out of bed (we suspected because that meant that they would have to say goodbye), but eventually they got up and all was well. Aracely woke up last. Vanesa gave us a frog towel holder made out of felt which had been hanging on the wall wrapped in Christmas paper. Humberto explained that the girls wanted to givbe us something because we always give them gifts. Aracely asked me to pick her up. She made the frog say "Hola" in a gravelly low voice. It was very amusing. The van was due to pick us up at 7 o'clock, but it was an hour late because it needed some brake work (we were more than happy to wait). When the van arrived, Humberto, Paulina, Aracely, and Yoselin walked us to the street and waved. We said our goodbyes and had a tear in our eye as we drove away, knowing it would probably be a year before we were able to visit again.
It was an uneventful ride to Guatemala City, and we arrived at the airport shortly after 10:30. There was no line, and after we checked in we decided to get some lunch at Pollo Campero, one of Guatemals'a most popular fast food franchises. We sat in the food court enjoying fresh fried chicken, orange Mirinda soda, and flan for dessert. It was good, but nowhere near as good as the fresh fried chicken we had had on Sunday near the lake. Next we went through security (again, there was no line) and waited at the gate. We were hand-searched before boarding and were happy to have three seats to ourselves, so we could spread out a bit. Our flight took off at 2:45 after a huge rainstorm. The American flight attendants once again proved their potential to be the rudest in the business as they served drinks to a young Guatemalan boy who requested a Coke with no ice. One flight attendant said to the other, "Nobody wants ice. I guess they like their drinks warm down there. That's nasty." Sigh.
It was an uneventful flight to Miami and then home to Boston. We missed our girls already, and looked forward to a birth announcement in the October timeframe.
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Steph, Craig, Paulina,and Aracely
Aracely
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