Guatemala

12/27/2011 - Arrival in Panajachel

We had never visited Humberto, Paulina, and the family in Guatemala around Christmastime before. This year we decided that we would spend New Year's there. As two of the girls have birthdays in the first week of January, this would also allow us to be there for their birthday party. It would allow us to take advantage of some of the holiday time that we get at this time of the year. We decided to travel two days after Christmas. That at least gave us a whole extra day to wind down after Christmas, take the live tree down, put the ornaments away, etc. We were happy that we would be able to hand-deliver the kids' Christmas presents this year rather than mailing them and having them take forever to arrive.

We checked in for our flight online the night of the 26th, and tried to get to bed as early as possible. We woke up at 3 a.m., got showered and ready, and left the house at 4:30. When we got to Central Parking at Logan Airport, we parked in section U2 (that would be easy to remember, at least). We checked one bag (full of presents) at the bag drop. Then went through security. We had to go through body scanners - boo! We hate them both for their privacy concerns and for the safety issues raised by their radiation, but we didn't make a fuss, preferring to just get it over with and get to our departure gate. We went to McDonald's and got the usual pre-flight breakfast sandwiches and hash browns.

The flight took off on time at 6:40 a.m.. We don't always listen to music on flights, but we both connected to the same iPod and listened to some loud music. It really did help to drown out the sounds of the engines. I dozed off, and before we knew it we were landing in Miami. We got Wendy's burgers for lunch. The flight to Guatemala City was a couple of minutes later than our 12:10 p.m. scheduled departure, but it wasn't bad.

Our plane arrived at the gate in Guatemala City at 1:53 p.m. We got through immigration, collected our checked bag, and were out on the curb at 2:13. We couldn't believe how quickly we got through the whole process. We didn't see our ride, but we weren't worried. There's no way they could have expected us to be ready so soon. A nice airport employee chatted with us in English. He was concerned about our ride and offered us use of his cell phone if we wanted to call them. We convinced him that we weren't worried, but thanked him for his kindness.

About 10 minutes later we saw a minibus pull up and Paulina, Vanesa, Yasmin, and Eddy hopped out. We were very excited that they had come into the city to meet us. Yasmin's hair was shorter than it was the last time we saw her. She was wearing the "Somebody loves me in Massachusetts" T-shirt that we had given to each of the girls on a previous visit. Eddy continues to grow into a little man, and looked adorable in a little polo shirt. Vanesa was wearing a pretty outfit that we remembered she had received for her quinceañera last July. We scopped them all up into big hugs. Our driver Adrin shook our hands, welcomed us, and loaded our bags into the van.

We all piled into the van. Eddy was a little shy at first but kept looking at us. Paulina asked if we wanted to stop at Pollo Campero, the local fast food fried franchise, for lunch. We told her that we had eaten at the airport, but if the kids wanted to, we were more than happy to stop. We know it is a rare treat for them, and something they enjoy doing when coming into the city. The girls wanted to go, so Adrin pulled into one of the restaurants (they seem to be on every street corner in the city). When Craig tried to pick Yasmin up getting out of the van, he realized that she's much more solid now, and not as easy to lift as she used to be.

We followed the large yellow chicken tracks painted on the parking lot to the door and entered the restaurant. It was always packed with families. We sat at a table in the room that has the giant play area. Eddy was more interested in playing than eating. Yasmin took him on the big slide and he was thrilled. Eddy ran around on the mats and kept slipping in his stocking feet, so he took his socks off to get better traction. When the food was delivered, we all shared fried chicken, cole slaw, and fries with a pitcher of sprite. It was served with four rolls and four "American doughnuts." It was all very tasty. While Yasmin was eating, Eddy was eager to play and went over to the play area. However, without Yasmin with him, he was too shy and just watched the other kids playing. When she was done with her food, she went over and joined him and the two of them climbed up ladders, went through tunnels, and slid down the slide. She's a good big sister to him.

After lunch, we used the rest rooms and then got back in the van. Eddy had the sun in his eyes so I let him use my sunglasses. We picked up a woman at an apartment complex and then headed to Panajachel. With bellies full of fried chicken, everyone slept on the ride.

We arrived at around 6:30-ish. The kids were waiting on the sidewalk and got so excited as we stepped out of the van. Aracely surprised and delighted us by greeting us in English. I told her I missed her and she said "You too." She was in her second year of English-language school, and it was obvious that she had gained a lot of confidence in her ability to speak since our last visit. Paola was turning into a young lady; she was developing a very athletic body, and we knew that she played basketball at school. Yoselin was as affectionate as ever. Neighborhood cousins Neli and Josue were here to say hello as well. Arriving here is always such a homecoming. We always feel so welcomed and loved.

We greeted Humberto and walked down the alley. Humberto showed us around the property. A lot of finish work had been completed in the past 6 months. He had planted a garden around the perimeter of a small courtyard separating the house from the guest rooms. Exterior walls had been stucco'ed and terra cotta tiles finished off the tops of the walls. It looked lovely. A small table stood in the center of the courtyard, on which stood a small lighted Christmas tree. The tree played a very midi-sounding slightly out-of-tune holiday medley which got old very fast. We were relieved when they turned the sound off. Aracely pointed out in English that the Christmas tree has a star on the top.

It blew our minds that Aracely could comprehend and express so much in English. The weather was very pleasant and Craig said to Humberto, "I thought you said it was cold here!" Aracely said, "I have my sweater." The kids wanted to take pictures, so I took out our back-up camera and let them use it. We taught Eddy to put his hand through the strap to prevent droppage. He did it faithfully every time he picked up the camera.

Humberto asked if we would need to use their cooler and an ice block to keep Craig's Mutiple Sclerosis medicine cold. We had done so on our last visit in July. However, the temperature at this time of year was cooler, and we didn't think it would ever get above 86 degrees Fahrenheit in the room. So we thanked him for the offer (it really meant a lot to us that he remembered and offered to help), but we told him that it probably wasn't necessary.

We went for a walk with Humberto, Yoselin, Yasmin, Eddy, and Aracely. They took us down an alleyway and we popped out at a small green soccer field in the middle of some city buildings. Humberto explained that this is where he plays soccer every Sunday afternoon. The field had a roof to protect the players from the elements. Aracely asked, "Do you have any surprises?" I told her that we had gifts for everyone back at the house, and she got very excited.

We stopped at a store to buy some Gatorades. Aracely asked me to please help her open it and then said thank you. She's super poilte, even in English. She asked me if we have a tree with a star on the top at our house. I told her that our tree had a Santa Claus, and she squealed with delight. On the walk home, she asked me if we have a car. I told her that we have a red car, and she translated for her sisters. I told her that we now have two cats. She asked if they are big or little.

When we arrived back at the house, dinner was ready for us. We sat at the table with the family and enjoyed a fresh cream of chicken soup with garlic rolls. We noticed that the family's small TV was back in the dining room. They had built an elevated corner shelf so that it wouldn't take up any space that could be used for seating. Now that the ids were getting bigger, seating space was at a premium. When the girls were smaller they would sit two to a seat. Now they all needed their own chairs.

On the dining room wall there hung a bright, cheerful painting of yellow and white lilies in a vase. We asked who had painted it, and were not surprised when we learned that it was Vanesa. She was a talented and patient artist. On the other wall, banners of paper were hung up with the alphabet written in upper and lower case letters. Where last visit there had been a multiplication table hung, this time there was a large map of Guatemala.

After dinner, we handed out presents - pencils boxes, notebooks, pens, erasers, and shirts. We gave Eddy a folding Tonka Truck playset with a car-carrying truck and a couple of cars. Josue came over and the two boys played with the vehicles and the folding garage. Yasmin was intrigued by it too, as she also really likes little cute things. She brought out one of the Wheel Pals we had given Eddy on a past visit (a little bumble bee on wheels) and used it with the other vehicles. The girls tried on their new shirts.

Aracely sat on my lap a lot. She told me that her grandmother has kittens. So often in the past, our conversations had been limited to our immediate surroundings, because of the limitations of our Spanish. Now as Aracely learned English, we were able to have more abstract discussions. She brought out some of the family's old photo albums and we went through the pictures together. She narrated in English, "This is my father, this is my mother..." We found out that Humberto had requested that she try to only speak to us in English if possible, and she complied happily.

The picture preview on the old camera wasn't functioning, so the kids couldn't look at the pictures they were taking. But Aracely managed to work out some key sequence that would allow them to display. Kids and technology... Aracely asked me to write "the music" in her notebook. I knew that she meant "Rock-a-bye-baby", which the kids always loved for me to sing to them. It started with Paola and Yasmin and has percolated down through the younger kids. I wrote out the words and Aracely sang along with me.

Humberto told us that they now got a new cable channel which broadcasts English lessons. Humberto tries to get the family to watch it as much as possible. He also said that Paulina has been spending some time at Aracely's school, and that she is picking up some English along the way. Humberto told us that they were planning to host a New Year's Eve party for the family. This sounded fun - we knew both Humberto and Paulina's families well from prior visits, and looked forward to a chance to see them all again.

The girls started getting tired and heading off to bed one by one at around 10 o'clock. We took this as our cue to let the family go to bed, and we headed off to our room. After a long day of traveling, sleep came quickly. We noticed that it was quite windy overnight. We didn't remember ever noticing that when we had visited at other times of the year.