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Early January is a festive time in Guatemala. Not only does it herald the beginning of the new year, but two of the girls have birthdays within the first week. Paola, The second eldest daughter of our Guatemalan compadres Humberto and Paulina, would celebrate her quinceañera (fifteenth birthday) on January 5 of this year. It is an important rite of passage in Latin American culture, and we wouldn't miss it for the world.
We awoke to the beginnings of a large snowstorm at 1:45 a.m. on January 2. This is always a danger when traveling out of New England in the winter, and we hoped that it wouldn't adversely impact our flight. We got ready quickly and left the house at 3 o'clock, arriving at the airport by 3:30. This would be our first international trip since Craig had a multiple sclerosis episode in Ecuador last fall. We were going to do things a little differently to make it easier. This included checking two bags and only having very light-weight, small carry-ons. We checked our bags and were successfully through security by 4 a.m. We got breakfast at McDonald's and boarded the plane. We were scheduled to take off at 5:30, but there was a slight delay due to the need to de-ice the wings in the snowstorm. We took off at 6:10, just thankful that we had gotten out of Boston despite the nasty weather. We landed in Miami at 9:30. Our connection was scheduled to take off at 9:55. People were very slow deplaning, and we had to take the Sky Train to get to our gate. With literally moments to spare (we were the second to last folks to board), we made it! We landed in Guatemala City at 11:35 a.m. We went through immigration quickly, and our bags soon emerged on the conveyor belt. We had been a bit apprehensive since our connection had been so short, but the luggage made it! We went through customs and emerged from the airport by noon. A driver named Martin was there to pick us up in a comfortable passenger van. After a three hour van ride, we arrived at the house in Panajachel at 2:45 p.m. It was so nice to see all of the kids again! Vanesa, Paola, Yasmin, Yoselin, Aracely, and Eddy all grow and change so rapidly between visits. As usual, Humberto had completed many more improvements to the property since our last visit 6 months ago. An extra bathroom is now hidden behind a Mayan tapestry under the stairwell. With the family now running bed and breakfast services as well as hosting clients in Humberto's tourism office, an extra bathroom accessible from the outside is quite handy. Several guests were staying in the first floor guest rooms. Yoselin and Yasmin have moved their bedroom back to the main house to make additional rooms available for guests. The rooms on the second floor of the guest house are nearing completion, and these rooms will be used as the venue for Paola's party. The stairs had been tiled and looked quite attractive. We climbed up to the third floor roof terrace. There were no hand rails, so Craig, unsure of his footing due to his MS, had to be very careful. As the quinceañera party would be on the second floor, Humberto was going to have hand rails installed the next day for safety during the party. From the terrace, we could see Lake Atitlan several blocks away, and its surrounding volcanoes. The weather was sunny and a little bit cool. Humberto showed us the fire pit where they had a fire to celebrate Christmas. Paola was diligently making preparations for her big party on Saturday night. She was gluing gold glitter onto styrofoam letters to spell out "Mis 15 Años", or My 15 Years. Humberto told us that his nephew Juan Carlos and wife Yolanda are the padrinos (godparents) of Paola's quinceañera. In Latin America, godparents are chosen for all of the important rites of passage in life, not just christening. Humberto told us that Juan Carlos and Yolanda have been a tremendous help in planning and preparing for the party. Vanesa, the eldest daughter, had insisted on a low-key, family quinceañera party two and a half years ago. Vanesa doesn't like to be the center of attention. Paola, on the other hand, has been mentally planning her big day for years. She planned to go all-out, inviting family and friends to celebrate in her rite of passage. We all gathered at the dining room table where the kids watched a remake of "Herbie the Love Bug" on TV. Paola served us tea. The kids asked if they could play with my computer and my extra camera. I always let them; they have gotten some great photos over the years. Josue and his little niece Brittany (age 3) arrived to play with their cousins. As we had just missed Yasmin's birthday yesterday, we presented her with her gifts: a little blue embroidered change purse (with 20 quetzales inside) and a 2014 pocket calendar. We also gave everyone a box of Tic-Tacs, something for which Aracely always begs. Aracely was typing on my computer, and we were delighted to see that she had typed "I want a cat and a dog" in English. She and Eddy both go to an English immersion school. Up until now, we had heard Aracely speak English, but we had never seen her write it. She asked us to convey to her parents that she wants a new pet. She obviously misses Terry, their sweet dog who had passed away. She then typed "Eddy guants [sic] cars too [sic] play with". It was obvious that Eddy was amassing more of an English vocaulary as well. Every once in a while he would blurt out something in English (numbers, the word "butterfly", etc.) We are so proud of both of them for working so hard to learn and practice English! Vanesa and Humberto were not home for dinner, but we ate with the rest of the family. We had beef in gravy with mashed potatoes, green beans, and fresh corn tortillas. We played a SpongeBob themed concentration game with Eddy and he kicked our butts! By 10 o'clock, we were exhausted. It had been a very long day. Paulina walked to the office to get Humberto so that he could say goodnight. they returned with 2 bottles of Gatorade, so that we wouldn't get dehydrated (always a danger for Craig with his MS in a warm climate). It was so nice to be back with our compadres. |
 Eddy, Aracely, and Craig  Yoselin, Steph, and Aracely  Paola makes decorations for her party  Happy birthday, Yasmin  Paola, Craig, Yasmin, Yoselin, Eddy, and Aracely See all photos from January 2 |
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