Guatemala 8/7/2017

Monday 8/7/2017 - Return to Guatemala

Today we would be leaving to go back to Guatemala, while Shina sees an eye specialist in Guatemala City. We woke up at 3:00 a.m. At 3:30, we all met in the kitchen for coffee and bread. Craig was feeling significantly better today, but my stomach was a mess, so I didn't eat anything. Shina, who always takes forever to wake up, was wide awake and chatty. Maybe she never went to sleep at all?

Rolando had class today, but he woke up just before 4 a.m. to say goodbye. He's a good man who cares about Aida and the children very much. It was nice to get to spend some time with him and get to know him better. We wish him and Aida the best in their life together.

We got into the van at 4:00 a.m. Sisa and Yupanqui flanked Craig, Sisa laying on him to sleep. Shina cuddled up with me. Everyone dozed on the ride and before we knew it, two hours had elapsed and we were at our destination.

We arrived at Mariscal Sucre International Airport at 6:00 a.m. and said our goodbyes to the family. We are so thankful for their hospitality. They welcomed our Guatemalan compadres into their home as family. It was so special to be able to introduce our godchildren to one another and witness the two families becoming fast friends. We entered the airport and checked in only to find that were all seated in separate seats in different rows, including Eddy! I would have to check at the gate to see if we could arrange it so that Eddy isn't sitting alone!

We got Johnny Rockets for breakfast. Craig and Eddy had bacon, eggs, toast, orange juice, home fries, and coffee. Paulina and I had pancakes, orange juice, and coffee. We did some shopping and then waited at the gate for our flight to board. I asked at the desk if one of us could sit with Eddy, since he is a minor. They said that it was a full flight and they couldn't do anything official, but that we could see if we could trade seats with Eddy's neighbor. I was very surprised that they didn't have a policy about parents being seated with children. We had purchased these tickets a long time ago.

When we boarded the plane, I asked the flight attendant if it would be possible for Eddy to sit with Paulina, and he arranged for someone to swap seats. I was very grateful that it worked out so that we didn't need to worry about Eddy being by himself.

Craig smiled and said "Buenos dias" to an adorable toddler as she passed his seat on the way to her own. She got a big smile and instantly have him a giant bear hug. Her mom was embarrassed and apologized, until she realized that Craig didn't mind at all.

We took off on time and it was an uneventful flight, and we were served ham and cheese sandwiches and a drink.

We landed in Bogota an hour later. Our gate was downstairs, in a cluster of half a dozen new gates which were obviously part of some recent expansion. There are no jetbridges here, and we soon realized that we would have to take a bus and climb a staircase to board the plane. This convoluted process is physically more difficult for Craig than just walking down a jetbridge.

There were not many people in our gate area. We had a about two hours to kill, and it looked liked most of the others in this area did as well. No flights in that area were ready to board any time soon.

There were bathrooms and vending machines on this level, but all of the other shopping and food was in the concourse upstairs. Paulina, Eddy, and I went up the escalator and found a place to buy Eddy an iced tea. This was our fourth coffee-producing country on this trip, so I bought some locally grown Colombian coffee, as well as blackberries covered in local chocolate. Delicious! Paulina made friends with a Guatemalan woman who would be on our flight.

As it grew closer to boarding time, the area just filled up with people. It seemed that all of the gates in this area had flights taking off within 10 or 15 minutes of one another. Soon it got very claustrophobic. People were sitting on the floor, standing in every available space so that it was difficult to move. The gate next to us started to board at the same time. Their flight number was only one digit off from ours, and it became close to impossible to distinguish their boarding announcements from ours.

We got onto the bus and climbed the stairs to board the flight. As we looked down on the massive engine of our Avianca plane, I told Eddy that Craig used to be a software engineer at a plant that made aircraft engines.

Luckily, Eddy and Paulina were able to sit together on this flight, and Craig and I sat together. We had a pasta meal for lunch.

We were early getting to Guatemala City, but had to circle the airport for an additional 15 minutes before landing due to a big rain and wind storm. The tarmac was flooded, and many tree branches were down.

Nonetheless, we landed on time at 4:00 p.m. We went through immigration quickly and our luggage came out immediately. We were at the curb at 4:30. Our driver Gil was a little late arriving due to the weather and subsequent traffic. As we waited, vendors encircled us, trying to sell various souvenirs to Craig and me. They didn't try to sell souvenirs to the obviously Mayan Paulina and Eddy, though they did try to sell them toys.

In honor of his first round trip plane journey, Paulina gave in and bought Eddy a mylar balloon shaped like an airplane. Eddy was obviously excited to see his little brother once we got home, and convinced Paulina to let him buy one for Ian as well.

Gil arrived and we were on the road by 5 p.m. Rush hour traffic was even worse than normal due to the storm. It took us a full hour just to get out of the city, and that was with Gil trying various routes to try to avoid the worst of it. We exited the city and drove thrugh San Cristobal before joining up with our normal route in Chimaltenango.

It got dark and Craig noticed lava spewing from a volcano in the distance! This is the first time we have witnessed such a spectacle. During our honeymoon in Hawaii, Kilauea was oozing lava down the side, but we have never seen it bursting from the crater! We believe this was Volcan Fuego, the same one which was smoking on our way to the airport to go to Ecuador. It sure put on quite the spectacle to welcome us back to Guatemala!

We stopped at a gas station to use the rest room and to buy munchies (we were all starving). There was a nice view of the volcano from their parking lot.

We feasted on cheese puffs and cookies, washing it down with orange Fanta. The dinner of champions. But it brightened our mood as we crawled back to Panajachel.

It took us 4.5 hours to reach the house. As we walked up the alley to the house at 9:30 p.m., all of the kids ran to great Paulina with big hugs and kisses. They were so happy to have her and Eddy home.

Ian gave Eddy a big kiss. He had obviously missed his big brother. Ian was thrilled with his new airplane balloon, though we had to try to make sure to be gentle with it, lest it burst immediately. I asked Ian how he was in Spanish, and he started to moo and baa in response...so cute!

Paulina distributed the gifts she had brought from Ecuador: a leather backpack for Paola to take to work and school, and leather purses for the rest of the girls. She gave Ian his cute hooded alpaca sweater, but he wanted none of it. For all of his happiness to see Eddy, he seemed a bit angry at Paulina for leaving him. He even insisted on sleeping with Vanesa rather than Paulina tonight!

Paulina now knows what it is like to arrive at the house late at night after a very long day of travel. After she excitedly recounted our Ecuadorian adventures to the kids, her adrenaline ran out and she was exhausted. She was actually glad that Ian wanted to sleep with Vanesa, since it meant that she could get an uninterrupted night's sleep. Ian can be a bit of an insomniac.

We were exhausted too, and went to bed not long after arriving home. I would need to wake up early for work in the morning.