Guatemala 6/18/2025 |
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Wednesday, June 18, 2025 - Meeting Elsa and EmilianoI woke up at 6:30 a.m. so that I could start work at 7 o'clock (9 o'clock at home). I sat outside on the patio and logged in to my computer. Ian left for school.We had scrambled eggs, crema, plantains, black beans, and coffee for breakfast. We saw Yasmin, who works in the family shoe shop and travel office near the house, and Yoselin, who works in the family travel office on Santander Street. At one point while I was working, I looked up and saw Aracely and 7-month-old baby Elsa peeking around the corner at me. Craig and I were so excited to see them! Craig held Elsa while I finished up with my meeting. It was so heartwarming to see Aracely, whom we have known since she was 2 years old, as a mother. When I was done with my meeting, I held Elsa. She has a wonderful temperament and no stranger anxiety at all. She smiled as I took a selfie with her. She has two little teeth on the bottom and is starting to get some on the top. We enjoyed chatting with Aracely about how motherhood is treating her. She lives in Panajachel, but across the river with her husband Joel's family. Elsa is so cute! We gave her two outfits. One was a dress with peaches on it and a matching onesie and sunglasses (harkening back to 2008, when we gave the five little girls children's sunglasses). The other was a Carter's set including a hoodie, pants, and matching onesies. Aracely said that she had been trying to find onesies to fit Elsa and hadn't been able to find them. We also gave Elsa a stuffed puffin with a teething ring. It jiggles when you pull its cord. We also gave Aracely a mug with photos from her wedding last year. This is kind of an inside joke, as when Vanesa got married, the mayor (who performed the civil ceremony) gave Vanesa and Danny a mug with the mayor's name on it as a wedding gift. We all thought this was a strange gesture. Whenever anyone would drink coffee out of that mug, Humberto would say "Gracias, Señor Alcalde" (Thank you, Mr. Mayor). We gave Vanesa and Danny mugs with their wedding photos on them last year, so we did the same for Aracely and Joel. Elsa smiled away, and Aracely put her into a walker. Her legs are strong, and she enjoyed playing with the toys on the front of the walker. I worked some more, and then Vanesa came over with baby Emiliano. He is a tiny little guy, just two months old. I got to hold him, but he slept most of the time that they were at the house. He is recovering from the flu. For lunch we had spaghetti and broccoli. When Ian got home from school, he and Craig played chess. It had probably been about 35 years since Craig had played! Humberto returned from Guatemala City with Paola. She lives in the city now, working as a surgical nurse. We are so proud of her! She comes home to Panajachel every few weeks. She had taken some time off to spend time with us while we were here, and we were very grateful. It was so nice to see her. Octavio, her little dog, was overjoyed at her arrival. She was unable to take him to the city with her, so the family cares for him in her absence. Octavio barks when people approach, more of a warning system to let the family know that someone is visiting or that there are clients for the rooms that they rent. But once the family acknolwedges the visitors, he calms down. He was a bit unsure of us at first, but soon calmed down and let us pet him. From then on he was fine with us. We had brought new Uno cards (the family's previous deck was in rough shape and all the cards were marked, making it easy for the kids to cheat). We played with Ian. The family's other little dog, Coray, who used to belong to Vanesa and Danny, is adorable, like Octavio, but without the sweet temperament. They even think that he is Octavio's son. At first glance they look very much alike, but Coray wears a red necktie. Red for danger! He is good with the family, but but hates everyone else. They have a gate to keep him away from the patrons of their hotel business, but we were inside of the gate. He growled at us and they put a muzzle on him. He barked and chased us, and even with the muzzle on, managed to bite Craig's linen pants. His tooth made a small hole in the fabric, but it didn't tear. But it let us know that he means business. We hoped that in time he would get used to our presence and not be so aggressive, but (spoiler alert!) that was not to be the case. Danny came by after work. Dinner was vegetable soup and tortillas. We had tea to drink. We chatted with everyone and then went to bed.  Yasmin with Elsa |
 Craig with Elsa  Aracely with Elsa  Steph with Elsa  Vanesa with Emiliano Photo Gallery June 18 |
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