Guatemala: March 1 - 12, 2007
Guatemala is sooo beautiful - more than I ever expected! I am so proud that our son is from this magnificent country! When we arrived in Guatemala City, I was instantly taken by it. It was a simple airport and it took a while to get our luggage, but phew! We found everything. Walking out, there we were surrounded by a large crowd of people - they were dressed so vibrantly in blues, reds, greens and oranges... We found our guide, Rafael somewhat easily. Driving from the airport, I was quite surprised with the city - buildings and shops everywhere: Payless Shoes, Victoria's Secret, Casa de Waffles (yes, it was in the traditional yellow and brown), Burger King, McDonald's, you name it! Yes, American culture is everywhere!
I am so thankful that I was able to see parts of Guatemala. It gave me a greater sense of our son's country that I feel I might not have experienced otherwise. Naturally, I can't wait for him to be here with us and take him different places and such, but I realize now that he leaves behind a beautiful country, a wonderful culture and a magnificent land. I must make every effort to make sure he stays in touch with the place of his birth.
Between Sherri and myself, we easily took over 500-600 pictures. Here are just some pics from our travels - click on the place/date to see 'em. To see Elijah, check out our Flickr account in our right column.
Antigua
Antigua is enchanting with its cobblestone streets and brightly painted adobe/cement buildings. "When you think there might have been no room for another building, they started another one", Sherri commented. There were many dogs in the street, but they pay passers-by no heed.
Tikal: March 2, 2007
Tikal, meaning the "The Place of Voices", is the largest of the ancient ruined cities of the Mayan civilization. It is located in El Petén, the northeastern part of Guatemala. From what we were told, only about 10% of the park had been restored or uncovered. After many, many years, the ruins have been taken over by plants, trees and dirt.
To get to Tikal, our driver picked us up at 4 AM to drive into Guatemala City to take a 6:30 AM chartered flight to Flores. There we had a driver meet us and give us a 4 hour long walking tour of the park. We climbed perhaps 3 or 4 of the temples/pyramids. By the time we got to the top of the second one, my legs were shaking! Sherri was pooped on the last one, and she wanted a helicopter to get down. It was awesome exercise!
There's a lot of wild life in Tikal. We heard a howler monkey several times, but it took us a while to determine what it was! And we saw a family of spider monkeys playing in the trees.
Lake Atitlan: March 3, 2007
We drove to Lake Atitlan with Elizabeth, a married French Canadian who lives in LA and who just wanted to travel to learn Spanish and volunteer in a needy country. Along the way we stopped and ate breakfast at this quaint little restaurant. I can't remember the name of it now, but I dubbed it the Guatemalan Cracker Barrel. Very cozy inside and the French toast was delicious! I even heard the Bangles and Bridge Over Troubled Water inside.
Lake Atitlan was beautiful! And it was huge! We stayed the night in Panajachel but took a boat ride to see three other cities: San Pedro, Santiago, and San Antonio. We were told that some American tourists come down here and decide never to go home... We could easily see why!
Chichicastenango: March 4, 2007
A shopper's paradise! What more could this girl want?! We were dropped off and had about 5 hours to go shopping. Unfortunately, it started raining when we first got there, so we ducked under some tarps and went shopping in the interior part of the market until it cleared up. We ate at a restaurant there and then Sherri had to eat in the market - she claimed that's the best part of going to a festival and such. I tried to order her a chicken taco, but instead we had a piece of chicken on the bone in between 4 corn tortillas. I was stuffed from lunch but it was delicious! I do think the ladies were making fun of us in a Mayan dialect, though. I couldn't understand a word they were saying, but they just kept looking at us and giggling!
Tetuan: March 5 - 12, 2007
Tetuan is the residence we took while we visited with Elijah. It was so charming, peaceful and green. The gardens were meticulous - the gardner, as Sherri soon learned, was out in the garden by 6:30-7 every morning. He edged with a machete and watered by hand. There was a sprinkler system that went on several times in the morning as well. Maria and Marina, our cook and housekeeper, were absolutely wonderful. The food? To die for! Every other morning we had panqueques with fruit or fried eggs with fried plantains. Lunches were: flautas, squash, broccoli, spaghetti, some fried veggie with egg batter, chicken tenders, boiled chicken - we ate like queens! Amazingly enough, I lost a little over 3 lbs down there!
Meeting the CQ family really put my mind at ease. While I miss Elijah like crazy, I know he's in good hands.
Leaving Guatemala
As we were being driven to the airport, two nannies got in the car with two babies. Being sad at leaving Elijah, I didn't pay much attention. But a few minutes into the ride, I recognized the name of one of the babies. I turned around and it was our friends' (here in San Antonio too) daughter! What a wonderful surprise! Again, seeing the nannies interact with her, made me realize that Elijah is receiving a lot of loving care.
Sherri snapped some shots of Air Force One as we were headed out. Bush arrived the night before I believe and our flight was delayed about 3 hours while they transported him via helicopters to his motorcade.