Trip to Guatemala

February 26, 2006 to March 12, 2006

Trip to Concepcion Las Minas, Chiquimula, Guatemala, Central America

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Overall our trip to Guatemala was fairly relaxing but also stressful at the same time. Maria’s mother, father and 2 of her sisters live in Guatemala and it was great to see them again so we could introduce Camila to the family. Two weeks of no TV, no internet and no hot water. Well, the last one wasn’t as much fun but the first 2 were a nice change of pace and a great way to get away from our normal routine for awhile.

The trip didn’t start so well. Camila threw up a couple of hours before we left our house for the airport. This added to the already frantic scrambling to finish packing and getting ready to leave. On the drive to the airport, Camila threw up a little more and now we were starting to get worried. After rushing through security to barely make our 11:30pm flight we took off and gave Camila a bottle of Milk to only have her throw up again. With a putrid mix of who knows what and sour milk all over Maria, the seat, the floor, Camila we settled in for our 5 hour flight to Guatemala. Camila slept the entire way and we were hoping for the best but Camila threw up one last time while we were renting our car in the airport lobby.

After a 4 hour drive we finally made it to our final destination. With a little cleaning up and a nap, we started to feel a little more human. We were also glad to see that Camila was finally starting to keep something down. Camila didn’t throw up for the rest of the trip and stayed in good health other then a small cold for a couple of days.

Things quickly settled into a routine while we were there as the excitement of the first few days wound down. Maria’s mom was having some medical problems so Maria helped out around the house and in the kitchen as much as possible to allow her mom to rest. I took turns watching Camila when Maria’s sister Betty wasn’t watching her. I also got a chance to do some reading since I couldn’t really talk to anyone anyway. Since we had the rental car, we were able to go out and run some errands with Maria’s sisters. We did some shopping in some local markets and traveled to nearby towns for harder to find items like milk for Camila and medicine for Maria’s mom.

One of the nice things on the timing of our trip was being there during the 4th birthday of our niece Jennifer. Manuel is still here in Los Angeles and hasn’t seen his daughter Jennifer since she was a few months old so it was extra special to be there to celebrate with them and be able to bring back video and pictures to share with him.

The vacation really turned out to be mostly for Camila. She had plenty of people taking care of her every need and she definitely had her way most of the time. Betty set up an inflatable pool for her that we used almost everyday and afterwards we would give her a bath in large bucket using water that was heated up on the stove. Camila loved to be outside on the patio all of the time, although she didn’t seem to like having shoes on all of the time. There was a pink bucket that she liked carrying around that she would put down and then scoot around to sit on it.

Camila also seemed to start talking a little more while we were in Guatemala. Several times she said “Aqua” very clearly. At night when the moon came out she would point to it and say “moo”. There was also one day while dressing her on our bed that she was in only a diaper and she said perfectly clear “naked”. That last one was so clear and unlike the normal sounds that she makes that I almost thought she was possessed.

It was finally time to say goodbye which was hard on everyone. Hopefully we’ll get to see them again in the not to distant future. Maybe after Maria’s citizenship gets finalized she will be able to request visas for them to come and visit us next time. Until then we’ll keep everyone up to date through phone calls and pictures.