What do you get when you mix overwhelming excitement with a lot of packing and office work to wrap up? Actually, I do not know what the answer is, but I do know that it is not sleep. I did not sleep one minute on Saturday night. We packed and packed and repacked. We had over 200 lbs of total cargo and that's not easy to get around with. We left for the airport at 4:40am. My dad was nice enough to drive us so we wouldn't need to leave a car. Security at the airport went quickly and we had plenty of time to eat overpriced below par food at the airport. I'll skip the flight info but we were about an hour later to Guatemala City than what was printed on my ticket. From the moment Christine and I got off the plane till the time we were in a truck on our way up the mountain could not have been more than 15 minutes. It was an amazingly easy experience. Adam picked up us with one of the older boys named Julio. We made it to Casa quickly as there was not much traffic on a Sunday. Tim and Patty were so gracious to allow us to stay with them in their home so we are not really ruffing it at all.
Since I had been here before, Tim didn't think Christine and I were gonna pull the stupid gringo tricks that he constantly has to fight with, so we were able to get to the kids quickly. I loved what happened next. As we walked toward the playground there were several kids who not only recognized me, but ran to me to hug me and remembered my name. For those of you who do not know my name is Douglas (pronounced "Dooooo-Glass" in Guatemala). It was a great feeling to have kids that only knew me for a week among hundreds and hundreds of people remember. I introduced Christine to some of my favorite kids and they seemed to hit it off well. I didn't take my camera over that time because I just wanted to concentrate on the kids. Aura, who you will hear me talk about a lot, came up behind me and put her hands over my eyes. I knew it was her. It was great to see her again. In quick order Anna Maria and Marina were now with us. I also got to see Abi again. Abi actually has not lived at Casa for several months. Shehas only been visiting for a few days and will leave with her mom in a few more days. I was excited to see that sweet kid again. When the dinner bell rang and all the kids make a mad dash to the cafeteria, Adam drove us up to a very surprising vista very close to Casa. The view was incredible. I took a ton of pictures. One that I like looks totally like I photoshopped us over a picture or that we are standing in front of a backdrop. Since it was getting dark, I used the flash to illuminate Christine and I which of course did not add light to the volcanos miles away. It looks fake. It's not. I have another picture that I took before where we are too dark, but it actually looks real. I may substitute it for this one. After this we ate at Pollo Compero. The grilled chicken is great. Adam bought a dozen or so tortillas from a lady sitting about 3 feet from a busy road. They were good though.
I am sure that I am leaving out stuff, but I'll append if I remember something else. Sorry I am behind on the blogging. I'll get caught up.
Dios te bendiga
Dooo-Glass
