Guatemala City and final paperwork

This morning we got up and got ready for our tour of Guatemala City, the capital of the country. We started by going into the mountains to the southwest to take some panoramic pictures of the city in the valley below. Victor, our guide and driver, informed us that Guatemalans drive crazy, but they know what they are doing. Next, we drove through a few typical neighborhoods. It was interesting to see electrified, barbed-wire lining the tops of the walls and gates of the homes. We stopped in the central plaza area to look at the National Cathedral and the National Palace (the "Guatemalan White House"). There were a lot of pigeons in the square, and I do not think that David was that impressed with all of the flying around. After making our way to the opposite side of the city, we got to see a relief map of Guatemala that was the size of a city pool. A guy in 1905 took off on horseback to survey the country and make this large scale three-dimensional map of the country. Being a geography teacher I thought that this was really cool. (Did I mention I have seen three volcanoes on this trip!!!!!!!) Victor also identified the area (Copan) where David probably comes from. Finally, we made it to the central market where we bought some decorations for David's room and then left for the hotel.



We ate lunch at a restaurant called Kacao, which was recommended to us by numerous people for having "traditional" Guatemalan food. We were not quite sure what we were eating, but it was delicious! David enjoyed it, but I think the setting was a little too formal for him. To tell the truth, it was a little weird having the waiter watch our every move to see what we needed next. Oh well... maybe I am not cut out to be wealthy and go to these fancy places. :)

The rest of the afternoon was spent killing time until I had to go back to the Embassy to get David's VISA and passport. Surprisingly, it was another quick trip. I think it actually took longer to drive there and back then to wait in line. The rest of the night has gone according to our new routine. Dinner, play, bath time, wind-down time, bed. I think we may be getting the hang of this.

Tomorrow is going to be a long day. We leave Guatemala City at 7:30am and arrive back in OKC around 2:30pm. We are hoping that David handles this new experience as well as he has all the other ones this week. The good thing is the plane to Houston will be loaded with other adoptive parents returning with their kids. The bad thing is that it could be a two and a half hour flight with a plane full of screaming kids! Either way we are ready to come home. Sometimes this trip has felt like a honeymoon and the relationship is yet to grow. We are ready to get back to the house and really begin the hard work of parenting.

As for Guatemala, it is a beautiful country, and we can never express enough what this process, trip, the country, and its people mean to us. We look forward to coming back when David is older and showing him where our family got its start.

See you soon,
Kyle