Leaving Antigua, returning to the stresses of the city

Where was I? I'm a bit behind on posting... I think I only missed Sunday (May 3) and today.

Sunday was an overcast, but pleasant day in Antigua. We all awoke slowly. Once the fountains in the courtyard came on we knew it must be time to get up.

We had breakfast at the hotel - Megan took some of the left-over tortillas because they are darn good!

Top priority for the day: laundry. Since Megan was with me, and I know that Antigua has more accessible coin laundries than where I am staying in Guatemala city, I knew it would be better to do ALL my laundry now.

So we headed to the laundromat. While the clothes washed, we wandered some streets we hadn't seen the day prior. Our fave sighting were the Warholesque repeated images of a male chest and arms at the "gimnasio." (Megan took pix but I did not)

During the dry cycle, we wandered some other streets. We went through the central plaza where a woman was blowing bubbles. L was loving it!!! But the woman stopped after a while (b/c she really wanted us to pay some money for the fun). L did not like that.

But hey, there are like four fountains in the plaza so it was easy to divert her.

We then bought a few "typical" things (and a few tchotchkes) at a small shop before returning to the laundromat. The tortillas came in handy while I was folding clothes. Kept L (and Megan) occupied.

We had to take the laundry back to the hotel, so we just decided to lunch there. Megan & I both had salads, and then all three of us split the Antigua-style sausages (yum!).

Returned to the room for siesta. L was much better about going down than yesterday.

The afternoon was more wandering. We went to the textile market, which sells a lot more than textiles. Bought a few things and enjoyed the very bizarre art! L had fun throwing a bunch of what looked like hackeysack balls into a big bin.

Then we headed to La Merced church where a bunch of vendors were selling food. We ate pupusas on plastic stools. Lovely al fresco dining.

I did NOT make it to mass - our schedule has just been really off this weekend. This is the first time in forever! And in such a Catholic city. Dios mio!

We strolled a bit more and then headed home. L took TWO HOURS to go to bed, not sleeping until 10. UGH!

We were leaving at 8 a.m. on Monday, but not to worry. L awoke at 6:20. Still, we took our time and were in the reception at about 7:40 or so. Paid the bill and then went to find some pastries for breakfast and ended up with a pre-packed Spunkmeyer's muffin. Gotta love it.

Drive to airport was a bit bumpy. My coffee and muffin weren't sitting so well with me. Thank God Glenn sent some vanilla galletas (cookies) with Megan. Those really settled my stomach.

On the ride back, we were accompanied by a lovely woman called Mayra Garcia. It is her family's company, Guatemala Treck that drove us to/from Antigua. She has helped many people finish their adoptions just because she cares. She gave me some tips that I will sure to use this week or next.

We dropped Megan off at the airport, said our goodbyes, and then back to the hotel. L and I got settled, called Glenn, and we were heading out to the store to replenish our "pantry" when who should be waiting for us but fricking "Gina" and her boyfriend!

She said she didn't understand me when I told her (and wrote in a note to her) that I had gone back to the doctor's office and paid the bill, and that I had L's passport and medical exam packet for her US Visa appointment. WHATEVER.

She and her boyfriend explained they owed money to the lawyer and needed to tell the lawyer when Glenn was arriving with the money. They said other families hadn't paid them everything.

Now, just so you all know, we have actually paid "Gina" all the money we were contracted to pay. What we are going to pay her once we have our US Embassy appointment is a bonus we offered to incentivise her.

She tells people half-truths every day. Can't she just make something up to tell the lawyer?

By the way, she still has documents we need to bring with us to the US (Mayra confirmed this when I talked to her).

So she will hold onto the docs until Glenn comes and we will pay her off. Sheesh!

I am seriously considering moving house until we all leave here to come home. Only Glenn will know where we've gone.

The rest of the day was low key. I was in a blue mood because Megan was gone and I was back in the city with the stress of "Gina" again!!

One highlight: The DNA sample made it to the lab in the US! The woman there will e-mail us the FedEx tracking # once it's been sent back to the US Embassy here. Once it arrives, we can call the Embassy to tell them to look for it! (Tip from Mayra).

L slept for nearly three hours at naptime -- go figure after being up so late last night.

We were just going to stay in for dinner, but the power went out. My chicken stew was bubbling on the electric stove, and probably would have been OK to eat. But with no lights, not so fun.

So we headed out to find somewhere with a generator to eat. Ate at one of the hotels...it was OK.

Back home for bath and bed time. Bed time was a little bit of a struggle. I finally had to tell L that I was trying to help her sleep but that she needed to try to. That actually worked!

We'll see what tomorrow brings. I may be moving, who knows. But Glenn should be here next Monday. Yeah!!!!