Day 2 of our first trip to Guatemala (1/15)

OK, getting back to our first visit trip to Guatemala. After a long night of trying to get used to Lili's schedule, meeting her needs, and me trying to survive my bronchitis, we got up and had a nice late breakfast at the hotel. We spent the day hanging out, walked to the grocery store (which was a Super Walmart!), and getting to know Lili. The walk to the grocery store was about 4 blocks, but it was very interesting. Thank goodness we didn't have to cross the main street... we probably would have been hit! The drivers are a little on the crazy side. The sidewalks are uneven and tiny, so even walking was a bit difficult. The grocery store was just like a Super Walmart here, with some minor differences. One thing we noticed was the meat department... they do not have a butcher counter where you tell the butcher what you want. Instead, they have open air "tubs" of different meats that you can walk up to and serve yourself. You put the meat that you want into a bag, and the butcher weighs the bag. This was kind of gross, but very interesting. When we approached the produce department, I was amazed at the strong smell of fruit! It ends up they have a specialty juice counter, where they are freshly squeezing several different fruit juices! YUMMY! It was interesting walking around and seeing the different products that were available.... no diet soda (they have "light" soda, which tastes more like regular than diet), their chips are different (cheetos were puffier and doritos were SPICY!). I needed to get some cough syrup, so I ventured off by myself to find the medicine section of the store. What a difference from back home... in my normal grocery stores at home, there are usually three FULL aisles of medicines. This very large super walmart had a small (maybe 10 ft) section of one side of the aisle with medicines... not a very big selection. I didn't have a hard time picking a cough syrup... there was only one choice of cough syrups!

As day 2 progressed, we were getting more used to Lili's schedule and her personality. She was VERY easy-going. She cries when she's hungry, and that's about it. We were amazed at how alert she was for a 5-6 week old. She loved to look into our eyes and to scan the room taking everything in. Max was absolutely in love with Lili. Every so often, he'd ask where his baby was and if he could see her. Usually, that meant he wanted to kiss her and then tell us "oh, sweet girl" or "oh, pretty girl" or "oh, what a princess"! He was so cute with her!

When our friends, the Melvins, returned from Antigua, we met them in the lobby to hang out for a little while. We ended up back in our room just hanging out with them. Around 8:45, Max told us he was hungry... we'd missed dinner! Moses was going to run to the food court, but they closed at 9:00. We talked about getting room service, but we decided to try the local chicken place that everybody RAVES about, Pollo Campero. Moses went to the front desk to ask exactly where the restaurant was. They told him that, even though it was about a half block from the front door of the hotel, they would not allow him to go there by himself. Basically, American tourists are not safe in Guatemala if it's after dark. So.... Rafael, a bellman that the Melvins had used for their tour to Antigua, offered to walk Moses to the restaurant. The two of them were there and back quickly, but it was yet another look at how different our cultures are. We ate dinner, Moses & Max watched a movie (I'm sure it was Star Wars!), and Moses let Lili sleep on his shoulder. I went to bed before they did so that when Lili woke up in the night I'd have gotten some sleep and could trade off with Moses. The arrangement actually worked really well. Moses had Lili until 2 am, then I gave her a bottle and snuggled with her on the couch until she fell asleep in my arms. Then, when she woke at 5am, I gave her another bottle and took her to bed with Moses & I. This ended up being our routine while we were in Guate.

I will try to post soon with details of Day 3 of our trip!