Tuesday, our third morning in Guatemala, started with breakfast with the Melvin's. It was so nice having such wonderful people to share our time with and to get the opportunity to get to know this amazing family. After breakfast, we decided to all head out to the zoo and the handicrafts market. Chris ran to get some cash from the ATM while Moses arranged for a driver to take us to the zoo. Within minutes, a man pulled up in a taxi (they are actually employed by the hotel). The car was a small four door car that had seen better days... and did I mention it was small? Misty and I looked at each other and started to giggle and panic at the same time. We knew that the Guatemalans didn't really use car seats or seatbelts, but we were freaking out a little bit to think that 4 adults, a 10 year old, a 4 year old and two babies were all going to ride in a VERY small car. The front seat was bucket seats, and there was a small back seat. The only way we would all fit was for everyone to either be holding someone on their lap or sitting on someone's lap! Thank goodness, once Chris got back, we realized there were two cars... one for each family! That didn't completely eliminate the nervousness about the drive... considering the cars drive no particular speed limit, change lanes in the blink of an eye, and weave in and out of traffic. Thankfully, we made it to the zoo all in one piece!
We enjoyed walking around the zoo. It was actually very safe and very nice. We were a little curious to see if the animals were malnourished (like they are in Mexico). We were happy to see that they all looked well-fed and well cared for. We walked around together with the Melvin's for a couple of hours. The Melvin's were preparing to go home on Wednesday, and were starting to feel the gloom of departing and leaving Baby Lyza. They decided, since they'd been shopping in Antigua, to leave us at the handicraft market and head back to the hotel for some family time. Moses called for the driver to come back for them, then we headed to the market. It was, once again, very safe and nice. We didn't plan to do too much shopping, since we figured we'd find better deals in Antigua. However, we didn't count on how many nice things we'd find nor how inexpensive a lot of the items are. It's amazing to see how hard the Guatemalans work to make these products and they sell them for so little! They expect you to negotiate with them about the price of the goods, but we didn't negotiate much because we felt like the prices were already so reasonable! We bought a drum for Max, several local items to give to Lili in the future (traditional doll, a small purse, a bracelet, and a quilt), as well as a picture frame, a trivet, a cute bag and a small change purse. (Notice, Moses got NOTHING for himself! I was actually the big shopper of the day!)
After the market, we went back to the hotel to hang out in our room. We had dinner at one of the restaurants in the hotel called the Thai Grill. It was excellent! The food was amazing, the atmosphere and decor were very cool, and the prices were great! The food was create your own shish-kabobs and wok dishes. Max was not a happy camper and acted up for a good part of the meal, but eventually came around and enjoyed himself. Lili was a gem... she slept and hung out in her bouncy chair while we ate! Not a peep out of her!
After dinner, we ended up visiting with the Melvin's in their room so that we could show them what we bought at the market, and they could show us what they bought in Antigua. It was actually a somewhat sad evening, as we knew that our friends were leaving the next day, and (more importantly) we were very aware of the pain that they were feeling about having to leave Baby Lyza in Guatemala. In addition, the day had been the first that we began to think about how difficult it was going to be for us to leave Lili. I certainly started to shed a few tears this night, and my heart started to break and weep for our family (and especially for Lili).
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