One Big Happy Family: Next stop...

Well, I was thrilled to being seeing Guatemala City again after not seeing it for 33 yrs. So many things about it looked familiar and yet it was all so different. Seeing it as an adult is so different than seeing it as a child. What looked so huge back then didn't seem so big to me now. There were alot of things I remembered, like the aquaduct that you have to go under when leaving the airport, the statue of Tecun Uman, the clock made from flowers and tilted at about a 45 degree angle. There were more things that I had forgotten, like the traffic, the dirt, the electric and telephone wires and alot of Spanish. hahaha But I got us through immigration and picked up our baggage and we saw the face of a tall white man and knew we were where we were supposed to be. Bro. Lee Rickenbach met us there and took us to the Seminary where we unloaded our stuff and layed down for a rest to wait for mom and dad and Beth and Kent.

Here are a few pictures I took of the seminary grounds and the street right off of the seminary. This is the place that we came as young girls in 3rd and 4th grades to go to Pioneer Girls (like girl scouts). I don't remember much of this... only the building that we were in back then... but the new buildings have made it really hard for me to remember.

Here we are with Mom and Dad and Bro. Lee in the restaurant "Saritas". Now we were just waiting on Beth and Kent to show up. :)

Of course, we had to get some tamales to take home and sample and for Beth... since we figured she'd be pretty hungry when she got in. Yum!! Yum! The genuine thing!!!! Banana leaves and all.

And here at the local "Walmart" known as "Hiper Paiz" was a dose of culture. I was trying to be discreet taking these pictures but you can imagine that the gringos were the center of attention here. Especially with a blond, curly headed daughter being with us.

Guatemalan money was Q7.50 for every $1. Almost every business that had to have a parking lot had guards with machine guns guarding the lot. It was quite different to see the guns every where. But really, it did make it feel safer, in a way.

And finally, Kent. (my sister's son)

And my dear sister, Beth. Oh this is sooooo fun!!!

Beth and my dearly beloved eating tamales. They were just what the Dr. ordered! We had a really lovely house to stay in while we were in Guatemala City. We all could stay together.