Surprise!

My intent was to surprise Rolando, my host father, with a visit. I've remained in touch with his family for the last 12 years, both in Guatemala and in California.

Turns out the surprise was on me. Rolando is in Guatemala City recovering from getting a prosthetic. He is ok, just not in Xela. He won't be here for another two weeks.

His new wife, Elizabeth, and two new stepchildren are I here, and all are quite lovely. But it's not what I expected. The school kept it a secret from him, and told him that a friend of mine was coming, so the room was ready with a beautiful rose from his garden in a vase on the table. So sweet.

Elizabeth walked me to school today and Ana met me with the same smile and energy I remember from so long ago. We had a lovely day catching up and sharing stories and although I don't think my Spanish has gotten any better (and I know it's gotten worse in the last ten years), at least the feeling of chewing on my words has dissipated. Ana brought out pictures from when our group from Santa Cruz came for school so long ago and asked about everyone. It was so nice to spend the day with her.

Xela has changed and simultaneously, tourist infrastructure came into play right as tourism is at a low low low. So many other impressions that aren't important at the moment.

So now I'm at a strange decision making place I wasn't expecting, and sort of wish I knew about ahead of time but what can you do. Pauline is in San Cristobal right now and I can leave as early as Thursday morning and return when Rolando comes home. It's a long drive. A really long drive. Though I guess a lot of people do it for weekends and I will have a week. And I do really love San Cristobal. I suppose the whole point of this adventure was to not have a plan. So maybe that's what this is- an opportunity to stray. We will see.

In any case, after crazy transportation issues, it took some time to get to Xela from the lake. I spent an hour waiting for a bus that never came, got told there were no shuttles by two different travel agencies and pressed on to find a third that offered me one in two hours. Just keep asking til you get the answer you want. Glad I've learned this one!!!
So far everything is fabulous. Cold. Freezing cold. But fabulous.

Some pics of recent, including my view the last hour from road 148 to Xela