On Tuesday after returning from Satiago we traveled to Antigua, Guatemala. Antigua Guatemala (commonly referred to as just Antigua or La Antigua) is a city in the central mountains of Guatemala famous for its well-preserved Spanish New World Baroque architecture as well as a number of spectacular ruined churches. It has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The city had a peak population of some 60,000 in the 1770s; the bulk of the population moved away in the late 18th century. Despite significant population growth in the late 20th century, the city reached half that number in the 1990s. According to the 2002 census, the city has some 33,000 inhabitants.

Antigua Guatemala means the "ancient Guatemala". Founded on March 10, 1543, as the third capital of Guatemala, after the nearby town of Ciudad Vieja was destroyed in a flood, Antigua Guatemala was for more than 200 years the seat of the military governor of the Spanish colony of Guatemala, a large region that included almost all of present-day Central America. The conquistadores named the city La Muy Noble y Muy Leal Ciudad de Santiago de los Caballeros de Guatemala ("The Very Noble and Very Loyal City of Santiago of the Knights of Guatemala") but it was known just as Santiago de Guatemala, in honor of their patron saint, Santiago, after Santiago de Compostela in Spain.

In 1773, a series of earthquakes destroyed much of the town. The Spanish Crown ordered (1776) the removal of the capital to a safer location, where Guatemala City, the modern capital of Guatemala, now stands. The badly damaged city was ordered abandoned, although not everyone left

Central Park is the heart of the city. The reconstructed fountain in particular is very beautiful. People enjoy this park from early in the morning to late at night. Nowadays, Antigua is noted for its very elaborate religious celebrations for the Holy Week leading up to Easter.


Three large volcanoes dominate the horizon around Antigua.

The most commanding, to the south of the city, is the Volcán de Agua or "Volcano of Water", some 3766 meters (12 356 feet) high. It is so named because the crater atop it was formerly filled with water. Shortly after the Spanish conquest of Guatemala, the first capital was on a site part-way up this mountain. It was destroyed by a flood and mudslide when an earthquake let loose the water from the crater, and the capital of Guatemala was moved down the valley to the current Antigua. The original site is a village now known as "Ciudad Vieja", ("The Old City").

To the west of the city are a pair of peaks, Acatenango, long inactive, some 3976 meters (13045 feet) high, and the Volcán de Fuego or "Volcano of Fire", some 3763 meters (12346 feet) high. "Fuego" is famous for being almost constantly active at a low level. Smoke issues from its top daily, but larger eruptions are rare.

We returned home from Guatemala last night. We had a wonderful trip. It started out with great disappointment and ended with great joy! That's how things are supposed to work right??

On Sunday morning as we were preparing to leave for the airport...this is at 4am...my sister Valerie called and said that she had been up all night and couldn't find her passport. Trying to be positive, we told her to keep looking, we had 2 hours until our flight actually left. She didn't find her passport and wasn't able to go with us to Guatemala. Needless to say, we were all very disappointed. We decided however that there must be a good reason why she wasn't able to be with us and we would leave it at that and enjoy our trip.

We arrived in Guatemala City at 7pm that evening and our travel guide Mario was there to greet us at the airport. He took us to the Marriott and made plans to leave for Lake Atalan in the morning. When we arrived at the Marriott we were greeted by a familiar face. Karla, one of the people that work for the attorney that processed Maria's adoption was in the lobby. From across the lobby, I heard, "Hola, Stephanie, Hola, David!" It was very nice to see a familiar face. Karla was at the Marriott to meet with an adoptive family that had their embassy appointment the next morning. They were just finishing the paperwork. Karla had already arranged to bring Lidia, Maria's foster mother to the Marriott with her when she went to the embassy appointment in the morning, so we knew Maria would be able to see her right away on Monday morning.

Lidia was waiting for us when we arrived in the lobby on Monday morning. Maria was a bit apprehensive at first, but she warmed up to Lidia in no time. It didn't take long for Maria to recognize who Lidia was or the sweet sayings that Lidia constantly says to her. My favorite is:"Oh Pretty Baby! Conchita Juanita!" I'm sure I spelled that wrong...but you get the picture.

As we were sitting in the lobby waiting for Karla to arrive to join us for breakfast, Lidia asked if we were going to adopt again. I told her that we were thinking about it, but we probably wouldn't start the process again until November or December. She then asked if we were interested in a boy or a girl? I replied that I would probably like a girl, but it didn't really matter. At that point, the light went on...she said to me..."you know, we have a baby girl that was born 3 weeks ago, that hasn't been referred to any other adoptive parents yet." Dave looked at me with complete and utter fear...I started to ask questions about the baby and after a couple of minutes Lidia was on the cell phone to Karla. Karla arrived to have breakfast with us about an hour later and as we ate, I continued to ask questions, and Dave continued to look as though he was just hit with a Mack Truck! We decided that we would talk about it as a family and get back to them. Although, truth be told, I had already made my decision at that point!

Here we all are at the Marriott before we left for Lidia's home.

My Mom, Lidia with Maria, Stephanie, David and Karla


We finished our breakfast as Mario arrived and we decided to go to Lidia's house before going to our next destination, Lake Atalan. Mario drove us to Lidia's home, where Maria was able to see Jaime, Lidia's husband. She went right to him. I suspect, that she remembered him right away. We found out while there where Maria's fasination with birds comes from. Lidia has several birds and Maria was quite captivated by them. We met Flora Luisa for the first time, but didn't take any pictures or talk too much about her as we hadn't been alone to discuss the situation yet. We left Lidia's and continued our travels to Lake Atilan.

Mario had made reservations at a very beautiful hotel at Lake Atilan in the city of Panachel. The hotel was an coffee plantation that has been converted into a hotel and botanical gardens. The gardens are breathtaking. Each room opens up into the gardens and has a wonderful view of the lake and the volcanoes.





The lake is 90 square miles and is surrounded by 3 active volcanoes. It was very overcast the two days we were there so even though we were right underneath these giant mountains, we couldn't catch a glimpse of them. We took a short boat ride to one of the small villages known for it's very traditional lifestyle. Santiago is a bustling village during the day with everyone attending the market and the children going to school.





To Be Continued!!