Second Trip to Guatemala - Part 5

In the days that followed, we had several other adventures. We slowly began expanding beyond the borders of our room and basically treated the hallway as our front porch. The hallway was perfect for zooming around on the tricycle, periodic games of hide and seek where we would run down the hall, hide in the little alcoves that sheltered the doors to each of the guest rooms, and then dissolve into giggles as we played “Donde es Carolina? Donde es Nelson?” as they would run in anticipation of being caught and thrown up in the air, sometimes collapsing on the ground just to tempt us in to picking them up. Inevitably, they discovered the elevator which became a great source of entertainment. Pushing the button and waiting with bated breath – which door would open? And then – magically – the walls would part and reveal this little room with mirrors – the elevator! The elevator itself had become a source of pleasure over the course of our trip by looking into different mirrors, finding each other’s reflections and waving and saying “Hola!” As the doors opened, both Nelson and Carolina would rush forward and I would have to hold them back. Carolina quickly figured out that if she held her hand in the doorway, against the elevator she could control the magical room from disappearing behind the moving wall. It would take a strong source of distraction to peel them away from the elevator.

For the first time, we ventured beyond the walls of the hotel with the kids. Because the tricycle had proven to be far to big, we felt it would be best to give it to Velvet and find another one for Carolina and one for Nelson. We packed the kids and their stroller into the taxi and headed out to the nearby mall. No seatbelts and no car seats mind you… Fortunately, it was only a short trip. We wondered how they would react to this experience. Did they see us as the “hotel people” – somehow integrally connected to the hotel – or did they see us as “mommy and poppy, people I can trust no matter where we are.” All in all, they did really well. When we arrived at the mall, we loaded them into the stroller and began looking around. It turned out that being in the mall was a little more stressful for us then for them. It’s hard to guess what people are thinking when they see two Caucasian adults with two small Guatemalan children. I wanted my countenance to somehow convey my gratitude to the people of Guatemala for sharing with us their precious children, for entrusting us to take care of them.

We managed to find a department store with a sizeable toy department. To Nelson and Carolina’s delight, it was also filled with small playground sets and little cars. Nelson couldn’t resist stepping into a car and zooming across the aisle. Caroline immediately headed over to the jungle gym and slide. Jim was off paying for their new toys while I was torn between trying to keep Nelson on a clear course, free of pedestrians or any other obstacles, and assisting Carolina as she boldly climbed ladders and zoomed down the slide. Finally, Jim reappeared with two large bags which included a new bicycle for each and few other toys. It was with some relief that we bundled the kids back into the stroller and headed out of the store. All in all, a successful trip and one we may have to repeat on our next trip to build their sense of confidence (and ours) beyond the borders of the hotel.

On our last day, we debated whether to take on the challenge of another excursion – Chucky Cheese… It seemed somewhat daunting. After some debate, we mustered up the nerve to take them only to find out that the Chucky Cheese we had read about had closed. The concierge recommended that we take them to McDonald’s, saying that the play area was really quite impressive. This seemed to be happy medium – walking distance, more familiar, we could eat a little early and have a new adventure all at the same time. As we strolled towards the McDonald’s, Carolina expressed some concerns and we kept having to reassure her that we were going somewhere fun to play. Once we arrived, it didn’t take her any time at all to seize the opportunity to explore. The play area consisted of two long tubular slides supported by a tower of cubes which children can tunnel up through by climbing onto alternating platforms. The children couldn’t quite reach the next platform in each cube, so I climbed in with them and lifted them to each successive platform, after raising myself. About halfway up the tower, you are greeted by the entrance of the first slide – a big opening to a yellow tunnel. With Jim calling for Carolina from the other end, she mustered up the courage to go in and slide down. After the first successful attempt, she was eager to repeat the experience. Nelson was right behind her. I was so proud of them! Each of them eagerly clambered up the cube tower again and again, giving Jim and me a workout. After a few successful slides through the yellow tube, Carolina was eager to continue climbing up to the red tube. I must say, I thought the gaping mouth of the red tube might be a little intimidating and surely, she would not have visibility to Jim or I at some point on that slide. But with Jim’s encouraging voice from the other end, she folded her legs beneath her and headed down the slide only to return again a little later, this time to scramble across the catwalk. We were impressed. Our two kiddos have plenty of gumption!