Yes indeed, we did just this. On Tuesday, our friends Heather, Grady and their daughter Kylie along with Blake and I did a 2 hour climb up the volcano Pacaya. I think now that we're out of PGN, I'm feeling like I want to see everything before we go so I decided to put Blake and my back and go for it. We drove a very scenic route about an hour and a half away from Antigua and then hiked an hour up and another one down. It was absolutely amazing and SO worth the aching legs the next day. I actually sat in front of a lava river that was about 3 feet away from me. We walked on volcanic rock that radiated heat under our feet. It was surreal. The view at the almost top (they don't let you actually summit for safety reasons) of the volcano was breathtaking. We were actually looking down on towns while watching 3 lava rivers flow down the mountain. Our guide, Luisa, was amazing and she had us all roast marshmallows on one of the white hot rocks. That's how hot it was. Another nice woman on our tour watched Blake while I got close to the lava rivers so don't think I'm too crazy. I had to laugh because as we got to the top, an English speaking man walked by and said hi to me before realizing Blake was on my back. He then said, "Wow, you have a baby! Where are you from?" I said Seattle and as he walked off I heard him say to his friends, "Only a person from Seattle would bring their baby on their back and hike a volcano!" Go Seattlelites! I had to laugh at this one because I'm not a typical Seattlelite and normally wouldn't do this! The bad part about this trip is I lost my camera or it was stolen. We had amazing pictures of the volcano. Luckily, my friend Heather has some of us that I'm having her send. I will post them as soon as I receive them.
So much has happened here in the last few days so I'll start at Monday. We now have Blake's new birth certificate, Passport and 2nd DNA completed. The DNA was sent to a US lab yesterday and the results should be at the US Embassy by next Monday (according to our agency). Our facilitator said that we will receive our "pink" email (used to be called a pink slip because you would get an Embassy/VISA appt. date on a pink piece of paper) by next Wednesday if the results come in Monday. By law the embassy has to give you an appt. date within 48 hours of receiving 2nd DNA. Once we have that appt., we will go to the Embassy for our final doctor visit there (you have to check out of the country with a thorough exam from a designated Embassy doctor) and then attend our VISA appt. date which should be that same week. We will be handed a sealed envelope with Blake's paperwork to get through customs at the airport and then go through a short interview. The next day, we will return and pick up his VISA. Once that is in hand, we can RETURN TO THE USA!!!! We are so excited to come home, yet sad that we'll be leaving this beautiful place. It has been an experience we will NEVER forget. We are blessed and SO incredibly lucky to have this sweet baby boy.
On another note, I have been busy this week helping the family whom we brought gifts to at Christmas. Remember this family? I have pictures of Juanita (the mom) with her 3 boys (5, 3 and 4 months). This is the family who is homeless, living in a shelter and whom I've become really close to living her in Antigua. Basically the mother has no money and sells probably 2 bracelets in the park a day equalling about $8.00 a day. She is supporting 3 kids on this income. To make a long story short, the oldest child, Esteban, developed an enormous tumor like looking mass on the inside of his right leg. Literally, it was the size of a grapefruit. I had not seen it until Monday, but Juanita had told me that her son was not well and she was really worried. Finally, on Monday when I came through the park for our daily walk, little Esteban showed me and drew a crowd of people amazed at how bad this mass was. I asked her if she'd been to the doctor and she said yes and was given an antibiotic prescription. Of course, she couldn't pay for it so she returned to the streets. The mass just continued to get worse. So, to save this little boy's life (literally), I took them all by taxi to Dr. Juarez where I take Blake in town. He took his temp. and said that not only did he have a fever, but that Esteban had an infected abcess filled with puss. I know this sounds absolutely awful - it was. He said he needed to go to the hospital and I had two choices - one associated with him around the corner and another a little outside of town (little did I know that the "Nacional" hospital is government operated and treatment is free). Of course I chose the closer one not knowing this. We waited with 4 children in the lobby of the hospital for an hour before Esteban was given a room. He stayed for 2 nights and Dr. Juarez basically took out the puss and filled him with antibiotics. He was released yesterday and I paid a huge hospital bill. Thank goodness though for my wonderful former roommates who had helped Juanita at Christmas though because they all donated money and helped to pay me back. Basically we all ended up chipping in money for the cause. The mother, Juanita, has been calling me now from a friend's home (we also paid rent for her to stay there for the month while Esteban heals) beyond thankful. She continues to tell me that her son would've died if we hadn't helped. This is true I'm sure. Esteban is a prime example of the children that die because their parents can't afford medicine and hospital treatments. When I went to visit Esteban the day after his treatment, he was SO happy and like a different kid. I left that evening with tears in my eyes. I can't even tell you the feeling I had knowing I had helped save this little one's life. I'm tearing up right now writing this. Anyway, I will never forget this experience. It was definitely a once in a lifetime one.
So much has happened here in the last few days so I'll start at Monday. We now have Blake's new birth certificate, Passport and 2nd DNA completed. The DNA was sent to a US lab yesterday and the results should be at the US Embassy by next Monday (according to our agency). Our facilitator said that we will receive our "pink" email (used to be called a pink slip because you would get an Embassy/VISA appt. date on a pink piece of paper) by next Wednesday if the results come in Monday. By law the embassy has to give you an appt. date within 48 hours of receiving 2nd DNA. Once we have that appt., we will go to the Embassy for our final doctor visit there (you have to check out of the country with a thorough exam from a designated Embassy doctor) and then attend our VISA appt. date which should be that same week. We will be handed a sealed envelope with Blake's paperwork to get through customs at the airport and then go through a short interview. The next day, we will return and pick up his VISA. Once that is in hand, we can RETURN TO THE USA!!!! We are so excited to come home, yet sad that we'll be leaving this beautiful place. It has been an experience we will NEVER forget. We are blessed and SO incredibly lucky to have this sweet baby boy.
On another note, I have been busy this week helping the family whom we brought gifts to at Christmas. Remember this family? I have pictures of Juanita (the mom) with her 3 boys (5, 3 and 4 months). This is the family who is homeless, living in a shelter and whom I've become really close to living her in Antigua. Basically the mother has no money and sells probably 2 bracelets in the park a day equalling about $8.00 a day. She is supporting 3 kids on this income. To make a long story short, the oldest child, Esteban, developed an enormous tumor like looking mass on the inside of his right leg. Literally, it was the size of a grapefruit. I had not seen it until Monday, but Juanita had told me that her son was not well and she was really worried. Finally, on Monday when I came through the park for our daily walk, little Esteban showed me and drew a crowd of people amazed at how bad this mass was. I asked her if she'd been to the doctor and she said yes and was given an antibiotic prescription. Of course, she couldn't pay for it so she returned to the streets. The mass just continued to get worse. So, to save this little boy's life (literally), I took them all by taxi to Dr. Juarez where I take Blake in town. He took his temp. and said that not only did he have a fever, but that Esteban had an infected abcess filled with puss. I know this sounds absolutely awful - it was. He said he needed to go to the hospital and I had two choices - one associated with him around the corner and another a little outside of town (little did I know that the "Nacional" hospital is government operated and treatment is free). Of course I chose the closer one not knowing this. We waited with 4 children in the lobby of the hospital for an hour before Esteban was given a room. He stayed for 2 nights and Dr. Juarez basically took out the puss and filled him with antibiotics. He was released yesterday and I paid a huge hospital bill. Thank goodness though for my wonderful former roommates who had helped Juanita at Christmas though because they all donated money and helped to pay me back. Basically we all ended up chipping in money for the cause. The mother, Juanita, has been calling me now from a friend's home (we also paid rent for her to stay there for the month while Esteban heals) beyond thankful. She continues to tell me that her son would've died if we hadn't helped. This is true I'm sure. Esteban is a prime example of the children that die because their parents can't afford medicine and hospital treatments. When I went to visit Esteban the day after his treatment, he was SO happy and like a different kid. I left that evening with tears in my eyes. I can't even tell you the feeling I had knowing I had helped save this little one's life. I'm tearing up right now writing this. Anyway, I will never forget this experience. It was definitely a once in a lifetime one.
1 comments:
Wow - you have been busy. So sorry about your camera. And I can't wait to hear about your pink!
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