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September 11, 2005
Exploring Antigua
During breakfast, reading a local newspaper, I found a sad story that fortunately has a happy ending. The article chronicled the last three years of the life of a young boy from Guatemala. He and his two sisters were orphaned by their mother years ago. Three years ago, his sisters were adopted by a family from the United States, but he had run away from the orphanage at this point and when he returned he found out that his sisters had left the country. At the age of 9 he decided to set out on foot to find them. During his first attempt, not knowing much about the geography of the world, he headed in the wrong direction and didn't realize that the United States was in the other direction until he was in Honduras. Subsequently, he had to travel back to Guatemala. Over the past 3 years he has been apprehended in Mexico six times and quickly returned to Guatemala. This last week, now 12 years old, he was finally put in touch with his 14-year-old and 9-year-old sisters in the United States after a astute Mexican official decided to give the child some help. It turns out that the family in the U.S., unbeknownst to this young boy, had planned to adopt him with his sisters three years ago, and now will be able to finalize the process which will reunite him with the only family members he knows. I'll try to see if I can find a copy online for people back home to read as it really is inspiring.
After a quick breakfast, and finishing some more of the newspaper, we walked to theParque Central where we were hearing some pounding drums. To our surprise we found the main square filled with young Guatemalans in marching band uniforms. Representing different local schools, the marching bands were performing as part of the Guatemalan Independence celebrations. Hundreds of kids, decked out in different uniforms, playing instruments all at the same time as they marched by the government building was quite a sight to see. We remembered hearing several different school bands practicing (for this event, I guess) when we were in Lake Atitlan.
Next, we headed over to some ruins on the edge of town. The ruins were of a giant colonial cathedral that was built between 1701 and 1707 but was completely destroyed in a huge earthquake in the 1750's. While most of the walls are still intact, the grounds are covered with huge portions of the ceiling. As we took photos of the ruins, a modeling photo-shoot was taking place right next to us.
On the way back to the hotel we stopped to watch part of a soccer match that was being played in a dirt field, with the impressive volcano, Volcan Agua, looming in the background.
After reviewing our last few bank statements we are really trying to cut back on our expenditures. So today we had a cheap lunch, explored around town a bit, and then just caught up on some reading in an internet café. For dinner we splurged and had 6 tacos, instead of three, but it was well worth it. We are in the process of figuring out the best way to make it through El Salvador, where we will be headed in the next few days. It's fast-paced traveling, but we are loving it.
Posted by Peter Mork at September 11, 2005 7:48 PM
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