Although we had been saying goodbye's for about a week, Wednesday was a big day of goodbyes. Earlier in the day we stopped by Blintz Café for one last smoothie and frappé with Lucy, the owner. Unfortunately, she just started a frequent visitor stamp card...a little too late for us!! We would have had tons of free drinks during our time in Quiché. Lucy and all the friendly cute staff like Lety, will be missed. This was our great little hang out spot!
At the office many of our friends and co-workers also gave us a despedida with a delicious cake from the new bakery in town, Holandesa. (We had tasted one a few days earlier when Brittany's students Rita and Evelyn brought one to say thanks for her teaching them.) It was sweet to hear the kind words of our peers at the organization and to share a few ourselves. Office celebrations and refecciones were so common for birthdays and welcoming new members to the team and provided a time to socialize and get to know each other.
When we finally left the office, we had yet another goodbye obligation before Toby headed to the fire station. Doña Carmen, who was the landlord of previous volunteers Alex and Sopia, has been a very sweet host to us in Quiché since our first visit in 2006. We had originally planned to liver in her apartment as well, but when we arrived it was occupied, so we ended up renting from other relations. We've visited with her on several occasions always eating well, so of course she invited us over once again! We ate dinner with Carmen and her sister, Toby particularly enjoyed the wine made out of nance fruit. We've really appreciated Carmen's hospitality and hope to return in the future and bring some childre for her to oggle over.
One of our big goodbyes was on Thursday when a dozen of us on the Ajb'atz' team headed to nearby Chichi to check out a little adventure at the Parque Ecológico. The highligts of the day, besides sharing time with our friends, were the zipline ride almost all of us did and the giant rope swings that swung out over the trees. Toby was very sweet and gave all the girls a push so they could fly out even higher. We all brought food to share, but the time was cut short with our necessary departure to Antigua. Everyone was very thoughtful at Ajb'atz' and gave each of us some very beautiful gifts - Toby a nice quality "man bag" and Brittany a gorgeous hand-made shawl. Many thanks for these wonderful souvenirs of our time with Enlace Quiché.
It was sad to say all these goodbyes, but we are uplifted by knowing that we will eventually return to be with our friends. Guatemala is not too far away that we can't come back and stay with all our lasting connections in the future.
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