March 9, 2014
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Part 2: Leaving…..it’s sometime very hard
Benj put my luggage in the back of his pickup and everyone that wanted to go along piled in. Judy and her girls got into her VW bug and off we went.
Saying good-bye to the world’s sweetest daughter-in-law and 3 wonderful grandchildren was hard, it was one of the toughest times for me to say farewell. I really did NOT want to leave. I have to wonder when I will get to see them again. But, on the other hand, I was missing my hubby and children at home.
We stopped at the clinic as Benj and KL had some business there, then Benj took the 3 fellows back to the “farm” as the main mission house is called. I thought it was amusing that those 3 guys said, “Bye Grandma!” I wasn’t offended as I knew why I was dubbed that….they had been hearing me called that by family and they were just part of the family. I will hold a soft spot in my heart for those 3.
The rest of us stood beside the road and waited for the bus….laughing, talking and enjoying each other’s company. I had never thought I’d like El Chal for a place to live but I think I could adapt quite well if I could handle the heat. I have learned to love the people there a lot.
The bus was slow in coming so Benj was back before I had to leave. He had just put a welder on his pickup so I asked him if I could take a couple of pictures to show Daddy and Marv.
Welder under the hood
Mobile welder
He needed to do welding at different times and so this was the answer to his problem.
Well, the bus finally came and after the last minute good-byes were said, I ascended the steps. This bus had a door in the side about 1/2 back and I realized that it was a double decker. I had never been on one of those before so it was a new experience. This time the seats were comfortable and I had no complaint about that. The thing that I noticed was the swaying back and forth….it felt like we were top heavy.
I had the sensation that it wouldn’t take much to lay us over on our side. Then I realized that I was getting a tad “sea-sick”…..so I tried to get my mind off of that. I wasn’t really sleepy but I found that no matter how comfortable or uncomfortable the bus was, I probably will never be able to sleep well on one. 
I think I did sleep some because sometime in the middle of the night I woke up to find us stopped and the driver came up to inform us that we had so many minutes to use the restroom. I stumbled off the bus after him and asked him how long he had said. “Cinco minutos”. 5 minutes. He pointed out the restrooms and I went over to where he indicated.
The restrooms were sparkling clean but there was a woman at a table with piles of neatly folded toilet paper for sale for Q1.00 each. I lay my quetzal down on the table when suddenly I heard the bus leaving! I grabbed my Q and headed for the door, my heart in my throat…..surely the driver wouldn’t go off and leave me, would he? I didn’t want to imagine that happening. I saw to my relief that he just pulled up to the adjoining restaurant. I went back in and paid for my TP, did what needed to be done and went over to the restaurant and bought a bottle of water. As fast as I could I headed back to the bus. I noticed that the front door of the bus was open this time so I got in, and climbed the few steps and back the aisle. I think my seat was about 11 but I started noticing something very strange. There were no passengers on this bus….I stopped to ponder this, I was sure that I was one of the very few people that had gotten off. Where were they? Suddenly it dawned on me, I was on the wrong bus!
As quickly as I could, I made my way off that bus, hoping that my bus was still there. I went around it and sigh of relief, it was. My heart was still pounding from the fright, I made my way to my seat and wondered if relieving myself was worth all that stress, but I did feel better and I was glad to have water again. I had been feeling quite dehydrated and had not been too pleased with myself that I’d forgotten to take my water bottle from Benj’s.
The rest of the night passed uneventful, mostly with me taking turns looking out the window and trying to catch a few winks of shuteye. I was glad to pull into the bus terminal and looked out the window to see Tim and Rhoda waiting for me.
That afternoon a couple of the hired girls wanted to go to Zone 1 to buy a piece of dress fabric for Rhoda for her birthday. Tim and I went to the tourist market as I needed to buy a yard of corte fabric to make a purse for a friend. I also bought a piece of fabric for Melisa for her birthday at another store.
As I mentioned before, Zone 1 is known for its sections….there’s a section for hardware, 7th Ave. is known for vehicle parts stores, 5th Ave. fabric. This section, a couple blocks from the tourist market has store after store of pinatas.
Pinata Block
Pinatas for sale
Later we took the girls back to the mission and the 3 of us headed down to Zone 10 to visit the doctors. I was able to see Dr. Caceres again. This time he gave us a little more of his background…..His grandfather was from Caceres, Spain and during WWII he went to Israel as he was a Jew and since he was from Caceres, he was surnamed that. Later he came to Guatemala. I asked him about the other doctors who we had that were German descent….Tornoe, Fahsen, Wyld. I had no clue that they were of Jewish background although I had known they had fled Germany because of the war. It makes sense now.
Dr. Fahsen wasn’t in so I missed him again. Later I tried to call him and left a message and he did return my call.
Next we went to the Urologist Dr. Ricardo Tercero.
Dr. Tercero
Another quick visit to Dr. Wyld who cautioned me very severely to watch diet and blood sugar, we headed back to MAM headquarters. I was ready to get to bed early. Unfortunately, by the time I got done checking emails, etc. it was later than I wished.
Galen Miller, Wendall Diehm, and Lee Burkholder VS boys
My flight was to leave at 12:15 the next day so after breakfast Tim and Rhoda took me to the airport and then is when my troubles began!
I think I had better wait until another time to start on that story. Until then, keep looking to Jesus the author and finisher of our faith.
~to be continued~
