Trip to Guatemala City

We left home this morning at 6:00am to get to Guatemala City for our monthly OB appointment. We had to leave Ernest and Connie Braren behind (they didn't want to leave at the same ungodly hour we did!) They've been with us for the past five days and have been fantastic! We got to spend some nice time with them, as well as meet several of their gringo friends here in town. Who knew there were so many gringos around!? Our network will grow considerably in the next month or so, we hope!



We have been having some very exciting things happen with the container this week. Unfortunately, none of them include IT ARRIVING HERE! We received notice yesterday that all that was lacking for release was just over $1000. Is that all? Well, let's look between the couch cushions.



Apparently, the container arrived here in Guatemala on February 3rd. We're being charged rent for the time it has been sitting in the port (waiting on the government to do paperwork on its own sweet time - sound familiar?) Also, there are some fees and taxes and other fun stuff that all governments feel like they need to assess on each and every thing they get their hands on.



Also in keeping with typical governmental ease of operation, these bills have to be paid in person in Guatemala City. Luckily, we were going to go for our doctor visit anyway. (I say "luckily" - the truth is that God is looking out for us, as usual - read on.) One building we needed to go to was only a few blocks from our doctor's office, which is great because Guatemala City is unbelievably difficult to navigate. Almost every street is one way and many do not have street signs. Fun.



Anyway, we were planning to pay with a check, which they told us we could. This is good news because Guatemala is still experiencing a cash shortage due to the government not printing enough money last year. Sometimes we can get cash, sometimes we can't. When we can, we stock up. They told Heidi (Matt was sitting in the truck because as hard as it is to drive in Guatemala City, it's even harder to park!) that she had to pay Q4000 in cash. She had Q4100 on her because we had just stocked up last week. Then God led us to a cash machine where we were able to find cash to replace what we had just spent! They were gracious enough to let us pay an additional $450 by check for some other fee or tax or something - because it was in dollars, not Quetzales.



Then we had to drive across town and pay another Q1600 by depositing it in some guy's bank account at Banco Quetzal (and not every building that has a Banco Quetzal sign is a Banco Quetzal - we learned that today, too!) Yes, it's all a little scary, but we're told it'll work.



Anyway, supposedly, all of those gyrations should release our container tomorrow so it can arrive before the weekend. Pray for all that to work!



So on the medical side (the original purpose for our trip), we got Heidi's labs drawn, which required her to be fasting - never pleasant, but even less so for a pregnant lady. Then we had our visit with Dr. Ruata. We had another ultrasound and everything looks great with the baby. All of the anatomical markers look to be in the right places and are the right sizes and shapes, including the one that tells us what our baby is.



Because we're a little mean, we'll give you the word in K'iche. If you're resourceful, you'll figure it out. For those of you who are not as resourceful, we'll post it in English in a few days. Yes, games are fun.



Our baby is "ala". That's opposed to "ali". Happy hunting.



Oh, and here's a pic. You can see the baby's face on the right hand side. The eyes, nose, and mouth are clearly visible... Matt thinks the baby looks like Heidi in this shot...