Danny is a street sweeper, Cathy is a supermarket cashier, Estuardo is a doctor, and Juan Pablo is a sailor. Danny was born with fetal alcohol syndrome, Cathy had a cleft lip & palate, Estuardo was found wandering on the roadside after running away when he witnessed his father murdering someone, and Juan Pablo was burned with scalding water as an infant. Buckner's goal is to find permanent homes for these children; Cathy is being adopted by a family in Dallas next month.
Riding in our tourbus was a great treat for the kids---the boys loved opening the windows and standing up and sticking their heads out, but we tried to keep them in their seats. Nobody wears seat belts or uses car seats for children. We saw many cars with people just crammed in, every public bus had someone hanging out the front door, and we frequently saw motorcycle riders with babies and toddlers in tow. Robyn made the comment that after riding around in Guatemala City traffic for several days, she will never again complain about Houston's traffic!
There are two other children at the baby home who are too young for the preschool. Crystal was born with only one eye, and Chabilita was abandoned at an orphanage.
The kids have a play area at their house, where they love swinging, kicking a ball around, and blowing bubbles. We helped them burn off some energy before taking the older four to McDonald's for lunch and more playtime.
Then it was time for us to go shopping. We had Carmen & Vidalia with us for our trip to the supermarket to buy the fixings for a homemade dinner. We decided that it would be fun to make a taco dinner, so we bought everything we thought we'd need. The girls refused to let us buy tortillas, saying that they would much rather make their own. We stopped in at a bakery and purchased a beautiful birthday cake and some tasty cookies, then we sent the food to the Buckner offices, and our group headed back to the hotel to prepare for a swimming party with the older girls. It was warm there during the days, but without daylight savings time, it gets dark and much cooler by 6:00. So the prospect of swimming wasn't all that appealing to some of us! Several of the girls did swim, though, and two of our team got in the water with them. The rest of us visited around the poolside with those who chose not to swim. Once again, we were grateful for the translators who helped us out!
After everyone had changed back into dry clothes, we piled into our van once again and went to TGI Friday's for a dinner of chicken fingers and french fries. The greatest excitement of the evening was when the power went out and plunged us into blackness for about 30 seconds. It was kind of funny to see lots of cell phones being held up in the air to cast light in the darkness! Then we took the girls back to their house and returned to our hotel to find that the housekeepers had lovingly arranged all of Robyn's bunnies on the bed. Buenos Noches, Bunnies!
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