Well breakfast this morning was an exciting event all around. The initial plan was to drink our juice out of a sippy cup rather than the bottle. She *can* drink from a sippy cup, but so far she has always had her morning juice from her juice bottle. As opposed to her milk bottle.

Well not only did she drink from the sippy cup with ease, but when she saw the juice arrive in a plastic cup with a straw, she wanted to give that a try too! So she drank watermelon juice from a straw!!!!

As if that was not enough excitement for the day, we than had the Sunday breakfast buffet! Life should be a buffet, I think. Full of endless options. Today's options included a simply yummy spinach quiche, and a cold Japanese noodle salad, in addition to the standard breakfast fare. And Liana LOVED both. Oddly, pancakes were not interesting today, nor was cantaloupe. But cold Japanese noodle salad was a major hit!!!

Antigua is clearly in full holiday season mode. In addition to the typical weekend Guatemala City tourist types, (with strollers and high heal shoes and expensive jeans and whatnot) we have a new influx of folks who appear to be here visiting family for the holidays. The new influx seem to be country folk, coming to the big city of Antigua to visit family.

While wandering around the park today I saw an extended family, lead by a young couple. Everyone, including the young couple, were wearing indigenous clothes. The young man, however, carried his precious three month old daughter in a Western style baby bjorn carrier, as opposed to the traditional way the women carry the babies wrapped in cloth slings. Dad was beaming with pride, and mom was on his arm, glowing just as much. They walked with the confidence of folks who are walking around the place that they live, while the rest of the entourage had that sort of awed look that one sees on the faces of tourists arriving for the first time in Times Square. The older folks, parents, aunts and uncles perhaps, maybe even a set of grandparents of the young couple, looked around at the craft stalls and the massive fountain and the elaborate landscaping of the park with the eyes of those who were seeing these sites for the first time. I crossed paths with this group several times this morning. I coo'ed over their sweet baby, and they all coo'ed over Liana. We made polite conversation.

At a certain point Liana was playing by the edge of the fountain, and this group passed by us again. They stopped and greeted us, and watched Liana's animated delight for a bit. One of the older men, in a Spanish accented with indigenous rhythms, asked if Liana was my daughter. I nodded and said yes, and said that I had just finished the process of adopting her. There was a soft buzz among the older people in the group, in their native language, and a clarification from the younger couple, who, I assume live her and Antigua and have seen other foreign families here in the process of adopting Guatemalan children. The eldest man nodded and touched her face. He then asked if I was going to bring her with me to NY...as if the whole concept was still sinking in. I said yes. He said that her life would be very different. That she would see different things. He said that life in Guatemala was difficult. That she would have different opportunities. He kept looking into her eyes, the eyes that looked like his, not mine.. the eyes that he knew would see things that he could not imagine. I think he also was thinking about the things that she would not see. He then touched her face again, and looked at the baby in their group, who I imagine was his great granddaughter. The other elder people in the group then touched Liana's face. And then each said good bye to me. As they walked away, their eyes were still on Liana.