Surprise Encounter and Visit to Old Friends, July 13, 2011

In return for me doing most (ALL) of the journaling on this trip, Dick is allowing me to use most of the pictures from his postings.  (Not sure if he knows this yet, but he will!)  Please don’t get too used to the pretty borders—unless I can get him talked into doing all my pictures. . .hmmmmmm….

We had planned to go to Rudy’s today, but, after seeing how much rain fell last night, Dick thought maybe we should try to go up to La Libertad to take a wheelchair to Samuel, who we had met more than two years ago.  I love traveling to the area around La Libertad, though the roads there are some of the most difficult we drive.  I was a little concerned setting off up the mountain since we had not been able to contact anyone up there to let them know we were coming.  We decided to chance it anyway, trusting that we would find someone who could help us find Samuel. 

I also was hoping we would have enough time to stop in and visit the Perez family.  I had met this family in January of 2009 when we brought them and their daughter Lisvi into see a doctor at Hermano Pedro.  Lisvi was the first child with malnutrition I had seen with my own eyes and held in my arms, and she changed me greatly in the few days we spent together.  She died a few months after we met, and I felt like seeing her parents would provide some closure for me, even years later.  More than two years ago I had written about her:

As Dick was measuring Noe, I walked over to a lady with a “baby” on her back. I hesitantly asked if it would be okay for me to hold the “baby.” Mom gently placed her in my arms. This was my introduction to Lisvi Escalante Perez, and her mother Francisca. Lisvi, however, is not a baby, but a marvelous little girl of SIX who could not have weighed over fifteen pounds. I thought I was familiar with starvation, but as I held this precious little one in my arms, my heart sank to my feet, and tears welled in my eyes. Lisvi will forever “haunt” me. This was not some abstract, starving child in an ad, but a flesh and blood little girl God had permitted me to hold.

The trip up to La Libertad was fairly easy, though we still had to travel some muddy, rutty roads.  It was only sprinkling, and the new car was holding the road well so we kept on.  When we reached the turn off from La Libertad to go to the aldea (village) where Samuel and the Perez family lived, we had to stop for a pick-up truck/”bus” that was loading passengers. 

When I looked up, I thought I saw Sr. Perez, Lisvi’s dad, getting into the back of the truck.  Surely, I was wrong, but I couldn’t help but look again, and asked Dick, “Is that Lisvi’s dad?”  By this time, though, the truck had started moving, and I thought we’d missed our chance to find out if it was him.

A minute later, though, the pick-up stopped, and Dick was able to pull along side.  He rolled down his window, and I asked the man in the truck, “Do you know this man (Dick)?”  After a minute of confusion, Sr. Perez recognized Dick and immediately jumped from the truck.  We pulled over and had a great reunion on the side of the road.  I just about burst into tears when I asked him if he remembered me, and he said, “Yes, you’re Sra. Patricia.”  I know he probably has not spent too much time with North American women but I was totally honored that he remembered my name.

Another gentleman also walked up to us from further down the street, telling us he also knew Dick, since he had given his son a wheelchair on a previous visit.  It felt like old home week in the mountains.  When Sr. Perez asked where we were going, and I told him, “to your house,” he was very excited.  So, the three of us piled into the front seat of Dick’s truck (the back was completely full of wheelchairs) and we were off.

After once again traveling these steep and winding roads, this time in the rain, Dick grew in his appreciation of his new vehicle, and I grew in my appreciation of his driving.  (Today, though, was the first time I’ve known Dick to break his word.  The last time we were up here, he told me he would never drive into this area if there was even a drop of rain.  Today there was much more than a drop, but he skillfully managed the roads without incident.)

 

When we got to the Perez home, Francesca, Lisvi’s mom, came out to see who was driving into her yard.  I got out of the car, and she came over and hugged me for the longest time, neither of us saying a word, but both of us dissolving into tears, remembering the last time we had seen each other, shortly before Lisvi died.  After warmly greeting Dick, the Perez’s took great pleasure introducing us to two of their grandchildren.

Inviting us into the house, Francesca began cooking up a storm.  Of course she would feed us.  This always amazes me here in Guatemala.  No matter how poor the family, or how little food they have, they almost always feed us a meal of some sort when we visit.  It feels somewhat uncomfortable to us, sort of like we’re crashing their dinner, but we have learned to accept this gift with due appreciation.  Today we had the Huehuetenango version of pepian, a rich chicken stew which is typical of Guatemalan food.

While she was cooking, and later while we were eating, we caught up on developments with their family since the last time we were here.  They now had 3 grandchildren, and the activity that filled the house seemed to be a healing element for them in their loss of Lisvi.  Sr. Perez had bought the two older children twinkie like cakes and they were devouring them as they waited for lunch.  It was so sweet to see him with his grandchildren. He adores them, and it was obvious they feel the same about him.

Beside our visit, today was a landmark day for the family. Their son has been in the US working for the last 7 months, and was, in fact, returning today to the Guatemala City airport.  They were very excited to have him home again.

After lunch, Sr. Perez offered to go with us to Samuel’s home to show us the way.  This was not as simple as it sounds on the surface.  To find the exact location of the house, he had to scale a very steep, muddy hill, and returned telling us he had found a way we could drive almost completely to the house.  This took us over more mud and fields, and involved him jumping out of the truck a couple of times to open and close gates for us.  He did this all enthusiastically, enjoying the fact that he was able to help us out.

This picture was taken from inside of Dick’s Land Cruiser.
We were thankful that Lisvi’s father ran down the hill and opened the gate for us, because we’re not sure we could have stopped!

 

When we got to the house, Dick discovered that he had already brought Samuel a chair and walker quite a while ago!  He takes so many chairs to so many people in so many places, I can easily understand this minor lapse.  The family was over-joyed by our visit, and we discovered that one of the footrests on Samuel’s chair had broken.  Sr. Perez jumped right into helping Dick repair the chair, and in short order the chair was once again in working order. 

It started to rain rather hard, and Dick decided we better head out before we could not get out.  We did find out from Sr. Perez that there was a better way out than the way we had come in.  Since Dick had never driven this road, he insisted on accompanying us part way to make sure we found it okay.  We tried to encourage him to return home out of the rain, but he wouldn’t give in.  After we were on our way on the right road, we were able to drop him off right above his house.  I’m sure his trip down the mountain on foot was no picnic in the rain, but we could not help but be grateful for his enthusiastic help.

As we drove back to Huehue, Dick and I discussed the Godincident of running into Sr. Perez in La Libertad.  If we had been five minutes earlier or later, we would have missed him.  We only went today because Dick had a strong feeling that we should postpone visiting Rudy and head up the mountain before there was more rain.  This morning I had prayed for God to arrange divine appointments for us today, but in no way did I expect to see His hand so clearly.  I’m sure He knew how much we would be blessed by our time with the Perez family.  I pray now that they were blessed by our time with them.