The Lake Conquers the Kennys

Mom on a boat ride over the Panajachel

WOW! After a week and a half of KU Jayhawk fever, and my own bout of fever, I finally have the time, focus, and energy to finish the blog about Mom and Dad Kenny's visit.

After Antigua, we drove to Santiago, a small indigenous town on the edge of Lago Atitlan. Our first day was great; the drive was easy and our suite-style bungalow, Casa Aguatal, was beautiful! We spent the afternoon walking around town looking at more alfombras, and visiting the town's revered "evil saint," Maximon. He's the perfect manifestation of the mixing of Mayan and Catholic religion, as he is a "saint," but he smokes, drinks, and people bring him offerings of money, scarves, clothing, booze, and consumer products so he will help them with whatever the offering was for. After watching a beautiful sunset on the lake, we spent the evening playing cards, watching some NCAA basketball, and having a relaxed dinner while listening to some local, traditional, live music. It was great!

The evil saint Maximon, who stays in his own house right across the street from the Catholic Church

Dusk at Posada de Santiago

A view of the lake from the shores of Panajachel

We were at Lago Atitlan (Good Friday) when Mom fell ill. She had felt 'off' all morning, but came along with us on a boat from where we were staying (Santiago) over to Panajachel (the main shopping town on the lake). We tried not to make too big a deal of it, but then at lunch she said she was very nauseous. She tried to stand up but immediately sat back down.

So, I ran over to the kitchen to try to get a bag for her to use in case she got sick. But by the time I came back over, Mom had passed out. Then while James and Dad tried to bring her around, I ran around the place yelling for an ambulance. Luckily there were a few people there who had phones and the right numbers, so they called the ambulance. By the time I got back over to the table, Mom had regained consciousness, but still felt like she could fall asleep and wasn't really in her right mind because she said she felt much better and didn't need an ambulance (yeah right!). But the police, who also called the ambulance and were keeping an eye on everything, told us that we were going to have to take a little tuk-tuk (a glorified motor trike with a seat) to get to the ambulance. Mom could not even sit up, let alone walk.

A tuk tuk

We eventually got them to bring the ambulance to us. Dad and I got in the ambulance with her (umm...let's face it. It was the back of a van.) and James took a tuk tuk to the hospital. They did not take us to the hospital in town, they took us to a hospital in the next town, Solala, which was a steep, curvy climb of about 10 minutes. We kept talking to her and trying to stabilize her around the hairpin fast turns the driver was taking.

Finally, we were at a hospital, but this was a Guatemalan public hospital. So, if you can imagine the set up of a hospital bed sheets and dark brown curtains for some privacy, that was it. The hospital did not even have a pillow to put under Mom's head. Luckily I had just bought something like a poncho, so we used that as a pillow instead. By the time she got settled in, she said she was starting to feel better. Luckily James, Mom, and I could speak Spanish enough to explain what had happened! But the good doctor seemed competent, and worked hard to figure out what happened with Mom (which, according to her U.S. doctor, was simply a reaction to nausea and heat).

By now it was about 2:00 pm, and in Guate, you do not want to travel when it gets dark, which happens around 6:00 pm. So we decided it would be best for James and I got take the boat ride back over the Santiago while they figured Mom's health out. We got back to Santiago, packed our belongings, paid our tab, drove around the lake (no easy feat; this took 3.5 hours!), and stayed the night in Panajachel.

We ended up finding a nice, quiet suite at Posada Los Encuentros for the night. This was a miracle, given that it was Good Friday, and the next day was one of the biggest party days at the Lake all year! The doctor had given Mom some medicine, and she was feeling much better by late afternoon. We basically spent the evening being very grateful that Mom was feeling better. And watching NCAA basketball, of course! :)

This was by far one of the scariest moments in my life. I have never felt for helpless, vulnerable, or full of fear. On the other hand, we all decided it was a blessing in disguise because, obviously, Mom did not go with us the next day to the Tikal ruins in the jungle. If the same thing had happened in the jungle far away from any sort of civiliation (we only had electricity for 4 hours the whole time we were at Tikal), I don't know what would have happened. God works in mysterious ways. Mom ended up relaxing in our apartment and watching the NCAA tournament which wasn't such a bad fate in the end for her. :)