Finally an end to the trip

The day we left the village was definitely bitter sweet. I was so ready for a bed and a shower but on the other hand I had experienced so many amazing moments and come in contact with some incredible people that the thought of possibly never seeing them again was sad for me. We packed up our tents and Chad got his foot wrapped one last time by his new friend. The villagers were anxious to help in any way. As we were gathering our things they would take our heavy suitcases up the 1/2 mile trail. Chad had to make it up the trail and luckily two villagers helped him up. It was time to leave, the villagers lined the road and waved good bye to us, many had tears in their eyes and so did we. It was wonderful! We then drove the two hours on the bumpy dirt road, transferred to our nice air conditioned bus for another eight hours followed by our armed guards of course. We were headed to Antigua. We arrived at our beautiful hotel, found our rooms, took showers (I so needed one) and then off to dinner. The place we ate for dinner was a steak house about a mile from our hotel. One of the guys in our group offered to find us a "toot toot" which is a little car like thing that fits two maybe three people behind a motor cycle thing. Chad being impatient started to walk, he said "lets just start walking until we find one" he only took one of his man made crutches with him as we walked on these uneven cobblestone streets. Well we never did find a "toot toot" that night so Chad walked the entire mile on his broken leg. On the way back from the restaurant we did find one.

Tiare and myself in a "Toot Toot"

That night his leg and foot were swollen huge. The next morning we woke up early, we were used to waking up early with the noisy jungle, so we decided to head to breakfast. The restaurant was fairly empty besides one other table, so we decided to sit near it. As Chad was getting ready to sit a man came up to him that was seated at the other table and asked what is going on with your leg??? Chad told him the story and then told him that he was planning on going shopping that day with me and then we would be heading home on a plane the next morning to see our six kids. The man replied "oh no your not, you might be dead tomorrow!" Excuse me? What? This freaked me out somewhat. Well come to find out this man was a doctor from Georgia, USA! He immediately handed Chad a bottle of Aspirin and told him to start taking it so he could begin thinning his blood, this doctor was concerned with blood clots. Then this doctor left his breakfast as well as the company at his table and made a few phone calls. He came back and told Chad that he knew a surgeon at the Guatemala city hospital and that he made Chad an appointment for that day to get an ultrasound as well as x-rays on his leg. If they found one blood clot Chad would be required to stay in that hospital in Guatemala City for at least six more days. At this point I am bawling like a baby. I was scared to death, all I wanted to do was go home and be with my kids and my family! Well Chad took off with an interpreter to Guatemala City (about 2 hours away) for the entire day. Shopping in Antigua

I on the other hand went shopping with some of the friends in the group and was basically their "third wheel" but they were nice and let me tag along! Finally that night I got word from Chad that his leg was severly broken but no blood clots, we were good to fly home and have surgery in America (they wanted to do surgery on his leg right then and he said NO I want to go home!) What a trip! Seriously what amazing experiences we were blessed to have, I mean what are the chances of an American doctor sitting at the table next to us, knowing a surgeon from the area. We kept feeling blessing after blessing this entire trip. We were told that this experience would change our lives forever but I had no idea to what extent. I will be forever grateful for the blessings we experienced every leg of this expedition. Chad truly works for the best company that really has a big heart! What a choice opportunity! I hope that someday my children will be able to experience even a small piece of what we were able to see and do.The Service Expeditioners from Beneficial Financial Group