Hotel Antigua Casa Santo Domingo

July 27, 2005 - 

Hotel Antigua

Casa Santo Domingo...

We stayed at the most charming, quaint hotel when we were in Antigua. Casa Santo Domingo is an ancient convent turned into a hotel. The hallways are old glazed tiles and are lit by candle light at night. All of the decorations are incredible with antique benches, chairs and artifacts. The floral arrangements were amazing. It was here that we decided on Bowen's middle name.  As we were out on the grounds of the hotel enjoying the beauty of this amazing country and place, we wanted to keep a part of his heritage in his name and have him remember where he was born...Corey said, "What about Zacapa, the city he was born in"... what a great way for him to always remember where he was from. We all loved it...BOWEN ZACAPA!!!  I can't think of a more perfect place to spend our last day in Guatemala with Bowen Zacapa than the beautiful surroundings of the Casa Santo Domingo...

...This is one of my favorite pictures of all the

kids. We passed this bench on the way to

our room everytime we came and went

What handsome boys and beautiful girls...

The incredible floral arrangements...

On the grounds of the hotel...

Our last moments with Bowen...

All the kids in their Mayan slippers, I love

the chubby little knees...

We made a baby mobile for his nanny to hang

on his crib so that he could look at us and

hopefully remember our faces...

I felt like my heart would break at the thought of

leaving Bowen and going home without him.

The time that we spend with him in Guatemala

had been like a fairy tale; almost like a dream.

We didn't know how long it would be until we

could come back and bring him home.

We prayed it wouldn't be long. Even though

I knew this would be the way we would have

to end our trip, the thought of handing him to

his care-giver overwhelmed me and I was filled

with unbelievable sorrow and regret. I tried

to prepare myself and stay stong but found it

unbelievably difficult to say goodbye...