One of the pieces of "advice" that we pass onto newlyweds is to continue to date each other. This was modeled and encouraged to us by some very close friends of ours a long time ago. They had a very consistent 'date night' every week.
When our kids were young and we had to pay for a babysitter, we did a very consistent every-other-week date night. Once the kids were old enough to stay by themselves, we changed it to every week. The kids looked forward to their night alone and if we ever missed it, they were the first to ask 'why'.
Date nights are a little bit more challenging in Guatemala. We live in a small, rural community with very few options of things to do. We used to call our time at market together every week our 'date night'. The fun and newness of market wore off very quickly. Now it is just something we have to do every week and is not even close to a real 'date night'!
The other day, my friend asked me if Don and I were getting enough time together. Our pastor asks us every month how our marriage is doing. All of this led to the idea of a 'getaway'! We told the kids that we had 6 months worth of date nights to make up and could we leave for 3 days??
We decided to go to Guatemala City. There are some more romantic places in Guatemala but we also needed some groceries so the practical side won out! We began the 5-hour drive to Guatemala City on Wednesday morning. I originally told the kids that the drive didn't 'count' as part of the date but it was actually such a blessing to have all of that time together in the car!
To be honest, the entire trip was a blessing. We found 2 movies that were in English (Spanish subtitles) and tried a new restaurant. We slept in and had some great time taking it slow in the morning over our coffee!
One of the theaters that we went to was in a part of Guatemala City that we had never been in before. We put the address in Google maps and then 'adjusted' the directions to the reality of driving in a city in the 3rd world! We found this quaint little shopping center and some SUPER clean bathrooms. Don said the movie was worth it just for the bathrooms!! ;)
Here is the theater - can you see the "Cinepolis" sign? It took us a little bit to find it. There was no other sign marking the entrance.
When we first arrived, there were two high school marching bands going down this street. We think the high balconies are apartments. It is almost like a little village within the city.
Beautiful sunset after the movie.
Starbucks! We did not stop in but will remember this for the future!
I tried to take a panoramic picture of the square. It doesn't really do it justice but it gives you a little bit of an idea.
It was fun exploring a new part of Guatemala City. It was a blessing to have 3 days together. It is always an adventure to drive to the City. We had a slight issue on the way home.
Thankfully for me, Don is both handsome AND handy!
At least we were stopped by this cute little waterfall!!
We both decided that we need to make this a regular occurrence. Seeing movies, drinking pop, laughing together and investing in our marriage! Definitely worth the 5 hour drive!! ;)
