Paola July Visit, Part 21 - Leaving Zoo/Marcela Blows Me Off

The parts of the zoo we saw are circled in black. As you can see, there is plenty of zoo left for the next sponsor who visits!
Posing in front of the fountain outside of the zoo.
Marie and Paola fall asleep in the truck

July Visit, Part 21 - Leaving Zoo/Marcela Blows Me Off

After the CIA presentation, we hurried to the zoo exit. There was a restaurant right there, so I offered to buy a late lunch for everybody. I hoped that Rosa would be hungry enough to "take the bait", but she said it was essential that she go straight home.

On second thought, Rosa was probably right to be in such a hurry. Now, I'm no expert on babies, but I'm pretty sure that when you take one out for the day you're s'posed to bring a diaper bag along. Rosa had nothing of the sort for Maria. I didn't smell anything, so I guess all was good.

During the truck ride back, everyone fell asleep (me included, briefly) except for Fernando (who was driving) and Tomasa.

Back at Paola's house, the good-bye hugs were a bit hurried. Rosa and the family needed to do something with bricks, and I'm sure Paola was ready for a nap!

I suppose to be fair, it was nearly 4pm by this time, but I felt like our day had been cut short and there was still time for more to happen. I suggested that we go somewhere and buy a take-out meal to bring back to the family. I felt guilty about not feeding them.

Marcela wasn't keen on that idea, so I didn't even ask about doing some clothes shopping for the girls at the open market outside the community center (I'll post pics of that in the next entry - I forgot them here). Of course, Marcela and the other staff still had to drive Mike and I to our hostel, then go all the way back to the main office. I don't think I knew at that time how far away the place was from us.

I had another full day left in Guadalajara, so I was hoping to work out a way to do something else CI-related. On the top of my list was a visit to Heather and/or Barbara's boys, Brayan and Miguel ... but Marcela said that would be impossible. Next, I thought maybe I could do a bit more shopping for Paola's family, then bring the gifts to the main office (like we had done in Honduras). Marcela gave me a card with the address on it - so I could MAIL gifts. She said the office was too far away for me to travel there by myself. She sort of implied that she was done with me, until my next visit to Mexico, lol.

So, Mike and I carried the gifts for Miguel and Brayan downstairs to the truck, we all hugged good-bye, and the day was over. After the CI staff left, Mike and I walked to downtown Guadalajara and ate our only restaurant meal of the trip - Chinese buffet food!