Birth Mother Search Today (Continued)

We have Gabriella's birth mother's cedula number (kind of similar to a social security number) and hometown information, but that is it. All birth certificate related affairs in Guatemala are now handled by a central agency called RENAP. RENAP is new and went into effect while Gabriella's adoption was underway. There were still a few towns that were not under the new system while I was adopting Gabriella. Mixco (close to Guatemala City and far from El Estor), where Gabriella was born, was still not handled by RENAP while I was adopting Gabriella. I would assume all towns fall under RENAP now. But, I digress. So, Victor is currently in Gabriella's birth mother's hometown of El Estor and went to the RENAP office to look up her cedula number, find her birth certificate, and find her address. RENAP, of course, did not want to help Victor find the information. The RENAP worker wanted money to help, so Victor paid him. They also needed a typed letter to explain why we needed to get in contact with this person. Victor typed a letter with a "not so true" reason for his search and gave it to the RENAP worker. The RENAP worker finally looked up the cedula number and Gabriella's birth mother and birth grandparents do not have addresses listed. El Estor used to be very small and birth certificates typically did not list address. They used to go by "the second street after the park in the brown house." The area is apparently growing and now they use addresses. The RENAP worker suggested Victor go to two particular villages to check, so he is on his way there to look. There is also apparently a radio station where Victor is going to have announcements made, "searching for person (name), please meet in front of such and such Catholic Church." Victor is planning to spend about four more hours there and then head back for a long ride home. Guatemala is not a very safe place and Victor is "the new guy" in the area and everybody is watching him. He said that it is a pretty remote place and it looks like there is money in the area, people are driving nice cars and riding nice bikes, so he is curious where the money is coming from. My philosophy as of late has been, "If it is meant to happen, it will." So, I am handing this up to God and if it is meant to happen, it will. I will repost later with our findings, or lack thereof.