Lake Atitlan (first 4 days)

8/24/15

      Today was boring.  We woke up at about 8am and made pancakes.

We then did school until about three and I worked on my blog and journal until dinner.  Afterwards we went out to eat and shortly after went to bed.

8/23/15

      This morning instead of being able to sleep in I had to get up early.  I woke up at 6:30am and took a quick shower before I did my devos.  For breakfast we had these cinnamon rolls that we had bought from this lady who was selling them in a basket on the street yesterday, I didn't want to get sick so I passed.  Afterwards we left and met up with this guy who ran a shuttling business, however the shuttle was full so he agreed to take us in his pickup truck.  So the six of us crammed into a 4 person area for the two hour drive to Chichicastenango (try saying that 5 times fast) market.  The market was massive and totally packed.  As people were walking through with their goods they didn't even care about the fact that you were walking there, they would just elbow you out of the way and not care one bit.  We then decided to do a guided tour, we found a tour guide and started at the Roman Catholic Church.

      The church that we toured was used as both a Mayan and Catholic Church, it had alters to the Mayan gods and also had pictures of the Catholic saints.  It was used in harmony in between them.  If you were Mayan then for you this was the temple of the sun god, it faced north, and you would come here to pray for good things and to make requests.  They also had another temple that faced south, this temple was used for evil things and black magic.  For example the Mayans don't believe in police officers, but because of them they can't physically harm someone, therefore they go to the temple, talk to the priest and use black magic to harm their enemy.  After learning about the different churches/temples we then went to a mask makers shop where we learned that there were two different kinds of Mayan masks the first one is just used to scare away evil spirits and protect you, and the second kind is worn in traditional dances.  Afterwards we went up to a Mayan alter which was on the top of this massive hill, we were all sore from our hike yesterday but we persevered anyway.  At the top there were two Mayan men making sacrifices, they were praying for good things and so they were sacrificing something sweet, brownies in this case.

 After this we went out for lunch, and then headed back to the pickup truck.  

      The road to Chichicastenango is one of those sketchy mountain roads that is full of potholes and if the driver makes one wrong move we all go off the edge of a cliff.  We were all praying on the way down because the driver's gas gauge was below empty and we still had two hours to go, also we weren't sure if the engine died if the brakes would work on the super steep road that we were going down.  Thankfully God kept us all safe and we made it safely.  When we got back to the house we were all hungry so we went to eat at this restaurant named Chile's, however we sat down and had no service for 15 minutes and when a menu did come it had about 5 things on it.  We left and went to the nextdoor restaurant called Nick's Place.  We all ordered pizza and it was delicious.  Afterwards we came back and went to bed.  

8/22/15

      Today I woke up at about 8:30am, I did my devo's and then I read for a while.  For breakfast we had this chocolate cake thing that we found at one of the local stores.  At about noon we decided that we were going to go to San Juan (one of the many towns on Lake Atitlan).  We went down to the docks to catch a boat and ended up finding this guy named Nicholas who spoke English and was a tour guide.  At San Juan we decided out of the blue that we were going to hike a mountain named the Indian Head.  

We got up to about 6500ft which was only halfway, but it was going to get dark soon and my sister, who had hiked the entire thing, was exausted.  After we got back down we walked to a weaving store where the workers were making cool patterns in vibrant colors.  We then crammed the six of us into one tuk tuk and took it back to San Pedros where we were staying.  Shortly after we went to a restaurant called Budda's Palace where I ordered a massive 1/2lb burger.  After this everyone besides Dad and I went back to the house.  Dad and I went went to go find an ATM as he was out of cash.  The first one didn't accept his card, the second one was out of cash and finally the third one that we found worked.  On the way back we missed the turn and ended up taking the scariest path that I have ever been on.  It was like this backalley kind of path but it was through cornstalks and a sort of garden.  There were stray dogs all over and we couldn't see a thing and were stumbling over rocks and roots as it was pitch black.  At points you could make out shacks and huts and I was expecting someone to come out with a shotgun at any moment.  After we made it through both Dad and I agreed that we were not going to go on that path again.  We then came back to the house and went to bed.

8/21/15

      Today I woke up at about 7:30am to finish packing, everyone else was still sleeping by the time I was done so I just went out to the ocean and layed in a hammock for about an hour.  After my family finished packing it was about 9am and we ate a quick breakfast.  Mom really wanted to take a photo by the ocean with all of our packs on and so we asked Ishmael (the owner of the El Paredon Surf House) to take a photo for us.  

      Shortly after it was time for us to leave, we said our goodbyes and headed to the shuttle.  Normally the shuttle is a van, however it was being used for something else, so the six of us crammed into a four person space in Ishmael's friend's jeep that he had managed to borrow.  It was roasting inside the tiny jeep, we only had one problem, the jeep wouldn't start.  The driver hopped out and jingled the wires connected to the battery, he discovered that the nut holding the wire to the battery was loose.  We didn't have a wrench though so we couldn't tighten it.  Finally we managed to get it started by having dad hold the wire while the driver started the car.  About 30 seconds later the car died again, it continued doing this the entire way. We stopped after about 5 minutes at the river.  We didn't know what we were doing here but we just went with it.  Ishmael had arranged the entire thing, but we thought that we were taking a direct shuttle to Lake Atitlan.  At the river we boarded a boat with our backpacks.  After about a 10 minute boat ride we made it to the other side of the river where we jumped on a shuttle.  We were on the shuttle for about two and a half hours and for the most part the roads were decent.  Both Dad and I have a painful case of swimmers ear so when we arrived Dad went to the hospital to get a prescription, while the rest of us went to meet Cynthia (the owner of the airbnb house that we are staying at.  Here is a view from the deck:

Besides breakfast we had not had anything to eat so we went to a restaurant right down the road where we had quesadillas and met up with Dad.  Afterwards we came back to the house and read for a bit.  We then went out dinner, and then went to bed.   

El Peredon

8/14/15

We are in El Peredon now, and have been having a great time.  We are staying in a casita right next to the ocean.  The waves are huge and very fun to surf.  The beaches are black sand beaches so they roast your feet.  This morning we did a turtle tour and saw some massive sea turtles.  We then came back to the surf camp and had breakfast.  Afterwards we did a math lesson, and then went on a mangrove tour which was super peaceful and quiet; the tour guide even caught a crab for us!!  After the tour was done we came back to the surf house again.  We asked the kitchen to cook the crab for us, it was delicious and tasted similar snow crab just half the size.  We then went surfing.  

After surfing we just played in the waves a bit, the waves were too rough for surfing so we just waded out into the water a ways and tried not to get trucked.  

We then left at about six to go to Carla's house.  Carla is the lady who works with La Chola Chuza, which is the organization that we are partnering with in El Peredon.  I taught a boy named Danny guitar,

and then we went out for dinner.  For dinner we went to one of the locals house's for BBQ chicken and it was surprisingly good although they didn't use BBQ sauce.  The power went out a few times because there was a huge thunderstorm going on, therefore, they insisted on having their son drive us home in his car.  His car didn't have seat-covers, cushions, or headlights, and we even had to wipe the fog from his windows.  It also stalled a few times, I will most likely not be complaining about my first car.  We then went to bed as we were all exausted.  

Church, Brunch, BBQ

August 9, 2015 

Today we went to church at 9am.  I took my first ever communion, and it was a great service.  Afterwards we went to this awesome brunch place up on the mountain where I had amazing shrimp tacos.  

We then came back to Julia's and just read for about 3 hours.  After the 3 hours was up we went to Pappy's BBQ where I had an amazing triple stacked burger. 

We then came back to Julia's, where we spent the rest of the night.  

Gardening Day 3

Today we had pancakes for breakfast.  Afterwards we walked to God's Child.  Kendall (the organizer at God's Child) informed us that three people could work with the babies and the rest could garden.  Since my brothers got to work with the babies yesterday, it was decided that my youngest brother could go because he had a rip on his hand and gardening would be more difficult for him along with me.  However, when my middle brother found out that he was actually going to have to work he was very upset, so I let him go with the babies.  Gardening was fine, we carried wheelbarrows full of dirt back and forth all day long.  We came back to Julia's for the quickest lunch ever, and then we rushed to the last day of spanish lessons.  Here is a photo with me and my teacher: 

Afterwards we hiked up the Cerro de la Cruz (hill of the cross).  It was an amazing view. 

We then came back to Julia's and had quesadillas for dinner.  

Gardening at God's Child

August 4, 2015 

Today we woke up and had amazing egg sandwiches for breakfast.  We then went to God's Child and learned that today we would be gardening.  Gardining was very long and killed your back.  We then came back to Julia's for lunch before going off to spanish lessons.  After spanish lessons we went out to dinner with the man who runs Young Life in Guatemala.  We had an awesome dinner and then came back to Julia's and actually got to bed at a decent time. 

 

Gardening day 2

August 5, 2015

Today we found out that God's Child needed some people to work with the babies and other people to garden.  Since I had already worked with the babies my two brothers and mom got to work with the babies today.  Much to my dissapointment dad and I got to garden again along with my sister who just played for most of the time, to be honest it was not all that fun but I made the best of it anyway.  We  carried a lot of dirt and planted a lot of flowers.  After we finished gardening, it was time to go home.  As we were talking about what we did mom mentioned that Nowemy (who I wrote about earlier) went home yesterday.  That was very exciting because that means that she is back to 100% health and is no longer malnourished/sick, at the same time though it was kind of sad because I would not get to see her again.  We then came back to Julia's for a 15 minute lunch before we were off to spanish lessons.  One of the reasons that we came on this trip was because we wanted to get away from all of our commitments and having to rush around, however, so far it has just been go go go.  Next week will be more relaxed though because we will not have spanish lessons or God's Child, which means that we will have our days completely free.  During our four hour spanish lesson my sister fell asleep. 

Afterwards we came back to Julia's at 5pm and just chilled/read until about 7 when we learned that Julia was throwing a fiesta (early birthday party) for my sister.  It was complete with a piñata and other people that we didn't know.  After destroying the piñata, Julia then served sandwiches, cake, chocolate covered bananas, and chocalate covered pineapple.  It was lots of fun.  Afterwards we all went to bed.

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Working with babies at God's Child

August 3, 2015 

Today we had some sort of a lemon cake for breakfast.  We then took a tuk tuk to God's Child because we had to carry big bags of supplies.  At God's Child we were informed that we would not be serving in the classrooms like we had hoped because the kids were testing all week.  Mom and I worked with the malnourished infants, while everyone else washed dishes.  Working with the babies was so much fun!!!  There was this one baby who was just all smiles, her name was Nowemy.

We then came back to Julia's for a quick lunch before we went to spanish lessons.  Spanish lessons were long, but they were also worth while.  We then went out for chips and guacamole.  And then we spent the rest of the night at Julia's.  

Hiking Pacaya

July 31, 2015
Today we woke up at about 7:30.  I then took the coldest shower of my life, and we had breakfast shortly after.  We walked again to God's Child, and learned that we would be serving vegetables to the mothers of the kids in the project.  God's Child is not an orphanage, it is a school where underprivileged kids can go to get an education.  The mothers were all so very happy and it was so much fun to be able to bless them in this way.  One woman's face just lit up in the biggest toothless grin ever when veggies were put into her basket.  One time my younger brother who is 11 was pulling up a basket of green leaves to get ready to serve, and the man in charge told him not to serve it because it was considered to be garbage so he put it back down and grabbed a new basket.  However, there was one lady who asked if she could have the "garbage" so the head man told us to give it to her.  She walked away looking happy as could be, but it made me so sad to think that she would have to ask for the garbage in order to feed her kids.  I could not even imagine what it could be like.  After we finished serving vegetables, we decided that we wanted to hike one of the nearby volcanos called Pacaya, and so we found a store that would guide you to the top.  It was about an hour and a half car ride there and about a two hour hike to the top.  We rented a horse for Samara.  We then had to fill out some sort of permission slip because it was a national park. That being done we started our climb up to the top.  There were a few spots with good view along the way.

However it was nothing compared to what the top looked like.

We then hiked down to the crater which was filled 100m deep with black lava rock.  We then found a vent and roasted marshmallows over it.  That was my first time having a lava marshmallow.  We then hiked back down and drove back to Antigua, where we had hamburgers for dinner.