Guatemala--Family Stay

Wednesday May 23, 2007

We had breakfast at a very touristy restaurant.  Unfortunately, I don't know the name.  It had fabulous food.  And the hot chocolate?  To die for.

me and Jordan and our delicious hot chocolate

After breakfast we talked to a nurse, Juana Riquac.  She talked to us about how important education is.  She said, "If I had land or a house, I could sell that and have nothing but no one can take away an education."  We loved her.  And she was so cute.

me and Juana

Afterward, we went to the Ruth and Naomi Project where they teach young people different occupations and in return the young people weave and sew things to sell in the shop.

 Next up was the elementary school in the community of Chontala.  We were able to visit almost every clsssroom there.  It was so fun to see all the kids there.  They were so excited to see us.  On class room even had a song and dance prepared for us.

Singing and Dancing

We stayed in this small community for a "family stay."  We broke into small groups and stayed at one family's home.  Our "mom" was Anastacia. 

After dropping our things off we headed back up the mountain to play soccer with some local kids.  I'm not a soccer player and I have no idea what the rules really are but I had such a good time.

After the game

After soccer we walked back to the house and spent some time with the kids while the food was being prepared.  At one point, Felix asked us if we wanted to go see the animals but I somehow misunderstood that and responded with my best Spanish "Yes, let's eat now." to which he responded, "NO! We can't eat these animals."  I felt a little idiotic.  After that adventure, we went back inside and tried to help Anastacia and Tomasa make homemade tortillas.  They were horrible looking and very funny for the family.  They thought it was weird that we didn't know how to make them.

After dinner, we went to bed in one of the two rooms in the house.  The bed was a bunch of boards on an incline...not fun to sleep on.  The room was infested with giant bugs.

I know it doesn't look big but it was finger sized...for real guys.

After we got the bug situation under control (by squealing like little girls, gaining our composure and ninja skills to kill all bugs in the room, and spraying every surface & ourselves with bug spray) we tried to sleep.

Jordan spraying the room

It was a horrible night for sleeping.  Aside from the fact that we had 3 people in a 5 foot by 5 foot space we also had to deal with the fact that large bugs may be crawling all over us, a crazy rooster that insisted on crowing (cock-a-doodle-dooing?) every hour on the hour and we kept sliding down our inclined bed.  Ugh.  No sleep.

For as horrible an experience as it was, I think it's the best worst thing I never want to do again.

Guatemala--Leaving Casa San Jose

Tuesday May 22, 2007


Today was our last day at Casa San Jose.  We will be coming back toward the end of the trip.

View from our window at Casa San Jose

Girls in our room--Ashlee, Jaclynn, me, Jordan

We went to the University of San Carlos and spoke with some students.  After we talked we left for the highlands of Chichicastenango (how great is that name?).  We spent the night at the Popol Wuj Hotel.

Guatemala

Sunday May 20, 2007

I slept horribly last night but that happens in every new place I sleep.

Breakfast was at 7:30.  We ate scrambled eggs, black beans and cheese on homemade tortillas.

We walked through the market quickly but couldn't take any time there because we had a lot of do.  We spent time with a man named Hector who helps to rehabilitate gang members and help them to become productive members of society.

We ended the evening by playing silly getting to know you games.

Guatemala...Traveling

When I was in college, I had the opportunity to go to Guatemala from May 19-27, 2007 (yeah, it's been a while.)  I'm writing these posts so 1) I can remember it 2) Husband can hear about it (he always asks me but then I forget or he forgets and we never talk about it.) 3) Because it's awesome 4) What else should I do while I'm not doing blog worthy things and Husband is working late?

Saturday May 19, 2007

We left Utah at 12:55.  We arrived in Houston just before 5pm (about 4pm Utah time) and we left Houston at 7pm and arrived in Guatemala City at 9pm (They're in the same time zone as Utah.)

As we came in to land in the Guatemala City Airport I thought we were going to die.  The runway was thisclose to everything else...houses, roads, other planes, I think maybe some water...a lake, river, something (remember it's been over 4 years, some of the details are fuzzy.)  Landing was terrifying.  Plus it was really dark.  We had no idea which way was up.  The landing was super bumpy but we survived.

Sign in the Guatemala City Airport

Ashlee, Shula, Bailey, me, Mauri

Carolyn (science methods professor), Drew, Mauri, Amber, me, Shula, Jordan, Jennifer, Chase, Bailey, Boy that played soccer, lady in the nursing program (it's been a while, I've forgotten some names)

We stayed at Casa San Jose.  It was in a pretty sketchy neighborhood (most of Guatemala may be a sketchy neighborhood).  We were in Zone 1, the most dangerous part of Guatemala.  Good call, College. 

When we arrived, we unpacked then went to bed.  I was so excited to see the city in the daylight.