june 9.  2015

since the village children are in their school until 12:30, we decided to start our little classes at 1:00 at our casa in the village.   so since we didn’t have to be at the school until the afternoon, we thought we’d sleep in and take it easy.  but my clock is set to get up early now since we go to bed so early, and i’m up around 6:00am.  it was great-i got a lot done.  our food we bought at the market is so delicious-we made a smoothie with pineapple, papaya, mango, and wild berries.  all the fruits and vegetables in the picture below we bought for about $4.00!

we did some school, and layed out on the patio looking at the mountainside, and chilled out which was great, especially since we are all going through a sickness-surely from being in a 3rd world country.  hopefully our systems will kick in and get stronger and kick it.  we headed down to the school about 12:30 to set up, and luciano told kids to go get other kids, and before you knew it, we had a good sized group.  luciano loves our magic tricks we brought, and he was excited to help do part of the show.   we then invited the kids into the casa, and invited the girls to the table to do bracelets, and the boys to draw and color.  we were worried the boys wouldn’t be interested, but they said they wanted to color.  they colored for probably 40  minutes.  the girls walked over to the table, and we thought they would take turns using the loom we brought.  they start weaving the bands onto their fingers, and are done in about 5 minutes with a bracelet, it was amazing to watch.  no fighting, no arguing, just standing and getting it done, we were all flabbergasted.

we then took the kids outside to the yard after that, gave them balloons, and then we played red rover.  they got a kick out of the game they have never played.  it was great seeing them catch on and have fun playing.  i just wanted to squeeze the girls, they are so sweet.  for being 8 or 9, they of course are small.  they are probably the size of a 6 year old.  all the kids are so intelligent though.  it was a fun first day-they seemed excited to come back tomorrow.  leonardo-one of the boys-later saw jarom walking in the village and came over to him and gave him a high 5.  so awesome.

we parted ways with the village kids, and the price’s headed up to our house with us for dinner.   we ordered from hans(we can get a dinner for each family for about $8)-a great deal.  chicken and rice, soup, homemade bread.  and a rojo banana for dessert.

the young girl who cleans our house twice a week, veronica-who is 18, came and made tortillas with us tonight.  it took us a little bit to communicate, but we got it.  i was asking her what she does during the day.  the duties are definitely split between men and women in this culture.  she said she climbs the mountain every day and goes to cut wood and brings it down.  the mountain is very high, very steep, very beautiful, and she says people have died.  it is a beautiful mountain, but since they need wood every day to cook and wash clothes, it has to be done. (there is a picture below of camden and julia on the patio and the mountain in the background-you can see patches where they have cut down trees).  we are grateful to spend time with these great people, learn more about their culture and their lifestyle.  what an adventure, what an experience, what a blessing.  we hope our children never forget all they see and do and learn during this trip.

june 8.  2015

we were signed up to help with the dog clinic today, and got there at 8am.  then we were told they would start at 8:30…9:00, 9:30…and people in the village would just bring their dogs to get fixed throughout the day, and the kids could comfort dogs coming out of surgery.  well, one finally showed up, and we never saw the dog after the procedure.  while we were waiting, abyl and luciano(the boy who helps around our house and the house in the village for nathalie-who owns both homes), was cleaning up the yard.  we told him to have our kids help, and they planted and helped clean up branches and garbage.  he’s a very resourceful kid!  made two swings, put a ladder against the tree to help them climb, and made a see-saw by turning a table over and putting it on a cement block.  we stayed at the dog clinic today(same house we rented for classes) until 11:00.  we decided it was time to feed kids lunch.

we hiked up to our house, had lunch, sat and relaxed for an hour, and luciano wanted to take all the kids swimming in the lake.  i’m a little nervous about this, because we know what’s dumped into the lake, but everyone swims in it, and it’s ginormous, so we are hoping it’s cleaning itself, and we let the kids swim in it.  it got a bit choppy with the wind and waves coming in from boats, so we payed to let them swim at the vulcano hotel swimming pool(25Q-$3.25pp).  sounded great-it was a beautiful pool and hotel, and we just enjoyed the amazing views.

price’s headed home before the storms, and we headed home up the mountain.  luciano and his friend abyl were at our house working on heating our hot tub, but the rains came and that was nixed.   there’s a small building by the hot tub that luciano likes to work in doing crafts and projects, and him and abyl were hanging out up there.  we invited them in to play some games with the girls-and it was a lot of fun!  they loved the game- spot-it, and then the girls got out some of the magic trick stuff they brought, and they had so much fun watching and learning the tricks.  very intelligent boys-even though luciano stopped school at 7th grade, and won’t continue.  abyl has continued school, and is in 8th grade.

we are learning a lot of spanish from these kiddos-it’s been great.  luciano asked for a bread knife and bowl, and came back with freshly cut platanos rojos.  he had me try one, and they taste like our bananas back home.  so fun trying new things.  jarom made brownies, and we wrapped up game time and they headed home after about an hour and a half.

a couple of the girls have started not feeling great-and who knows what germ or bacteria is causing the issue-we planned on this happening.  gave everyone some flu herbs, and we hope they are strong enough to fight it.

tomorrow is our first day of classes with the kids.  as much as i like walking around the village saying “hola” and “buenos dias”, it’s too weird and difficult to just stop in front of somebody’s shack home and start visiting with them.  their homes are very simple, dirt floors, some with running water to a sink, some with no running water, maybe a table inside.  laundry tossed over the tin roof or tin wall separating them from their neighbors.  so we are excited to start getting to know and have fun with the kids where they are more on our turf…where we invite them in to play and do different activities.  i hope it goes well, and we can make more friends.  we are so grateful for luciano who has been our 14 year old buddy, interpreter, helper, and guide.

june 7.  2015

waking up to these views makes me feel like i never want to leave.  they are bigger than life, beautiful green rainforests, volcanoes, and the gorgeous lake.  i love the hike to our house.  once at the top, you see the whole village, and you are nestled between two sides of mountains.  i honestly don’t know how this house got built.  the outdoor bathroom that we all share is pretty awesome.  there is a roof, and one wall along the back, but both sides of the bathroom are open.  you sit on the potty looking out at a mountain side-pretty awesome.  showering with a view of the lake and volcanoes makes you feel so close to nature.  i love that we share a bathroom, and have to be close together.

this morning, we ate breakfast outside on the gorgeous patio, staring at the views.  we have noticed that we get up earlier, and go to bed earlier.  probably because we are walking and hiking so much, when the sun goes down around 7pm, we are exhausted.

we were up early today, so we were ready and on the dock a little after 8:00am to catch a boat to pana.  church started at 9:00, and waiting for a boat, 20 minute boat ride, and a 15 minute walk, we made it with a couple minutes to spare.  we got to church, and it was testimony meeting today.  sweet camden and joselyn were very brave and got up and bore their testimonies-so awesome!  i asked to hold someone’s adorable baby-and jess and i took care of him the whole rest of church.  we loved meeting new people, and found out two american families live down here, and they also homeschool.  we look forward to getting together with them!  our family loves to go to church, no matter where in the world we may be.  it’s so neat to meet other members, it’s an instant friendship.  the lessons(what we could understand) were great.  the spirit was felt, the kids loved their classes and the experience.

then onto the atitlan reserve to see what we didn’t see yesterday in the rain.  we saw butterflies, monkeys, and hiked a lot.  it was great.  then we were told about the fruit and vegetable market, and made our way there since our groceries are very sparse.  we then walked about 20 minutes down to the docks, and got our 20 minute boat ride.  doug talked to someone who knew someone who would shop and cook dinner, and it was ready when we got to their house-thank goodness, because i think we were all so exhausted.  we played a few rounds of phase 10, caught our boat, hiked through the village and up the mountain to our house, and sat and watched the sunset on the lake.  unbelievably gorgeous.

btw…that is 6 of us in a tuk tuk…three sitting, three on laps.  we are getting quite good at this!

june 6.  2015

we missed meeting the price’s at the dock today, so we ended up meeting them in panajachel.  our power went out, which i guess happens frequently, but it gets fixed pretty fast.  we met up with the price’s in pana, exchanged dollars for quetzales, ate lunch(we saw elders who had come into the restaurant to use the bathroom), and we thought we would go see the atitlan reserve today-with monkeys, butterflys, and suspension bridges.  well, it was a complete downpour-and luckily they said we could come back tomorrow.  we may try after church.

we asked in a store where to get art supplies, and this girl, anna, took us to another store with no description on the outside, and it ended up being fantastic for what we needed.  we were able to get art supplies for classes the price’s and us want to do with the village kids.  we look forward to starting this next week!

we can’t wait to start spending more time in the village, with the people, and the kids.  our kids have already loved playing with the kids they have met.  walking through this working mayan village is amazing.   they have so little.  everyone works so hard.  it’s a simple life.  is it better or worse…jess and i had a great discussion about this.  if they are happy, do they need more?  would ease of things make them happier-does it make us happier?  i don’t know.

p.s.-that is our house up the mountain…it’s a good hike!

june 5.  2015

waking up after being lulled to sleep from the downpour that happened all through the night was wonderful.  we all slept so good, and bugs are under control.  hardly see them anymore!  ok-we kill about 6 spiders the size of a half dollar a day-what will we do when jarom leaves-i guess i’ll have to gussy up and deal with it.

this morning, our girls did their math lessons today, and alex did some ACT studies.  it felt good to get a bit of school done.

this morning, veronica, 17, came and cleaned our house today.  She charges 10Q for an hour, or $1.30.  we are grateful to have someone clean, of course, but to also give work to those who want it.  these kids work hard, no complaining, smiles on their faces.  it was so nice to meet her.  we are told she can teach us how to make tortillas.

speaking with luciano is helping our spanish so much.  he was working with cruz, a 10 year old, making baskets out of newspaper and a glue gun.  our girls love hanging out and talking with him.  the price’s came over, and luciano took us on a walk-about to the stream in the jungle-absolutely beautiful.  then jess went down with the kids and luciano to the school to go play soccer on the field over there.  this is something we need to do a lot, since the boys love soccer.  we then met up in the middle of the village at hans’, and took the trail around the mountain over to the price’s.  yummy pancakes and eggs were made, and some rounds of phase 10 were played.  we heard a boat going by, and raced to the dock and luckily they picked us up-even though they were traveling the opposite direction than we were heading.  it was so nice, especially since it was getting too dark to walk the path around the mountain back to the village.

it’s amazing seeing the differences, the cultural differences-the women work all day collecting firewood, making food-especially tortillas, doing laundry and laying it on their hut homes to dry, and the children work right alongside.  we were told by nathalie-who owns the home we are renting- that they don’t want gringos to come in and change things.  nathalie even got people who would financially back getting the water clean for the village, and they didn’t like her changing their ways.  it would save a lot of kids who can die from the parasites that cause diarrhea, but they wouldn’t have it.  i think so far it’s been the best advice given-don’t think you’ll come in and change things and save the people.  they don’t want it.  so we will come in, and teach, play, and get to know these kids.  we hope our little village home we want to do lessons at will turn out to be a good experience for them and for us.  we are so grateful for this opportunity-spiders, bug bites, and amazing views and all.  sometimes i just want to take a baby out of their back slings and just hug on these sweet little kids.  i don’t think that would go over very well, one step at a time i guess.

here’s a video of the kids playing soccer with a few of the village boys…

june 4.  2015

waking up to this view was amazing!  i posted it in the last post, but seriously, the views are unbelievable.  since we went to bed about 8:45pm last night, we woke up about 7 and got going.  i showered in the outdoor shower that overlooks the village…sounds risk-ay, but it’s totally amazing being half out in nature. jarom found a small store in the village, and grabbed some cereal and powdered milk…the girls actually didn’t mind that.  we also got eggs from the local chickens.

we got ready, and the price’s hiked from their casa(a 20 minute hike) to our village.  we hiked down our mountain, and met with nathalie(our homeowner) who also has a small casa in the village.  she gave us a really great deal to rent that house for the 6 weeks, so we can have the village kids come there for us to do different schooling and fun activities with them.  total immersion for us and our kids, hanging with the village kids.  we’ll see how it goes, but we are excited to be able to interact with them more.  and doug will be able to show videos and teach the kids about taking care of their teeth.  while we were visiting with nathalie, the kids played in the large yard, playing badminton and other things.  luciano at one point needed a smaller stick, and ran and came back with his machete and just started chopping away, fixing what he needed to fix.  the girls were like-“oh, he just came back with a machete and started chopping stuff…it was so out of the ordinary to what we are used to, but it was hilarious!”

we stopped by hans’, saw some baby ducks, picked up a loaf of homemade bread, and headed to the docks to catch a boat to pana(20 minutes).  pana is the bigger town where there are banks, restaurants, and the grocery.  which is everything we needed.  we walked a lot through the town, ate a yummy meal, and grocery shopped.  it was awesome-they even had gluten free and “natural” products you can find in the u.s.  right outside when we were shopping-a small parade went by.  we also saw a girl making tortillas-which looked amazing.  we jumped back on the boat-and went to the price’s to hang out and check out their beautiful casa.  the kids played some soccer, we planned out our schedule, and relaxed for a bit.  since we are in the rainy season, we didn’t want to risk traveling in the downpour, but also didn’t want to pay for all of us to ride the boat again…so jarom and i and camden rode the boat with all our groceries, and the price’s and alex and madison and nadia hiked from their casa to ours…let me just say, i haven’t hiked it yet, but i know it isn’t super easy-so this is pretty impressive!  the kids in the village must hear when boats come to the dock, because three little boys, between the ages of 7-10, they look about 6 years old though, came, grabbed our boxes of groceries, threw them on their backs, and helped us all the way up to the house.  i guess it’s a good way to support the village and let the kids work for some money.

we had fun playing games during the rainstorm, ordered dinner from hans, and the price’s headed home.  we got ready for bed and watched a little of a movie.  everyone did so great-especially after having traveled for so long just yesterday.  luciano told cam he would teach her spanish if she taught him english.  he’s getting a little too comfortable with us because sometimes he laughs at us when we use the wrong words…he’s such a great kid.  jarom asked how much his machete cost…jarom is considering adding a machete to his carry-on.  luciano laughed and said, “why?”  like, that’s the weirdest question i’ve been asked.  funny.

june 2-3.  2015

we have decided, that just getting down to guatemala was an adventure all of it’s own!  from door to door, it was about 23 hours of travel!  our red eye flight from denver to florida was killer, and the five hour layover in florida was a bit rough-we all mostly tried to get some shut-eye.

we made it to guatemala city airport, and at first look, didn’t see our driver with our names written on a paper.  we worried for a minute, but then decided to just give him time, and then, there he was!  we stopped by walmart before taking the 3 hour drive to the highlands, and grabbed some food.   we got what was needed, and started the three hour drive through the very windy roads to the highlands, and down to our lake…lake atitlan.  torrential rain had started, because we are in the rainy season- and we were driving through it-it was a lot of fun.  once we reached panajachel, the major city on the lake, we unloaded the 9 pieces of luggage that both families had brought, paid the manager over the traveling arrangements, walked to the boat dock, and got us all in-in a covered boat which was awesome since it was still raining.  it was awe-inspiring…the huge mountains, volcanoes, and green water we tripped on in the boat for 20 minutes over to our little village, jaibalito.  olson’s were dropped off first, and the price’s dock was another minute away.  we could see our house lit up on the hill, lights glowing-just magnificent!  we stepped onto the dock, and luciano, the boy who works for the owner of our home, and 7 other kids, grabbed our luggage, threw it on their backs, and started the hike through the village and up to our home-all while it was still raining.  we see the mayan village for the first time, it is now dusk and there is a little light to see our way.  we make our way to the back of the village and continue through the rain forest, hiking and finding the 120 stone steps up a steep incline, to our home tucked away on the front of the face of the mountain.

meeting nathalie, the belgian homeowner and getting a tour was lovely.  we just love the home.  it’s perfect for us to stay and be close together, and simple.  the architecture is beautiful, the windows and views are awe-inspiring, and no dishwasher, in hopes my kids never complain about doing dishes again after this experience. we ordered dinner from hans-the german restaurant owner in the village, which came to about 100 quatzels, about $13 dollars-so pretty good deal.  plus, his homemade bread is absolutely delicious.  (we are allergic to gluten, and even completely gluten free at home, but we decided, when in rome, do as the romans do-so here we are.)  luciano, the 14 year old boy who works around the house and helps with anything we need, ran and got the food and brought it back up the hill to us-i think i need a luciano back home!

after a seamless, but long and tiring day, there came the hiccup.  since the lights had been on into the night for us to see up the walkway, it drew in about 100 moths, climbing under the sliding glass doors and making their way in.  then the spiders were visible, as big as 50 cent pieces-about 8 of them.  once we were able to get the kids settled down, and tell them it was ok to go outside to use the bathroom(it’s covered on top, but open on both ends-super cool-we finally made our way into bed after almost a whole day of travel.  then we hear this music and talking being blasted from a speaker from the village.  then  the continuous barking of many dogs was keeping us all up, along with the rooster crowing.  but we all finally fell asleep playing music in the house and masking the outside noises.  we wanted to get the full village experience, so we are.

we were just so grateful for safe travels and great friends to be on this adventure with, a lovely home, and a huge learning experience and learning curve on how to keep bugs out.   the price/olson kids were amazing the whole trip-just went along with whatever we were doing.  so awesome!

to sit atop our village and see these views are simply…unbelievable.

+++our girls are taking their own pic’s and posting on instagram…if you would like to follow, their names are:

traveling_gal16

happycam16

madison_e_olson13