saturday.  june 13.  2015

even though our tummies have been giving us a hard time, the price’s and us decided we needed to do something fun today-especially since we’ve been sick for a few days and doug is heading home tomorrow.  we hired a van to take us to iximche-an hour and a half drive to get there.  it was beautiful.  we hired a guide to tell us the history of the ruins.  so fascinating.  then our driver took us to such a great restaurant-which we needed-we’ve been missing some really good food.  we drove the hour and half back to pana, got out of the van, and joselyn tossed her cookies.  it was great timing.  hopefully we all can finish off having this bug.  we met quite a few americans on the boat ride, and it was great visiting and finding out where everyone is from.  such a fun day!

p.s.  doesn’t the tree below remind you of “the tree of life?”

friday.  june 12.  2015

yep-still sick.  today was our big chocolate waffle day with the village kids.  i was able to take a shower finally, but crawled back into bed.  jarom got up at 3:45 with alex and madison to get them ready, caught a private boat at the dock at 4:30, rode the 20 minutes to pana, and got them to the church building in pana so they could go on the youth temple trip to quatzeltenango.  they were so excited to go and see one of the temples down here.  jarom got them on a chicken bus with the rest of the youth, and they met others along the way and picked them up, and drove the hour and a half to get there.  they did baptisms and confirmations, and said the temple was muy grande and beautiful.  they had a huge lunch for both of them-only 20Q-$2.60-and started on the hour and a half ride home.  there were bus troubles and it wouldn’t start at one point, but they finally made it.  jarom took camden and nadia-caught the boat to pana to pick up alex and madison, and the downpour began.  it usually rains in the afternoons, but this was a complete downpour, you couldn’t see the lake, it was thundering.  beautiful to watch from the house, but to be in-they were drenched!  they walked from the church, caught the boat from pana to jaibalito, and hiked up to our house.  what an amazing experience though.  going to a temple in central america with mormons in guatemala and doing important work there.  making new friends, experiences they will never forget.

since jess and i were sick today, jarom and cam and nadia, and doug and their three kids went to the village casa to teach about dental, hand out toothbrushes and toothpaste, and cook waffles with nutella.  since there were only about 10 kids there, everyone got 3 waffles.  they loved them!  wish i could have been there.  they did a great job though!   i’m missing out-darn stomach bug.

thursday.  june 11.  2015

estamos enfermos.  we aren’t feeling great. we all have the runs and stomach cramps.  it’s gone through everyone, but jarom only had it half a day.  the rest of us it’s been stretching into a few days.

jarom and cam caught a boat into pana to grab some groceries, ran into the prices, they found a bigger grocery store together which is great!, and then caught the boat back home, and carried the groceries back up our mountain.  just the two of them.  what sweethearts.  the rest of us have been in bed.  hopefully this passes soon.  on the bright side, we can be sick in bed but have amazing views to look at.

june 10.  2015

quite a few of us have ucky stomachs and other stuff going on.  hopefully it passes within a day or 2.

this morning, cute luciano boated over to the price’s house, grabbed nick, boated back, and came up and got madison and camden.  they played and ran around the mountain together-luciano i think likes having buddies.  he’s constantly teaching us spanish and correcting me.

about 1:00-the kids made their way down the mountain to the casa in the village, and jarom and i went to hans to drop off a load of laundry.  on our way, we saw about 8-10 little girls playing on the sidewalk.  one little girl stepped over to me and asked if we were meeting at 1:00 today-and i said yes-one moment and we’ll head up.  they clapped and yelled in excitement, it was so awesome.   we left hans, came out, and they grabbed my hands and followed me up.  one little girl had a baby on her back.  she was probably 9 carrying around an 8 mos. old.  these kids amaze me.

we did modeling clay with all the girls and boys, and string bracelets with the girls.  even the littlest girl tied her own knot, held it in her mouth, and braided the strings all on her own.  i offered to tie her bracelet on her wrist, and then they all started lining up to get them on their wrist.  they do lines really well.   they made cute things with their clay, one boy made a very detailed boat and person inside it.  with the girls, we did duck duck goose, and taught them a couple songs, like head-shoulders-knees and toes in english, and the hoky poky.

we said good-bye, and both our families ate at Hans.  we ran into an american, and she lives down here and helps delivers babies.  she said she did labor and delivery for 25 years in the states, and has never seen such stronger women.  they are amazing.  they have dirt floors, some have concrete floors, and they just deliver in their little homes.  these women are tough as nails.  we’ve seen them carrying loads of wood on their heads, loads of concrete, babies while doing all their daily chores-i have to say, we are quite the sissies in the states.

our family headed up to get some rest since we aren’t feeling great.  the rain started about 1:30 today, and has kept raining on and off.   it’s so great to listen to, hike in, and enjoy almost every day.  it’s a blessing, since last year, their rainy season didn’t happen and lots of crops died.  we hit our first week mark yesterday.   hopefully we can keep making friends and doing positive things and not cause any waves in the community.  we have been very blessed having luciano, and the house in the village.  it’s all been very inspired.  we are grateful for this opportunity.

june 10.  2015

quite a few of us have ucky stomachs and other stuff going on.  hopefully it passes within a day or 2.

this morning, cute luciano boated over to the price’s house, grabbed nick, boated back, and came up and got madison and camden.  they played and ran around the mountain together-luciano i think likes having buddies.  he’s constantly teaching us spanish and correcting me.

about 1:00-the kids made their way down the mountain to the casa in the village, and jarom and i went to hans to drop off a load of laundry.  on our way, we saw about 8-10 little girls playing on the sidewalk.  one little girl stepped over to me and asked if we were meeting at 1:00 today-and i said yes-one moment and we’ll head up.  they clapped and yelled in excitement, it was so awesome.   we left hans, came out, and they grabbed my hands and followed me up.  one little girl had a baby on her back.  she was probably 9 carrying around an 8 mos. old.  these kids amaze me.

we did modeling clay with all the girls and boys, and string bracelets with the girls.  even the littlest girl tied her own knot, held it in her mouth, and braided the strings all on her own.  i offered to tie her bracelet on her wrist, and then they all started lining up to get them on their wrist.  they do lines really well.   they made cute things with their clay, one boy made a very detailed boat and person inside it.  with the girls, we did duck duck goose, and taught them a couple songs, like head-shoulders-knees and toes in english, and the hoky poky.

we said good-bye, and both our families ate at Hans.  we ran into an american, and she lives down here and helps delivers babies.  she said she did labor and delivery for 25 years in the states, and has never seen such stronger women.  they are amazing.  they have dirt floors, some have concrete floors, and they just deliver in their little homes.  these women are tough as nails.  we’ve seen them carrying loads of wood on their heads, loads of concrete, babies while doing all their daily chores-i have to say, we are quite the sissies in the states.

our family headed up to get some rest since we aren’t feeling great.  the rain started about 1:30 today, and has kept raining on and off.   it’s so great to listen to, hike in, and enjoy almost every day.  it’s a blessing, since last year, their rainy season didn’t happen and lots of crops died.  we hit our first week mark yesterday.   hopefully we can keep making friends and doing positive things and not cause any waves in the community.  we have been very blessed having luciano, and the house in the village.  it’s all been very inspired.  we are grateful for this.

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…