saturday.  july 4. 2015

juventa and i decided, we wanted to zipline in guatemala.  we got up early, left the boat docks at 9:00, and headed to the nature reserve.  we signed up for the 11:00 ziplining group, went to the butterfly pavilion while waiting, and then sat and hung out.  while hanging out, we noticed we had an orange wristband, and some had red.  we decided to chat with those red bandits, and found out they were ziplining the extreme course.  it was going to be another 130q,(about 16 dollars), and we decided, how often are we in guatemala ziplining?  we decided we were going to be dang adventurous, and changed our ziplining tour.  after getting suited up with all the people for the 11:00 group, we started the hike.  after about 20 minutes, the orange group had arrived at their place.  we kept hiking another 30-40 minutes…it was a pretty hard hike.  but we made it.  then we saw the course-couldn’t believe we were doing this!  it was amazing.  we hooked in, and flew over the rainforests, lake, and it was unbelievable!  by the time we hiked and did the course, we finally arrived back in pana about 3:00, and grabbed some food-we were starved!  then headed home, and chilled out for the evening.  it was such an awesome fun adventurous exciting daring courageous day!

friday.  july 3.  2015

waking up after a very busy day, we had all morning to just relax.  juventa taught the girls spoons, braided their hair, and we just hung out enjoying the views and visiting.  we then headed down at 1:00 to play with the village kids.  we separated boys and girls today, which seemed to go better than before.  i had bought more toys with our donation money, and juventa brought them from the states.  so we had a lot of new things to play with today, including a couple books in spanish…the giving tree, and if you give a mouse a cookie.   the kids love to color, especially the boys.  they will color for such a long time, it’s awesome!  it was a great day with the village kids today and with juventa.  it’s nice not only having a friend here with us, but someone who can speak spanish and help us communicate a little better!

thursday.  july 2.  2015

the jensen’s had us out to their place, and we got to see their awesome gardens!  they have started a non-profit, teaching the mayans how to garden, and build their own garden beds.  when they finish the classes and graduate, they get their own garden bed, and their own starters.  juventa was able to catch up to us after her long layover in mexico city over night, and catching an early flight to guatemala this morning.  it was great catching up, riding in the back of a truck going through the mountains of guatemala, chatting and catching up.   we helped the jensen’s put in three garden beds for three different families.  it’s pretty tough work!  hauling supplies through fields and up to houses, building the beds…the families were so excited and they knew exactly what to do and how to put everything together.  juventa is an avid gardener, so she helped a ton getting the seedlings planted and knew exactly where to put them.

we finished up after a few hours, and the jensens had us over for a delicious yummy lunch.  we then caught the shuttle with the door open for people to jump in and out-to solola, and then caught the chicken bus to pana.  we ran a few errands in pana, walked to the boat, caught the boat, and had quite a few kids at the dock welcome us, which was awesome.  they wanted to play, so we dropped off juventa’s stuff in the village casa, and headed to the lake.  we gave them sidewalk chalk to draw with, they didn’t quite understand what to do with it, but we kept showing them.  we then caught up with the swimmers and watched them play.  we finally headed up to our casa in the mountain, and finally made it about 5:30.  we enjoyed the evening hanging out on hammocks, and catching up on years past.   what an awesome, busy, fulfilling day.  so glad juventa finally made it after two days to get down here…what a trooper!

wednesday.  july 1.  2015

alex and nads still sick today.  the girls and i decided to go to pana in the afternoon, because we desperately needed food.  so the three of us shopped, got an empanada as our treat, and decided to get a tuk tuk to the boat, because we were all carrying a heavy load.  we saw tons of kids as we were heading through the village, and since we hadn’t played today with them today, we agreed.  we had 44 kids this afternoon!  it was crazy, but fun.  cam taught a dance to the kids, and then we taught them the hand slap game-which they love!  we had fun playing for a couple hours, and then finished our hike up to the house with the groceries.

we were so excited today to have my friend arrive this afternoon from california, juventa, but because of long customs lines, she missed her layover in mexico city, and had an added adventure to the beginning of her trip.  we will see her tomorrow!

tuesday.  june 30.  2015

kids weren’t feeling great today.  luciano came up this morning and helped make protein balls, you know…oats, honey, peanut butter, coconut, and of course, dark chocolate chips.  we played with kids for a little bit, minus alex.  luciano made popsicles, and came back up in the evening to share the treat he had made us.  it was a nice relaxing day.

monday.  june 29.  2015

every day, we know the kids are just happy playing.  we have done art projects with them, which they seemed to enjoy, but we don’t have a ton of supplies to do more, and i think they are pretty bored of them.  so in planning for today, we knew cupcakes(magdalenas in spanish) had to be involved.  and i had brought some belgian chocolate with me from the states, and knew there was going to have to be a ganache topping.  luciano had come up this morning, and he helped make the last of the cupcakes with nadia and i.  he even helped wash dishes-nice of him to help out!  we considered teaching the village kids manners…don’t hit and kick each other, don’t be mean, don’t make each other cry, don’t grab and take things from the girls…but we decided to have everyone go and pick up trash in the village again.  it was quite warm today too-so everyone was sweating.  we get to the casa in the village, and there are three boys…which isn’t usual, we usually have 20-30 kids.  after waiting about 15 minutes, i decided we should just go and get started.  kids in the street would see us and wanted to help, they would ask for a glove and bag, and pretty soon, we had 25 kids helping out.  we worked for probably 30 minutes, the kids dumping bags and bags of garbage into the cans along the street-it was awesome!

we headed back to the casa, had everyone wash their hands, and we gave them their cupcake.  this time, they didn’t throw their garbage on the ground, they put it in the basket.  yay!  small steps!  alex started london bridges with them, and they absolutely loved that!  everyone was just playing and having fun.  camden and i and nadia made flower headbands with the girls-they were all wearing them-it was so cute.  we started doing helium booth videos with the kids, and they just couldn’t stop laughing.  it’s hilarious! we were there for a few hours today-such a fun and fulfilling day.  we headed to hans for dinner, and home.

sunday.  june 28.  2015

we have to leave almost an hour early to get to church-with the hike, boat, and hike and all.  we got there a couple minutes late, but we didn’t miss the sacrament-so we were happy!  even though i don’t speak fluent spanish, i can pick up a few words here and there.  going to a country where you aren’t fluent, but you get a sense of people and feeling the spirit is actually quite pretty cool.  you have to listen with your heart, and the spirit.

the first sunday we were here, a baby kept fussing, and they were handing him around.  i asked during sacrament meeting using my translator if i could hold him.  what a cutey!  she has let us and jess when she was here, hold her baby for the other two hours of church.  so, he’s become my little church buddy.

the kelly’s who we have gotten to hang out with a couple times and have become instant friends with, are heading to the states today for a 5 month travel tour of the u.s.  we are sad to see them go, but so grateful our time here overlapped and we were able to meet them and hang out with them.  we said our good-bye’s, and we normally don’t shop on sunday, but since this trip is different than our normal life, and we don’t ever seem to have enough food, we found a restaurant to eat dinner at.  oh, for yummy meals.  we headed home, and enjoyed the beauty and relaxation of the rest of the sabbath day.

pic’s below…a simple home in jaibalito.  a film crew in pana, church, saying good-bye to friends, and our dusk view.

saturday.  june 27.  2015

oh, we are tired.  we usually don’t like just hanging out at the house, we like being out doing something.  but today, we laid around, read books, played games, slept, and just enjoyed the marvelous views.  it was a nice day-we don’t get many of these days here or in the states of just being together being un-plugged, too many distractions.  nothing but nature and yourself here-absolutely wonderous!

friday.  june 26.  2015

the kelly’s and their friends the von niederhausern’s and their friend stockton came out to jaibalito today.  what an awesome group of people!  the kids got in a few games before we headed down to the village to play with the village kids.  there were 20 of us, and about 20-30 village kids, so we headed to the school yard.  it was so dang warm, and we managed to get in a little tag, and luciano was begging to swim.  so we agreed, and headed to the docks.  it was so awesome!  the older kids and the dads decided to just go jump in-and hang with the ninos swimming and sitting on the dock.  the girls can’t swim-i guess because of their skirts.  and the boys just strip down to their undies-which girls can’t do.  so the moms sat with all the village girls cheering on those who were swimming.  then luciano comes around paddling a boat, and started bring people from one place to the other.

the private boat had showed up, so we all jumped on, landed in pana, and all 20 of us piled into the kelly’s truck and headed to the eagle’s nest orphanage.  we were there for a bit, and came back to pana.  the von’s introduced us to empanadas…uhhhh, holy cow, how delicious could fried bread with shredded chicken and sauce be?  amazing.  the girls and i caught a boat home so we wouldn’t get stuck in pana-and headed up to the house.  it was a great, adventurous, spontaneous, fun day.  it’s always so fun to run into people with the same desire to live abroad, and travel the world.  kindred spirits for sure.

the internet has been pretty sketchy, mostly down lately.  which means, we have been playing lots of games, and chatting, and spending great time together.  our shower needed batteries to get warm water, and we finally figured that out too.  i really enjoy this life here.

thursday.  june 25.  2015

luciano, the 14 year old boy who takes care of the home we live in-has been a great help.  don’t get me wrong, he’s sometimes quite mischievous and a little mean with teasing the girls, but overall, he has been such a fun friend, and a great blessing.  he helps translate our little spanish into cakchiquel, and helps communicate between all of us.  he takes care of the property in the village we play at also-so he makes sure the kids don’t ruin it or destroy it.  this morning, he came and hung out and played games and did silly apps with the girls.

well, every few days, we need groceries or supplies, so to pana we go!  hike down through the village, catch a boat, 15 minute boat ride to pana, and 15 minute walk to the nearest stores-it’s such great exercise!  we hit the fruit and vegetable market, bought alex an authentic guatemalan skirt and belt, looked in a few other shops, got everyone their hair-threaded, and headed home carrying our groceries and riding the boat home.

all the kiddos in the village started following us up through the streets of the village, so i agreed we could play and they all came to the casa we rented in the village to play at.  we played ball, soccer, jump rope, and i got out the new alphabet puzzle.  they sat for a couple hours working on the puzzle, and then new kids would come over and start it over.  it’s amazing how the little things-they really don’t have.  they love to learn, they are hard workers, and they are very smart kids.  what an awesome experience it is to be able to be here and meet these sweet kids.