Home Sweet Home...Casa Dulce Casa!! :)

okay...sorry for not writing while on the trip but it was just too much fun going down to be stuck in the eternally slow internet cafe!! The group of 13 that went to Guatemala had an amazing time. We helped out at many different projects.

There was:

* the women's center- the Mayan culture has great emphasis on the honoring of women. It would be a great place for the women of the community to get together and exchange recipes, talks and knowledge. We painted, hauled dirt bags, chillsed rock, and the ever-infamous and popular activity of straightening nails!! :)

*new community- the church bought new land and are moving in the residents of the old finca (plantation). We help build houses and kitchens. We also went to the finca and played with the kids with the balls and toys we had.

*rebar- we help build many reinforcement bars for use in the construction of buildings and such. Elder was the main guy working there. He was awesome by all means!! : ) he gave Lisa an awesomely cool necklace!!

*reforestation- my favorite person Toribo was in charge here!! :) We learned why it was so important to conserve the environment becuase it helped protect the small town from mudslides and other extreme weather conditions. We also learned about the coffee spoon project, where the local kids would help make spoons made out of the tree barks. The kids would get some of the profits made from the spoons and the rest would go to fund the planting of more trees. We tried our hands at this spoon-making business.... : /..Brandon did an amazing job!! the others made a good attempt. Some spoons were hurt in the process unfortunately!!

*clinic/ doctors- some of us went to help out the doctors when they would set up the clinics in the local villages. It was a really cool experience. I helped with the reading glasses table. At frist, the line of people would laugh at anyone who would even try on these glasses. But as the time wore on, the people all wanted a pair of glasses, even if they didn't need one. We also got to see the doctors diagonse the patients with whatever their problem might be. I got to check a little girl's ear that had a lot of puss and stuff in it. VERY COOL!!

*school- some of the time, we were able to go to the local elementary school. We helped them learn and played with the kids during recess. It was cool to see how the kids were being taught and pass on the spanish we learned to them.

okay, okay.....we did do a lot of different stuff there. But no worries becuase we had an awesome group dynamic. :)

we met tono, byron (who is moving to Miami with his wife and kid because his wife, Michele, got a job at the University there), Father Greg, and others.

We tried many of the sweet resturants and stores in San Lucas. We traveled to the markets of Santiago and Panelejehal. We saw the Mayan ruins in another city. We saw the butterfly and moneky reserve of Panelejehal. Beautiful waterfalls!! :)

Some of us did climb the volcano. It took them 7 1/2 hours to climb up and about 6 hours to get down. I was really proud of them. It was an amazing challenge. It pretty much rained every single day we were down there... except the day before and kinda the day that the group climbed the volcano.

One of the most memorable moments for me was when we went to the finca (plantation) with toys for the little kids. We bought balls and stuff for the kids to play with but it started to rain as soon as we got there. But we still tried to make the best of it and made a foolof ourselves and let the kids watch us. : ) We didn't want them to get all wet so we just played with some of them and took pictures. We also brought coloring books and whatnot to give to the kids. It was an amazing experience because the kids were sooooo happy. As Michele said..."they were not forgotten"

I enjoyed the group dynamic of our group. : ) It was a bit rough at some points because someone was sick or some other reason, but we honestly became a family over the 3 weeks. We were with each other 24/7 and learned so much about each other. I was really into wanting to learn about each other and helping others in the group get the most of the experience. It has inspired me to really want to lead a trip in the winter.

Speaking Spanish with all the people of the mission and others of San Lucas was a HUGE highlight for me. There were a lot of American students to speak English to, but I loved speaking Spanish. The drivers, the local store owners, and others had so much to say about their lives and their land. I caught myself sometimes thinking in Spanish. That was a life-changing experience! :)

I want to thank I-i for allowing our group of 13 people to take this incredible adventure. I cannot believe I did not know about this sooner. It really is an experience that is unique and unforgettable.

mucho gusto- AMI :)