Guatemala Part Tres

And the moment you all (or at least my dad) have been waiting for. The conclusion of my Guatemala trip. I think we have made it to Monday of our trip. We set of in the morning to find Manos de Colores. Another after school program. We decided that a taxi would be a good idea. Ha! The taxi driver was so lost. He did stop a couple of times for directions and even called the place. We did finally find the place. Poor taxi driver. After the meeting with our British guide Bryan, we headed for Escuela de la Calle. I really liked this program and what they were doing for at risk kids. I actually had to translate at this one. Everywhere else we had been (and would go) had English speaking people.
This is one of the teachers at the school and a few of her students. The girls were so cute and so excited to get their picture taken.

After Escuela de la Calle we took a bus back into town and got some delicious lunch. I am not a horchata fan, but the horchata came with the meal so I decided to try it. It was SOOO good. It was like Christmas in my mouth. Delightful.
*Apparently it's perfectly normal for men to stand outside of random businesses with GIANT guns. What the heck?
Our last NGO was Nuevos Horizontes (New Horizons). This one didn't work at all with what we were doing since they don't like to work with teenagers (because of the demographic of the people they help) and they require a 6 week commitment. But I really liked this one as well and would like to go and volunteer there if I had 6 weeks to commit. They work with abused women and children in a shelter. I don't know why, but this one really pulled at my heart.
It was a long, but very successful day. We decided to head to Guatemala City early the next day so we could have time to explore there and maybe make it to the temple. The rest of Monday was fairly uneventful. I think we watched Baby Mamma to keep us up past 7. :)
* They have electric water heaters right on the shower head. You have to decrease the water pressure to get hot water. Luckily Joel explained this to us early on so we could understand the art of getting the right temperature of water.
Tuesday morning we were up and on our Greyhound bus heading for Guatemala City. It was nice to have some space and I slept for most of the trip. It was actually a lot of the same road we were on coming from Pana to Xela, but I did the curvy road much better the second time around.
After another fiasco with the taxi driver we arrived at our Hostel by the airport. We hadn't been there 10 minutes when Katie was called to the front desk because she had someone waiting for her. Her friend Marco had come to find her so we got ready and headed out to see Guatemala City with our own personal tour guide.
He took us to an authentic Guatemalan restaurant. I think that was the first Guatemalan food we had. It was a really nice restaurant and we had a nice time. After the restaurant they dropped me at the temple and then they were off for more sight seeing. Katie had already been to the temple and Jamie forgot her recommend so it was just me. :)

The temple was nice. Only the second time I've been in Spanish. When I was in the MTC in Spain and we went to the temple it was always in English because the missionaries made up the majority of temple patrons in our sessions. It was fun to chat with the temple workers from Utah and the Guatemalans. I love the culture of our church and how it doesn't matter where you are, it's the same. I was standing outside the temple waiting for Katie and Jamie to return to get me and started chatting with a sister standing there. First she asked if I was a missionary. I told her I wasn't but that I did serve a mission. Then she asked me if I was married. I told her no, and she "But you're so pretty!" hahahaha. Somethings don't change, no matter the country.
Sitting in the Celestial Room of the temple I was overwhelmed by a feeling of love. The love God has for all of his children. Here I was sitting in another country and he knew me. He knew the sister sitting next to me. He loves us both. He knows our weaknesses and our strengths and he wants us both to be very happy. I was a great way to finish my time in Guatemala.
Wednesday morning came and we were off to the airport. I had developed a sore throat by this time and was feeling very worn out. The trip was so fun, but I had no idea it would be so stressful being the one responsible for getting us around and talking with everyone. I loved it and would gladly do it again, but I was glad to be going home. Next time around will be better since I'll have an idea of where I am and what I'm doing.
Katie, Marc and their girls picked me up from the airport. We went to dinner to try and avoid the traffic rush into Utah County. I also got a table for my kitchen thanks to Camille for thinking of me and Marc and Katie for fitting it into their van.
My cold is leaving I think. Just a stuffy nose and a cough every once in a while, but I think I'll survive. What a great experience.

Camping, but not really

My friend Pam's ward had a camp-out and she invited me to go along, so Friday night we piled in the car with our sleeping bags and headed to Heber Valley Camp. To say we were roughing it would be far from the truth. The only thing that may have qualified this as camping was the fact that we were in a forested area, there was a lake, and we did have a campfire. Here's our "tent"

The bunk beds were wood and didn't have padding. I think the roughest part for the other girls in the cabin was having to listen to me cough half the night. :(

On Saturday they had a challenge course. You had to climb up a log pole, then cross the tight rope like expanse and then they clipped you into a zip-line and you zipped down. It was loads of fun.

After the zip-line we headed down to the lake. After waiting out the hail storm we climbed in and paddled around the lake. All in all it was a very nice camp-out.

Guatemala Part Dos

The second night in Panajachel we stayed in a Japanese Hostel. One nice thing about these hostels is that most of them had internet. Very important. Sunday morning we were up early and headed into town to church. The NGO we were looking at was founded my LDS members from Virginia and the coordinator, Joel, lives in Draper and comes down two weeks a month. He met up with us at church. After sacrament meeting Joel took us to see Casa de Sion. They have a feeding and education program working with the kids in the surrounding area. They also have a clinic that is used when medical teams come in.



After the tour (and a delicious Millet Burrito) Joel took us back into town to catch a bus to Chetzeltenango or Xela (pronounced Sheyla). It wasn't as squishy as the van from Antigua to Pana, but the road was so curvy. I got a bit car sick so that wasn't too fun. There was a lot of scenery though.
*There are pine trees in Guatemala. This was so shocking to me. I guess I just had in my head that it should be tropical jungle type stuff.
When we arrived in Xela we set out to find some food. What we found was a parade of an all girls school marching band and "flag twirlers".

The only thing we could find that was open to eat was McDonalds. Go figure. I never eat McDonalds unless I'm in a foreign country.


Well I'll finish sometime. Not much left, but I've got to get to my camping trip.

Guatemala Part Uno

So I got back yesterday and was going to blog last night, but I was completely wiped out and all I did was put some laundry in and watch tv for an hour before I wenhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gift to bed. But now I've had a good nights sleep and I'm so excited to recap the last 8 days of my life in Guatemala.
First of all let me explain why the trip. My friend from college, Jamie, and her friend Katie, are starting a business taking youth on humanitarian trips. You can get more info at humanitizeexpeditions.com

They are just starting and a good place to start is having NGO's to work with. Basically they want to support organizations that are already in existence. They chose Guatemala as their first country to explore with the possibility of other countries in the future. Now why did I have to go? Well neither Jamie nor Katie speak Spanish and it can be difficult to get around a country if you don't speak the language. Not impossible but definitely difficult so I went as the translator.
Day 1. Travel. Not too much fun. My cousin took me to the airport at 5 a.m. What a good cousin I have. Then I was on a plane to Dallas. In Dallas I had a 5 hour layover, but Jamie and Katie were already there(Their layovers in Dallas coming and going, were quite ridiculous). Then we were off to Guatemala. Our driver picked us up and then we headed to Antigua. Apparently rush hour in Guatemala city is from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. It was awful and I never EVER want to drive in Guatemala.
Antigua was a nice place. We stayed in the Villa Esthela Hostel. Thursday we took a Chicken Bus to Jocotenango to check out an NGO, ConstruCasa. Now this "Chicken Bus" is a school bus from the United States that has been painted and yes, there are chickens. I wish I had had my camera out when the lady walked by me in the bus carrying two chickens by their feet. It was awesome.

Another discovery in Antigua. The mystery alien fruit.


You actually peel off the red weirdness and eat the inside. It was very yummy and I did buy an entire bag in another city. I loved them and I still can't get over their weird exterior. They're called Liches if you want to google them or something.
We stayed at a different Hostel every night. Thursday night was the Black Cat Inn. Each Hostel had it's pros and cons, this one had an excellent breakfast. Too bad I didn't take a picture, lets just say I didn't really eat anything else for the rest of the day.
*Random things I learned about Guatemala on the trip (I'll throw these in as I go) You don't put toilet paper in the toilet you put it in the garbage.
Friday morning we took a van, (stuffed full of people) to Panajachel. It was a good thing we were the first people picked up so we could sit by each other and be in the front, even with that it was still very uncomfortable. The scenery was amazing as we dropped down into Pana. Lake Atitlan was beautiful. After 3 hours of being in that awful van, we arrived. After being scammed by the silly Tuk Tuk driver (picture of Tuk Tuk to be posted later. I think someone got one) we made it to our first Hostel of Pana. It was very nice. Katie and Jamie headed into town, but I was so dead tired and not hungry that I just stayed at the Hostel and read and watched TV.
Saturday was a very touristy day. We visited one NGO that wasn't really what they were looking for and other than that we walked around looking at all the artisan souvenirs, checking out the lake, trying to find transport for the next day, eating, and completely wearing ourselves out.
This is Lake Atitlan.

This is Katie chatting with some girls who were trying to sell her stuff.



I've got to get ready for work so more of Guatemala will be up later.

Josh Groban. Check.

I made a bucket list at the beginning of the year and I've been doing a pretty good job checking things off. High up on the list (at least in my mind) was go to a Josh Groban concert. I've wanted to go for a VERY LONG TIME, but it never works out for me. Last time he was in Salt Lake I was in Spain. That just doesn't work very well. At any rate he was here yesterday and I got to go! He didn't disappoint. That man can sing and how did I not know that he is so funny?



I said we went. I didn't say we were front row. It was still awesome.

In other news, I moved again. Story of my life! I actually moved back to where I was in June, but now we're in the basement apartment. We are still in need of a kitchen table and some serious decorations, but I'm excited to be back here!


Suggestions are welcome. :)

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Tabby

This weekend has been great. The semi-annual Tabby Fest was this weekend. I don't know why it appeals to me so much. It's pretty much the same every time and sometimes I don't even do very much, but it's still SO fun.
My sister was going to come for the summer one, since she attended the winter one for my birthday but that didn't work out. Then I was taking my friend Barbara and her two roommates and then a random guy who was also going. Nice and cozy in my car that seats 5 with everyone's stuff for the weekend. It worked out that one of the girls had to be back earlier so they drove separate and I just took two of the girls back with me. The drive there was fun. I had the random guy Mark with me and we had a nice chat and enjoyed the scenery.
Upon arrival we headed out on the 4-wheelers. I don't mind riding them, but I don't really like to be the driver so I was passenger behind Mark. Good thing he's tall and could block the wind well. Leaving so late it was a bit cold up in the forest on the mountain. I felt bad that neither of us had jackets and that he was cold too. On the way back to the farm we saw a huge moose. It was awesome. It was a really dark brown with a decent size rack. It was so cool.
After 4-wheeling we of course had the camp fire and the traditional karaoke. I don't know what I stayed up doing, but finally made it to bed at 2 a.m. only to have my body wake up at 7:30. Stupid internal clock. After a lengthy debate with myself I got out of bed and went for a run. It was cold and the altitude was not so fun, but it was a nice run.
Saturday we went to the pond and fed the fish, rode the paddle boat, ate, I rode the horses for a little bit but they were freaking out so that didn't last long and then I just sat and watched people. I really just love to observe people and listen to their conversations. It's very interesting. It's not like I'm trying to eavesdrop, well maybe it is, but I just like to see how people interact with each other and get to know them a little bit just by watching.
We took a different route home and it was beautiful! The girls were sleeping in the back but Mark was awake and chatty in the front. Making sure to point out all the barns for me, since I mentioned I like them. It was a nice drive until we got to Heber and there was a ridiculous detour because of a parade. 20 minutes later and one emergency bathroom stop and we were on our way to Provo.
I dropped everyone off, stopped at my house for 2 minutes and then headed back out to go to a mission reunion. One of the elders from Spain is in Utah visiting so we got everyone together to see him. It was SOOOO fun. I love seeing people from the mission. Again, I love to just watch them interact with each other. After some people had left we all went out to eat. It was just so fun to be with them! They are such fun people and it's hilarious to be with them. I love the gospel and how it brings people together! I fell like every phase of my life has been molded by the gospel. My friends from childhood were found in Primary, and that followed up through high school, with my closest friends being in my same ward. College was a church school, mission, and now the friends I have are found in my single's wards. My family is a forever family because of the gospel and I just love the gospel!!! It's so great to have the knowledge that our relationships are not temporal and that it is possible for all of us to return to live with our Father in Heaven and have these same friendships. I just love it and I'm so grateful for all the people God has blessed me with in my life.