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.
Im pretty sure that I would NOT eat that fruit... it looks like gillyweed.
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