Ecuador Arrival

Where to even begin… Well, ECUADOR IS AWESOME! Kelsey and I left Portland early at 8:45am on Tuesday, September 18^th, flew into Houston, and then onto Quito. We were exhausted of course, but our Quito flight was incredible. The plane was mostly empty so we had three seats to ourselves, and even got a full meal! Once in Quito we passed through customs, got our bags (both had arrived!), and got in a taxi to head over to our hostel. The nice hostel attendant helped us drag our heavy bags to our back room (the elevation was killing us already), and we brushed our teeth and got in bed, knowing the alarm would be going off at 4:30am the next morning. We had scheduled our flight to Cuenca for 7am the next morning, which, at the time, seemed like a good idea… In retrospect, maybe it wasn’t the best plan. At 5am we met the hostel attendant in the lobby, got into our taxi, and were shuttled right back to the airport. Our flight to Cuenca went off without a hitch (except for having to pay $10 extra to check my backpack because it was too heavy… Oh well), and we arrived in Cuenca around 8am to find all of our bags had arrived there too. Though exhausted, we had planned to meet with other teachers at 10am at CEDEI (where we will be teaching English) to look for housing. So, faithfully, Kels and I showered and headed out at 9:30am. At CEDEI we met Emily, who ended up having appointments to look at two apartments that day. We went with Emily on her visits (only one landlord showed up though), and looked at a third place as well. After that it was lunch, nap, and then meeting up with other teachers that night for a beer and get-to-know-you. The next morning we met up with Emily again to check out the second place from the day before, and then saw an eight-bedroom house. After seeing the eight-bedroom house twice (we had visit the day before too), we decided it was what we wanted. So Emily, Kels, Mark (a friend from Ireland and the only boy in the house), and I said, “yes we’ll take it” without any formal documentation or deposits paid. We went out for a beer to celebrate, and went back to our hostel to collect our stuff and move in that day. Kels and I decided to share a room to save rent (okay, $80/month versus $110/month… Every penny counts here I guess!), with Emily and Mark on our floor, and three other girls on the upstairs floor. By 4pm we were all moving in, and went out to dinner that night to celebrate again. The next morning we had our first CEDEI orientation at 9am, where we met ALL the new teachers (there’s about 30 new teachers, 50 English teachers total at CEDEI) and got our first English teaching run-down and building tour. OVERWHELMED is pretty much all we were feeling, but little by little I think we will understand what we’re supposed to be doing here. After our long meeting, it was more beers, naptime, and then grocery shopping. We went to the mercado for the first time, a large covered building with stacks and stacks of fresh fruit and veggies, potatoes, and a really smelly meat section. We bought some veggies, some potatoes, got overwhelmed again but left satisfied after spending less than $5 on a whole bunch of good stuff. From there it was… Friday night! We ended up going out with our roommate Kat’s boyfriend and his friends, all locals and all Spanish-speaking. The next morning, Saturday, we made an adventure to the “real grocery store”, Supermaxi, where we could find packaged goods and more American-style products. Again, kind of overwhelming (and a half hour walk away), but once we were done and paid only $30 for a bunch of stuff, we were glad we had gone. The rest of Saturday was spent relaxing, shopping for random necessities, and then finished with a movie night interrupted several times by car alarms going off outside. Sunday we had another meeting for CEDEI, where we actually received our class assignments. It all became real, and at that point, OVERWHELMING again. I know teaching will make more sense once I’ve done it for a bit, but at this point I’m a little terrified. Plus I have all 101 classes except one long 301 class, so figuring out how to do ice breakers in English for people that have no previous English knowledge… Kind of difficult. Kels and I began lesson planning Sunday afternoon, and while it felt construed and time consuming, I know with more practice it will become easier and easier. After lesson planning and some dinner, I joined Isabela and Hannah, two other English teachers, at an evening church service. It was great to be in church in Spanish again, and was a very well planned and delivered sermon.

         On Monday, CLASSES STARTED! So I live in a house with five other new teachers, and Sunday evening we were all FREAKING OUT, and Monday evening we were all FREAKING OUT. Because most of us have never taught before, and because we were given little time to plan and little structure, this will definitely be a very foreign and stretching experience. 

ECUADOR!

I’m going to make this very short because I have to be at the airport at 6:45am tomorrow, but I LEAVE FOR ECUADOR TOMORROW!! I have gone through a roller coaster and a half of emotions about this trip, but right now the strongest emotion I am feeling is excitement; excitement to have another adventure, to travel with one of my best friends, Kelsey, to be immersed in another culture again, and to learn how to be a teacher. I have been so blessed in this life, and am so thankful for my parents and the wonderful people in my life that support me so much. Life is good and God is good, and while this was originally my blog spot for Guatemala, I am continuing on it because las puertas continuamente están abriendo (the doors are continually opening). I have wondered many times if this was what I was supposed to be doing with my life now, but with all the doors God has opened for me, and all the support I have received, I am going to let doubt go, and march forward with an optimistic attitude and a big smile on my face. Until Ecuador… Hasta luego. 

Short and Sweet: Home in Amerca

Well, I have been home from Guatemala for a week now, and I must admit, America is very nice; I miss my sweet children at Fundación Salvación so much, and my dear friend, Brooks, but central heating, carpet, and hot showers are all very enjoyable luxuries. My parents and I left Huehuetenango the day after Christmas, and after hugging and crying with my host family, Cony, and our sweet Tienda Family, we began a week and a half travel experience where we got to see many diverse and beautiful places in Guatemala; we traveled to Xela, the Fuentes Georginas natural hot springs, picturesque Lake Atitlán, European-like Antigua, lake-front Flores, and the mystic Mayan ruins of Tikal. It was a perfect vacation with little to no snags and amazing weather; it was difficult, though, to still being in Guatemala and not be with my children at Fundación. I have been dragging my feet on writing this blog, mostly because I don’t like writing, but I realized my experience would be incomplete without a reflection of returning home. So here is goes…

            First of all, we are SO blessed in America. I know everyone that goes away to a third world country realizes that, but I think the crucial step to having made a realization like that is to continue to remember that lesson as you become more and more integrated back into American culture. We really have it all here, and while I definitely realize there is still poverty in the Sates, from where I am sitting right now in middle class America, things look pretty good. I’ve realized how important it is to live each day with the kids of Fundación on my mind and in my heart, and to think, “Would the kids be proud to see and hear that this is how I am living?” Easier said than done with the constant barrage of consumerism and narcissism we have here, but a lesson I will not give up on.

            Another lesson learned from my time at Fundación is to just enjoy each day of life even more. It’s hard to spend time with such wonderful children and not love life, but coming back to the States I’m realizing there is a culture of one-ups-manship and pressure to constantly prove oneself, which creates a people far too stressed and far too inwardly focused. While I was on vacation with my parents, on New Years Eve to be exact, I received news that Sandra, the founder and director of the orphanage, had been killed in a car accident. Two days later, I also learned that a close friend of my roommates Lizzy and Lydia had been killed in a car accident. Life is too short and God wants too much joy for us to be so concerned with our outward appearances and reputations. Sandra was an incredible – albeit sometimes stern – person that lived her life in a way that would have made Jesus proud, and through her life and death myself and others that knew her have been taught so much.

            One other lesson that I was reminded of in Guatemala is to look for Jesus in everyone around us. In the kids at Fundación I saw Jesus every day, and I have been challenging myself now that I am back to see Jesus in everyone – in the homeless man on the street, in the rude cashier clerk, and in the drunk sorority girl. God intentionally created every last one of us, meaning that if we look hard enough, we really can see a little piece of God gleaming out of every person.

            So while it’s nice to be back to trashless streets and toilets that are guaranteed to flush daily (toilets that you CAN flush the toilet paper in, something that has proven to be my hardest reverse culture shock difficulty still), I still dearly miss Fundación Salvación and Guatemala. I have realized I met some of the most inspirational and kind people I have ever known in Guatemala, and enjoyed the best six months of my life hugging and kissing the children of Fundación, in an environment that signified they had been abandoned or abused in order to arrive there. Life is beautiful and blessed, and even through the toughest trials of our lives, the light will always push out the darkness better than more darkness (tribute to MLK Jr., since I did begin writing this on MLK Jr. Day). I will forever remember my time at Fundación, and I pray that it might inspire you all as well. God bless.     

My Last Week in Huehuetenango

            My last week in Huehue, and it certainly has been a bittersweet experience. We had a very full and wonderful week, with the last sad goodbye looming in the distance on Sunday. Monday we started out our week as usual with a morning at home and an afternoon at the orphanage. But instead of writing pen pal letters or playing with kids, we ended up spending three hours separating out gifts for the kids. Let me explain: Brooks and I received a very generous donation from the mother of one of the girls coming on the Pepperdine mission team this Spring Break. Although she had never met us, had never been to the orphanage, and her daughter had not even been to the orphanage yet, she was still touched when she heard about the orphanage through our Pen Pal Program, and donated three giant boxes chalk full of gifts for the kids. The gifts ranged from candy and bracelets to kites and soccer balls; it was incredible. So Monday afternoon, Mom, Brooks and I spent three hours going through the boxes and separating out gifts into bags for each child at the orphanage. Although it was a lot of work, it was actually pretty fun; it was fun to think about each individual child, realizing how well we know these 100 kids and that we could pick out what we thought each of them would like.

            Tuesday afternoon we had our second to last yoga class, attended by my mom, and our friends’ Emily and Marveli. Wednesday Brooks and I started our day by heading over to the orphanage to help the kids write some letters to their pen pals. Because it’s the holiday season, many pen pals have been sending Christmas gifts to the kids. It’s so wonderful to see their excitement, and Brooks and I had been taking videos and photos of them opening their presents to share that joy with their pen pals. It was actually one of my favorite, and last, pen pal writing sessions. That afternoon, after lunch, my mom and I headed over to the Halcones bus station to meet up with my dad, who had just finished his red eye flight and six-hour bus ride to meet us in Huehue. Needless to say, he was exhausted, but it was still great to see him. It was kind of my final signal that the end of my time in Huehue was coming. We all headed home, introduced him to the family, and had a relaxing afternoon while he napped away his sleepless hours. That evening my dad had an exciting welcome dinner with two of Otto’s cousins there (and drunk), and a power outage. Welcome to Guatemala, Dad.

            The next morning my mom had her last Spanish class, Brooks and I ran some errands for our party on Sunday, and around 12:30pm we all headed out to have lunch with Cony at Casa Blanca. Because Cony wasn’t going to be spending Christmas with us, we wanted to have a quasi-Christmas to spend some quality time with her. Cony is an incredible person with a beautiful spirit, and I am so lucky to have met her. Our lunch was good, with all of us sharing various breakfast dishes, and getting to chat with Cony and enjoy her bright spirit. After lunch we wandered to the city center and showed my dad the central park and the church, which took all of half an hour. That afternoon we went to the orphanage, the first time for my dad, of which my dad obviously took a liking to instantly. It has been great seeing the orphanage through my parents’ eyes, getting confirmation from them of how special Fundación is and why they understand how it captured my heart so quickly. After the orphanage (where dad met his pen pal, Meme, for the first time, and bonded with a little girl named Claudia who he said he was going to take home) we all headed over to yoga. I was hoping to have a well-attended yoga class, or at least to have our three good friends from the gym, Gina, Emily, and Marveli, there. Unfortunately, none of the above happened; we showed up, and had no one else attend our class. We had a quick yoga class just to show my dad what the classes were like, and then luckily had enough time to stop by the frame shop that was finishing up a project for us. Brooks and I had made three large collages with pictures of all of the kids at the orphanage and their pen pals, and had them framed for a great price of Q420 total (about $55). Thursday evening we picked them up, and they looked spectacular. We were so excited to hang them at the orphanage, and to have them available for the kids to constantly be reminded that there is someone out there that cares about each one of them individually. After picking up the frames we had dinner with our family, and then got to participate in a Catholic Christmas tradition with our family: A posada. A posada a procession of friends and family that is meant to be a representation of Joseph and Mary asking around for lodging before the birth of Christ, a very cool and fun tradition. We started at the house of one family, attended by neighbors as well as Cony, Otto, Yesi, Fancis (the French student), and Lucia, and after a short prayer our whole group left the house to create the procession. We carried a manger scene, various candle torches, and sang Christmas carols along the way. We were progressively joined by other people, and after walking through the neighborhood for about ten minutes, we ended up at the house of another family. Once outside, we began a sort of back and forth calling, where the people outside of the door would say something (asking for lodging like Mary and Joseph) and the people inside would say no for a while and then finally say yes. Once we were accepted, we all filed into the house, which had pine needles spread out on the living room and dining room floors, and many chairs and stools set out. The pastor said a few words, and then the good part began: the food. They passed out tamales and hot punch to everyone, the traditional Christmas foods in Guatemala. Unfortunately, we were all still full from dinner, but enjoyed splitting one tamale between the four of us. We were all tired and ready for bed by 9:30pm, but I can only imagine that the party continued late into the night.

            Friday morning we ran some more errands and finished a craft project for the orphanage, and then headed over to Fundación in the afternoon. Because my mom’s last bead party wasn’t exactly what she thought (it was fun, but highly populated by boys), we decided to have another bead party, this time with only girls. We headed over to the niñas room, set out the beads, and started calling the girls in. By the end we had about 20 girls beading with us, as well as some that let me paint their nails (surprisingly not as popular as I thought). After the beading party we had plans to have dinner with the orphanage staff, but were afraid our plans might have been forgotten since Sandra had not been in the orphanage all afternoon. After resolving that dinner wasn’t going to happen, and making our own plans to go out to dinner, we got a call from Sandra that she was on her way back to Huehue from Xela, and would be meeting us at the restaurant for dinner. Phew. We called a taxi, rounded together Migdalia, Cristi, and Juanita, the other orphanage employees, and headed out by 7pm. We ordered pizza for everyone, and enjoyed the great company and a much needed opportunity to say thank you to the wonderful ladies of Fundación Salvación. They all work so hard, and deserve so many thank-yous for what they do.

            The next morning, Christmas Eve, mom, dad and I headed over to the orphanage to try to cash in on every possible orphanage opportunity. We spent the morning playing with the kids, and then last minute decided to make macramé bracelets with some of the kids. Well, when you offer something to one kid at Fundación, eventually they are all going to be interested; we came up with a good system though, where kids would line up to get string from me, mom would teach them how to make the bracelets, and dad would hold the end for them as they worked. After a good hour of bracelet making, we headed home in a rush to have lunch with our family. That afternoon I took a nap, learned how to make tamales, and made a cheesecake. By 7pm we all had first dinner together, a combination of leftovers and a prepared potato puree, because the big dinner for Guatemalan Christmas comes at midnight. After dinner, we all put on our warm coats and walked together to the city center to see the main church decorated for Christmas; it was very crowded as a mass was letting out, and I imagine the church and city center were pretty full most of the evening. It was nice just strolling through the park though, feeling like you were sharing Christmas with more than just your family. After returning from the church, we started presents time. Lucia, my almost four-year-old host sister, was the Vana White of presents, passing them out to everyone with a Christmas hug, and obviously getting most excited when she found one of her own presents. We started opening presents at 11pm, and were still sitting around the tree and nativity opening presents at midnight, the official Christmas moment in Guatemala. Fireworks were being set off outside in all directions, some small and noisy, some giant and sparkling, all set off in probably an unsafe manner. We watched the fireworks for a few minutes, and then all headed back in for our midnight Christmas hug. We all hugged, and sat down to finish opening presents and eat grapes and candy-filled marshmallows. After that snack we all headed downstairs, and had second dinner of tamales and hot fruit punch, a dinner all of Guatemala was enjoying at that exact same time. It was certainly one of the most unique Christmases I have ever had, and definitely a memorable one.

            The next morning, Sunday, we all slept in after having been up until 1am the night before. We slowly wandered downstairs, and had a breakfast of leftover tamales. The rest of the morning passed by with packing and finishing touches to our Christmas party, and after a quick lunch at home, Brooks and I headed over to Fundación Salvación for my last time. Because it was my last day, Brooks and I were planning an elaborate Christmas party for the kids, complete with individualized crown awards, pizza, videos, presents, and hot chocolate with marshmallows and candy canes. We arrived around 2pm at the orphanage, and began getting everything ready for the party, with myself sneaking away to the baby room and playing with other kids periodically. By 4pm it was time for the despedida to start, which began with the portion organized by the orphanage. It began with a song by the Kinders, a rock band of some Parvulós and Escolares, and a dance by the Escolares and Pequeñas. It was all so sweet, and got my tears started early. After these performances my parents and I went to the front for a gift presentation and parting Bible verse reading, followed by a few tearful words from myself. After our moment up front, Estela, one of the older girls I was close with, sang a beautiful song, which was followed by a closing prayer. After this portion, Brooks and I started up our Christmas party. We began with crown awards for each of the children, which consisted of Pollo Campero crowns turned over, decorated with a specific award written for each kid, such as “best smile” or “the most likely to fall asleep while writing a pen pal letter” (which actually happened… Three times with Cente). Some were funny, some were sweet, but I think most of the kids really enjoyed the laugh and the personal recognition. After the crowns, our pizza miraculous arrived on time (our friend who was picking up the pizza and making our hot chocolate thought the party was the following day… So that presented a problem), and it was stuff-your-face time. Luckily, all of the kids were separated into tables by their groups, meaning we could just pass soda and pizza to the leaders of the group and have them distribute to their groups; this made what could have been a very chaotic moment much less stressful. After pizza (accompanied by American Christmas music, of course), Brooks and I presented our Pen Pal frames, and then passed out the boxes of gifts to every group leader. I think we were intending to give some sort of signal to start opening, but after waiting a couple of minutes without any signal, a beautiful moment of chaos ensued with kids unwrapping presents and stuffing their faces with the candy they found in their bags. After the kids had a chance to check out their presents, we found some of them over at the Pen Pal pictures, finding themselves and pointing out themselves and their pen pals to everyone. It was wonderful. I slipped away for a minute to the baby room to give Nila and Lesly their gifts, and watched Galilea play with the new blocks the baby room has received. After this small, chaotic break, Brooks and I started up the videos portion by showing the Xela trip and Thanksgiving videos we had made. The kids loved seeing themselves on screen, and I teared up again remembering all of the amazing things I have been able to do and the beautiful kids I have shared them with. Right after those videos ended, in perfect timing, Marveli showed up the hot chocolate, ready to serve. We poured out pitchers full for each table, and ran around sticking two marshmallows and a candy cane in each cup. Interestingly enough, Brooks and I had known a while back we wanted to do hot chocolate with candy canes, but didn’t have any luck finding them in the local grocery store, Paiz; miraculously, when we opened up the boxes of gifts on Monday, we found 125 large candy canes. Perfect. The kids loved the candy cane/marshmallow/hot chocolate combo, and again we did this all while blasting Christmas music; it just felt like the perfect Christmas to me. After handing out the hot chocolate we showed another video, a compilation of videos from various pen pals our friend Laura had put together. Each pen pal greeted their kid on screen, done in various levels of Spanish (some really funny, some really good). Again, I think the kids loved seeing their pen pals on screen and loved hearing their name and knowing that someone was thinking about them. After that video I was surprised by a fourth video; Brooks had made a video for my going away, a compilation of still photos and videos he had taken of the kids saying nice things about me. It was incredible, and reminded me again that I am so blessed to have a friend like Brooks, and an amazing place to have shared with him. When the video ended, Brooks called all the kids forward to mob me with hugs, and for a good five minutes I was surrounded, giving hugs left and right.

The night was perfect; it was the perfect way to say goodbye to Fundación, and although it was still painful, I know I will not soon forget the kids of Fundación Salvación; they will forever positively affect me. After the hug mob and clean up, I began my goodbye rounds, giving hugs and kisses in every room. Some kids began crying along with me, reminded me that my time at Fundación was not in vain. After the hundreds of sad goodbyes, Marveli and her mom, Teresa, gave us rides home, and one last hug and goodbye.

The Good Life

I didn’t realize until I started writing it all out that we actually had a very busy and exciting week. We saw lots of people, and I got to watch Brooks take two very important steps in his life, including his baptism and getting his first tattoo. And for my second to last week in Huehue, I wouldn’t have wanted it any other way; my days here are numbered and I am ready to continue to enjoy them to the fullest. 

Monday we finished our San Cristobal de las Casas trip with a seven-hour bus ride back to Huehue, heading over to the orphanage in the afternoon (like I’ve said before, just leaving for a weekend makes me miss the kids). Tuesday evening we enjoyed breaking a piñata with our host family, which conveniently occurred when we were already Skyping my sister. We brought the computer down with us so she could see the festivities, and a precious 3-year-old neighbor boy, José Pablo, was completely mesmerized by my computer and Skyping with my sister. It was hilarious. 

Wednesday was a beautiful and fun day at the orphanage, where we had a party to baptize Brooks. Brooks had left early in the morning to go to the orphanage, and filled up 400 water balloons and set up a large inflatable pool we borrowed from our neighbors. Mom and I came over at 10:30am for the baptism ceremony, where Brooks spoke a few words, Hermana Sandra prayed, myself and some of the older kids read Bible verses for Brooks, and then the defining moment, when Pastor Ubaldo and a friend of his baptized Brooks in the pool. It was a beautiful ceremony, and then what made the day even better was our announcement after the baptism that everyone needed to change their clothes, because we were going to have a massive water fight. The weather all week had been cold and overcast, but on Tuesday the sun shone brightly, as if God was smiling on Brooks’ baptism and us. We pulled out all the balloons, and Brooks yelled “1, 2, 3, go” and pure chaos ensured. All the little kids and some of the older kids jumped into the pool, water balloons were being thrown at all angles, pastors and volunteers were being thrown into the pool, and once all the water balloons were gone, the kids started grabbing buckets and filling them with pool water to throw at others. It was incredible. After the intense water fight, everyone changed again, and we enjoyed popsicles Brooks had bought to share; the kids loved it. After popsicles (dessert before the meal, right?), all of the lunch tables were set outside in a long row, and we enjoyed a lunch of chicken, rice, tamales, and lemonade together. Needless to say, it was a fun and beautiful day, probably one of the best we have ever had at Fundación (which is saying a lot, because we’ve had some pretty incredible days there).

Thursday morning we invited our tienda friends out to coffee with us, which changed from coffee to ice cream pretty quickly and desirably. Our friend Leidy, one of her sisters, her sisters’ two kids Valeska and Greta, and the mom/grandma joined us. This family has been so kind and generous with us during our time in Guatemala, giving us free ice cream and always greeting us with kind words and friendly conversation, we were so glad to finally have the chance to be generous with them in return. We all went to Pops in Paiz, ordering four banana splits, two ice cream sundaes, and one Coca-Cola float. We enjoyed conversation with them, and smiled realizing we were so blessed to know this family. Friday morning we had a repeat of good company and good food when we went out to eat crepes with our friends Guisela and Ubaldo. We spent pretty much the whole morning talking about the orphanage, and again I felt like I was basking in the glow of enjoying the company of incredible people.

Saturday our day started with a bang when I joined Brooks to get his tattoo. He had met a guy through the man that runs the pharmacy at the orphanage, Wilder, and decided it was time for him to get his tattoo. He had asked one of the older boys at the orphanage, Jhony, to design something for him, and he came back with a beautiful cross and verse tattoo. Saturday morning Brooks and I walked over to the orphanage, got Wilder and Jhony, and walked over to the house of the man that would be doing the tattoo. This tattoo experience was so Guatemalan it’s not even funny, but I think Brooks wouldn’t have had it any other way. We met his wife first, who told us to wait because he was still working on a car at his second job, a car wash. We chatted with the wife a bit, who was very nice, and who we learned was selling ceviche out of the back of her car and asked if we wanted to buy any. From there we followed the man into his house (a few minutes late of course), and walked to an upstairs balcony that had nice couches set out on it. He already had Brooks’ design, and had shrunk it down a bit. After looking at the design again, he then started setting up his “shop”, which consisted of pulling out the tattoo gun, needles and ink, and setting it all up on his coffee table. He stenciled Brooks’ tattoo on, and the whole tattooing process took place on his balcony, with Brooks laying down on one of the couches. It took about two hours in total, but the finished product looked great. It was a tattoo experience to remember. From there we headed home for lunch, and afterwards my mom and I left to wander the city center of Huehue. We went to the outdoor market and checked out some Christmas stalls, but unfortunately there’s not too much to see in the Huehue city center; in an hour or so, we saw most of it. At 4pm we joined Brooks and Cony in the central park where they were having a grand opening for the park, complete with a mariachi band and many city officials. We hung around for an hour, but after nothing happened an hour after the scheduled time, we decided to skip out and get some dinner. Cony joined us for dinner, and we had amazing pizza at a place called Lakaf (finally seeing the nicer restaurants of Huehue). After dinner we said goodbye to Cony, and walked on to the orphanage; they were just finished up with a visit when we arrived (their third visit of the day, what? All complete with lots of cake and lots of candy). After enjoying the end of the visit with them, we decided to start the beading party we had planned. My mom brought tons of beads from the States, donated by her beading group, and she thought it would be fun to have a quiet beading party with some of the girls. Well, this of course in not what we got. Most of the older girls had left for church that evening, leaving us with some younger girls and a lot of boys. Although we decided to open it up to some boys, we didn’t realize how that translated to everyone else until mom and I found ourselves in a room full of 25 loud 5 to 12 year old boys. We had Brooks take away and occupy the youngest boys, and some girls started trickling in to balance out the numbers a bit. Although it was hectic and loud, we had no idea how much the boys (and the girls too) would love beading. They ended up making some very beautiful bracelets and necklaces, with really cool designs and tiny, meticulous beads. Mom and I were utterly impressed, and so content with how it all turned out. Many even asked if we would be doing it again the next day. After cleaning up from beading (we surprisingly didn’t find too many beads on the floor), mom and I headed over to the Pequeñas room for the night to sleep.

Sunday we awoke at the orphanage, went home for breakfast, and rested a bit before heading out again. My mom wanted to see Paiz, the second largest shopping center in Huehue, which is really just a grocery store in a mall-like building surrounded by small, somewhat deserted shops. I had decided to get my haircut there, more out of curiosity than need (and because it cost Q40, around $5). I was amazed to walk into one of the nicer looking salons, to realize I was the only customer, and to be done with my cut and wash in about seven minutes. She did a pretty good job actually, and it was definitely worthy of the experience and the $5. After shopping around in Paiz, we went back home for lunch. We took naps, and while I was sleeping Brooks worked on our massive Pen Pal collage project (more to come on that in a later blog). We spent most of the afternoon doing mundane things and making sure the Pen Pal collage looked good, but it was an enjoyable afternoon.

With the clock ticking down on my departure, part of me wishes I could just fast forward to next Monday, past all of the sad goodbyes. Although this next week is going to be a good one, with my dad coming, Christmas with our family, and our Fundación Christmas party coming up, it doesn’t change the fact that I hate goodbyes. This is simply weird, leaving, and I wish I had more profound things to say about it; at this point, though, I am mostly in shock that December came so soon and that my six months passed by so quickly. Luckily, I’m almost positive I will be back again, meaning the “adios” came be an “hasta luego”, a much easier end to such an amazing experience. 

San Cristobal de las Casas

This weekend my mom, Brooks and I enjoyed a relaxing break from Huehue life with a trip to San Cristobal de las Casas. Brooks and I had met an American woman living in San Cristobal months before at the Spanish School, and her invitation to stay in her house was coupled perfectly with my mom’s arrival to Huehue, and Brooks’ need to renew his Guatemalan visa. My mom had only arrived the Wednesday before (actually the day of the “Burning of the Devil” in Guatemala, a dangerous yet fun holiday where people haphazardly set off fireworks, burn devil piñatas or dolls, and eat tamales), but we decided to keep her trip exciting with a mini-vacation to Mexico. Friday morning at 9:30am we were greeted by our taxi, which took us to a gas station to wait for a shuttle bus to San Cristobal. Because we didn’t want to deal with the hassle of chicken bus-taxi-walking-taxi-chicken bus, we splurged for the fancy shuttle option, which was a great choice. The shuttle found us about an hour late at the gas station, and cruised onto the boarder where we passed through various passport checkpoints. After the checkpoints we got on another shuttle on the Mexico side, and headed onto San Cristobal, only stopping once for a delicious, late lunch. Once in San Cristobal, Brooks and I were amazed by our surroundings, and felt we had been transported much further away from Guatemala than Mexico. San Cristobal greeted us with clean, cobblestone streets, nice stores and restaurants, and less general chaos than we were used to seeing in Guatemala. We quickly found Alison’s house, said hello to her and her husband, and headed out to the “andador” (a walkway with lots of shops and restaurants) for an incredible Italian dinner. Brooks and I soon realized this was going to a great gastronomic weekend.

            The next morning we awoke around 7:30am, and were unfortunately more awake than the rest of the town when we went searching for our breakfast place. We settled for the only open restaurant, which actually offered an amazing, and delicious, selection. From there we wandered to the central park, and then onto Templo Santa Domingo, where an open-air market was set out in front. We spent hours wandering between the stalls (poor Brooks. He was a trooper, but I know it wasn’t his first pick of activities), looking at colorful blouses, scarves, and pottery. From there we grabbed a snack of jicama on a stick (dipped in chili and strawberry powder – very interesting but very good), got some lunch for Brooks, and headed back to our little apartment to eat lunch (leftovers for mom and I) and take a nap. Alison’s second floor, our accommodations for the weekend, was a precious and pristine little apartment with two rooms, three beds, a bathroom, coffee maker, fridge, microwave, and TV. Brooks and I were in American-luxury heaven. After our naps, mom and I decided to head out again to visit Templo de Guadalupe while Brooks rested a bit more. The weekend of our visit was actually the time when all of Mexico (and some of Guatemala too) was celebrating the Virgen de Guadalupe (a darker version of the Virgin Mary), and it was the perfect time to be in San Cristobal. Groups from all over Mexico had been making pilgrimages all week to San Cristobal, running in relay teams passing a lit torch. Up at the church (which rose above the city on a large set of stairs) mom and I witnessed the groups finally arriving to the virgin, entering the church crawling on their knees, and singing songs to the virgin. All leading up the church the streets had a carnival-like atmosphere with games, rides, and food booths. It was a really cool site to see. That evening we enjoyed a delicious dinner at a place called “TierrAdentro”, a restaurant with hippie vibes, and came home to watch a movie on our TV (the first movie in a long time Brooks and I had watched not through a bad internet connection).

            The next morning we planned to hit the andador a bit later to have breakfast at a bagel shop, but were disappointed to discover the staff hadn’t shown up yet and we therefore could not eat breakfast there. We returned to our trusted breakfast spot from the day before, and enjoyed another great meal. From breakfast we took a walk to Templo de San Cristobal, set high on a hill up a series of switchback stairs. When we arrived at the church, we learned that it was actually the church of the drivers, such as taxi and bus drivers, which was one of the most unique dedications I have ever heard of for a church. After enjoying the view from up top, we descended the stairs again and decided to head out on an adventure to an orchid garden we had read about. Although the guidebook said it was only a mile outside of the city center, after 20 minutes and many suspicions of being lost, we realized the guidebook was wrong. We found ourselves far outside of town, walking along a busy road that reminded Brooks and I a bit of our experience walking along a highway in Venice (a long, but funny, story). Eventually we came upon the orchid garden, which was actually a hippie utopian dream project. We met the owner and creator of the orchid garden, an older hippie from the States, who gave us a private tour of the property and taught us more about plants than I think I ever needed to know. All of the plants on the property had been rescued from forests that were being clear-cut, and had been transplanted to create a large, lush garden. After our tour we entered the prize of the land, a cool and creatively constructed greenhouse, filled with thousands of plants and a moist jungle feel, complete with piped in jungle sounds music. After seeing the greenhouse we decided to take the hiking trail from the property, which we only intended to see for a bit, and then ended up continuing on for the full 2.2 kilometers. After our hike we were tired and hungry, and decided to catch a taxi to the finally open bagel café instead of walking the whole way back into town. We enjoyed some INCREDIBLE bagels (seriously. I think it was because I was so hungry, but it was absolutely delicious), and then walked home for a nap and showers before dinner. We took Alison and her husband, Enrique, out for dinner that night as a thank-you, and enjoyed nice conversation and amazing Italian food yet again. After dinner we walked home with Alison and Enrique, and were blessed with some perseverance on their part, calling many travel agencies in San Cristobal to figure out a) what shuttle company we were going home with, and b) if they knew where to pick us up. It turns out they didn’t know where to pick us up, and it was a good thing we had called.

            The next morning we took the shuttle bright and early at 7am, and enjoyed a peaceful and uneventful shuttle ride home (aside from the many runners on the road on their way to San Cristobal, but I slept through all of that). With only a week and a half left in Huehue, I am experiencing very mixed emotions yet again, where part of me is panicking about having to say goodbye to Huehue and the kids at Fundación Salvación, and the other part of me is ready to move onto other adventures. Only time will tell how I actually end up processing these last days here. I have had an incredibly blessed time here in Huehue, and it has all almost been too good to be true. This experience has been nothing short of beautiful, inspiring, and life changing, and I know I’m a better person because of it. I will miss the amazing people and the incredible children I have met here, but thank you Lord that I have had this experience to miss. 

The Gift of Beauty: Natural and Relational

After relaxing on Sunday from our crazy Thanksgiving week, Brooks and I found ourselves busy again with catching up with our pen pal program and our social lives here in Huehue. On Thursday we had pizza with our friend Gaby, the girl that works at the front desk at our gym, and enjoyed getting to know her even more. By Friday it was time to leave town again to conquer the climb up Tajumulco over the weekend.

            We were planning to leave for Xela early Friday morning in order to have time to visit Xocomil again, the amazing water park an hour from Xela. But after I realized on Thursday that I was still a little sick, and that going to a water park would not help that, we decided to stay home and head over to Xela Friday afternoon. We left right after lunch on Friday, catching a 2pm bus to Xela. Unfortunately the ride was slow and with an unknown transfer in the middle, meaning we arrived later than intended in Xela. We rushed to catch a micro to the city center, and then walked quickly to Casa Argentina, where we were expected for a Quetzaltrekkers meeting. We came too late for the meeting, but fortunately because Quetzeltrekkers is so relaxed, they gave us a private meeting and set us up with the right gear for the trek. We checked into a room, and called our friend Doris to meet us for dinner at El Sabor de la India, one of our favorite restaurants in Xela. Doris met us at the restaurant with her daughter and her daughter’s friend, and after a delicious dinner we made a drive to the Agua Viva campus. Agua Viva is a missionary group based out of Xela with an extensive campus of missionary housing, a school, and soon to be an orphanage. We went over to Agua Viva because Brooks is currently working on a dream to build a school at the orphanage, and knowing that Agua Viva has a school on their campus for missionary children, we took advantage of the opportunity to meet with some of Doris’ friends that help run the school. After a sleepy meeting (it was late and almost everyone was exhausted), Doris drove us back to Casa Argentina so we could get some sleep before our early morning wake up call.           

At 5:45am the next day we met up with our trekking group, which we had actually not met before because of our M.I.A. status during the meeting. Our group consisted of three guides – Patrick and Rachel, who both attended Willamette University in Oregon, and Santi, our Guatemalan guide from our last trek – as well as three other trekkers and ourselves, Kate from Australia, Kevin from San Luis Obispo, and Lisa from Germany. It ended up being a great group whose company Brooks and I really enjoyed. We all loaded into the back of a pick-up truck at 6am, and were driven to the bus “terminal” (a large space with a lot of buses and food stands) to board the bus to San Marcos. After an hour and half drive, we all slowly loaded off the bus and entered a nearby building filled with comedores. There we enjoyed coffee with pancakes and fruit, and our last real bathroom for the next two days. From San Marcos we got back on a bus, a very crowded and uncomfortable bus, and drove about an hour up a winding hill to be dropped off at the base of Tajumulco. From there it was three hours of uphill, with lots of breaks thrown in of course. Tajumulco, as the tallest point in Central America, is obviously at a very high altitude (4200m to be exact), but the trek luckily only covers 1200m because we started at 3000m. The trek wasn’t very steep or difficult; what did make it more difficult, though, was the slight altitude sickness I was feeling, my first ever experience with altitude sickness. By 2pm we arrived at our base camp, an open area with plenty of space to set up our tents. We set up camp, and then had a delicious lunch and a much needed nap. At 4:40pm we were awoken from our nap to begin our sunset hike, a short hike up the smaller peak of Tajumulco. Once at the top, we marveled at how “on top of the world” we all felt, realizing that the next day we were going to be even higher. The sunset was breathtaking, with perfect rays of light shining through the fluffy clouds, and beautiful colors painting the sky. As beautiful as the sunset was though, the unfortunate thing that comes with a sunset is the lack of sun in the sky… And the terrible cold that comes with that; at 4000m, it got pretty cold that night. After the sun was completely gone we slowly made our way back down to base camp, where we layered on more clothes and started boiling water for our hot drinks and dinner. By evening I was wearing a long sleeve t-shirt, a short sleeve t-shirt, a sweatshirt, a fleece, a down jacket, gloves and a hat, and was still a little cold; by the next morning it was even worse. We all climbed into our sleeping bags around 8pm, but had a terrible time falling asleep due to the other campers around us, the cold, and the lack of oxygen at that altitude.

The next morning we awoke at 3:30am, quickly stuffed our sleeping bags in our backpacks, and were hiking the last 200m to the top by 3:45am. This part of the trek was the most difficult, given that is was steeper and even higher up. The nausea from altitude sickness was really bothering both myself and Lisa, which was good because we could stop together, and bad because we both wanted to throw up and stop hiking the entire time. After just an hour though, we made it to the top and set out our sleeping pads and sleeping bags, climbing in to wait for the sunrise to begin. After about 20 minutes colors began appearing in the sky, and more and more people began trickling up the mountainside or emerging from their tents (some people camped at the top). The sunrise that we witnessed from Tajumulco is one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen, and almost brought tears to my eyes. The sun rose just behind another volcano chain to the east in Guatemala, making for amazing picture opportunities. We stayed until the sun was past the cloud line, and packed up our stuff to make our way back down to breakfast. The night before Brooks and Patrick had been talking about the volcano crater and how much they wanted to climb into it, so they (along with Kevin, Kate and Santi) sped ahead while Rachel, Lisa and I took our time, taking pictures at every vantage point possible. The walk back down was beautiful, which indeed included circling around the volcano crater, a pretty shallow crater at this point in history. The climb down was probably about 50m, and at the bottom of the crater was an array of names and symbols spelled out in rocks people had left behind. The boys and Kate enjoyed a moment in the crater, and then met the three of us at the top to walk the rest of the way down. By 8am we met up with Santi at the camp, and enjoyed a delicious breakfast of oatmeal and hot drinks before packing up camp to head back down. The trek down was surprisingly painful, with my knees and toes bothering me, but the view was again stunning. We stopped a few times on our way down, but blasted most of the end to make it to a restaurant and earlier bus in time. The restaurant we ate lunch at was very nice, with a large, airy space, beachfront feel, and real bathrooms for us to use. Our group was exhausted, yet very satisfied with our trek and our delicious lunch. After lunch we hurried to catch a bus by 12:45pm, which Brooks and I were hoping would mean being back in Xela in time to catch the last bus to Huehue. Our first bus ride was crowded and pretty terrible (it’s hard to sleep on a bus when you’re person number three on the seat, and the bus keeps whipping around curves in the road), but luckily by our second bus ride we all had seats and could sleep a little more comfortably. Back in Xela Brooks and I unloaded our borrowed gear on the group, said our goodbyes, and boarded bus number three back to Huehue. We were so thankful to be heading back to our showers and warm beds, the quick walk home in dark didn’t even bother us.

Unfortunately we didn’t have much time to rest after this adventure, because by 8am on Monday we were back at Fundación Salvación, ready to witness a very special morning. Guisela and Ubaldo used to work for Agua Viva, and because of this connection were able to ask Agua Viva if they would come to the orphanage as part of their annual Project Shoebox event. Every Christmas Agua Viva puts together hundreds and hundreds of boxes of donated gifts and distributes them to kids around Guatemala with the help of a large mission team that comes down from the States. Monday morning was Fundación Salvación’s time for a Project Shoebox visit; they had the kids ready and lined up by 8am, but unfortunately the team didn’t make it to Huehue until around 9:30am. They had a quick skit for the kids explaining the real reason for Christmas (I’ll give you a hint: Jesus), and sang some Christmas songs in Spanish. After this they lined the kids up again, and walked them over to the big room at the orphanage where all the boxes were stacked up. They would give a kid a box based on their age and gender, and after each kid received their box they were ushered over to another open space where they could sit down and open their box. And that is where the madness began. All of the boxes were taped up with packaging tape, and those that couldn’t get passed the tape ended up ripping whole leaves off of their boxes to get into them. The excitement on the kids’ faces was amazing; they were so overjoyed to receive so many presents and candy. All of the kids would hold up their gifts and say “mira, mira!” (look, look!), even for things like flashlights and toothbrushes. The kids loved the gifts, and it was such a joyful morning. Sadly the team had to leave after about an hour (because they had another destination to get to), so we all waved goodbye and helped the kids carry their presents to their rooms where they could admire them some more. It was a beautiful weekend to be in Guatemala.