On the Lake

Today we left early (very early) to head to Lake Atitlan. This is the biggest lake in all of Guatemala. But we were a bit tired...

Mom and Emma bright and awake

After our three hour bus ride we arrived and ate breakfast. It was very good - much more than we expected with a "free meal" included in the tour!

Us at the restaurant

Then we headed out on the lake. Below are some of the amazing pictures of the view and the three volcanoes that surround the lake

Panorama view of the lake

Us on the boat

Us leaving the doc

Beautiful country side around the lake

Three volcanoes in a line

We stopped at three Mayan villages to learn about their history and tour the towns. Each town had some exciting adventures. At one we learned about the process the Mayans use to make their cotton and die it the color they want by boiling various parts of various plants

Cotton demonstration

Emma trying to weave cotton

Tyler trying to weave cotton

Josiah trying to weave cotton

The various plants they use to color the cotton

Dying the cotton using banana juice and the plant of choice to get the desired color

Emma demonstrating the colored yarn that was died right in front of us!

Tyler holding out the cotton strands 

Video of how they take the string and get it ready to be weaved

Once died, the long process of weaving begins. This will be a scarf

After our weaving demonstration we headed out for our second town. At the second town we happened upon a parade put on by a school. The theme was "People who changed the world in the Bible, Heroes who changed the world in the past, and How we can change the world today" Below are pictures from this adventure: 

Can you see the cross on the hill as we approached the doc?

Getting reading to doc at town number 2

These guys are dressed as Jonah

These girls are dressed as Esther

More costumes!

Not sure who these were...

Martin Luther!

More Martin Luther

View from a large Baptist Church

Us on the church balcony 

Emma and Nicole enjoying the view of the lake

The famous "first church" is not catholic - its Baptist! 

Then it was back in the boat for town number 3. At this town we saw a church where a priest from Oklahoma came during the civil war and helped the poor and the children avoid being forced into the army. However, the priest was shot dead in his church. His body was returned to his family, but the people of the community requested that his heart remain in the church and the family agreed. We were able to see the tomb of the heart and the room he was shot in (complete with bullet hole in the ground and blood stain on the wall). 

Emma enjoying the ride to the last island

Josiah also enjoyed the ride

The church was decorated in red and gold for a celebration that was yesterday

The tomb of the priest's heart

(creepy and neat at the same time)

Kids posing in front of one of the alters in the church

Enjoying lunch before heading home

As we headed back it began to rain so there are no more pictures as we quickly returned the travel agency and loaded the van. Another interesting story (sorry no pictures) was when traffic got bad our drive took a "detour" around the traffic. This detour is hard to describe in American terms... it was a dirt road, full of potholes and slippery mud, and ruts, and streams of water from the rain, and we bottomed out constantly and I felt like we were going to get stuck several times... but we made it back home safe and sound! And now, after a long weekend of adventures - we are off to enjoy some well deserved sleep! Goodnight all! Thanks for keeping in touch. We enjoy the comments! 

A Day of Serving

We are now more than half way done with our experience in Guatemala. We closer to coming home than arriving! We cannot believe how fast the time has gone. School continues to go well, we plan to continue studying 6 hours of language each day next week. Everyone seems to be enjoying it and using more Spanish every day!

Josiah's teacher for the first three weeks

Nicole's teacher for week 3, Rosario

Today (Saturday) was a great adventure. Our house Mom, Amanda, invited us to join her church at a special needs hospital for children and the elderly. When we agreed we did not know quite what we signed up for, but it turned out to be an amazing experience serving as a family. First, we made 350 sandwiches. This means we had to cut the small pieces of bread, stuff them with a chicken filling, wrap them in a napkin, wrap them in a small bag, and put these in a larger bag for moving them to the hospital. Pictures below (Tyler took the pictures so he is no in any of them!)

Nicole helping stuff the sandwiches

Emma and Josiah helping put the sandwiches in bags

When we got to the hospital (over an hour late - Latin American time!), we learned that there would be a small procession for Santo Hermano Pedro as the patients are unable to get out of the hospital to watch the actual procession tomorrow (Sunday). Santo Hermano Pedro founded the first Guatemalan hospital that the natives could access back in the 1600s. The hospital also served as a school for the poor during the day. 15 years ago tomorrow (the reason for the celebration today) he was made a saint by Pope John Paul II in Guatemala. This was part of the celebration (the big celebration is tomorrow). Pictures below from the procession put on for the patents of the hospital. 

The nurses made a carpet for the procession

The image being carried down the carpet

Are kids were asked to lead the procession

After the procession was a mass for the patients of the hospital

This was cute - two kids reached out to hold hands during mass

After the mass we helped the patients eat a small snack and then paraded the image around the hospital for those who could not attend the service to see. We pushed the wheel chairs around for those who wanted to follow the image as it went through the hospital. 

After we finished serving it was home for homework and studying. But it was a very exciting day to serve as a family and be part of something special in the lives of the patients. Tomorrow morning we will leave bright an early for a tour of Guatemala's largest lake - stay tuned! 

Day of Antigua's Patron Saint: Santiago (St. James)

My posts have slowed down a bit because most of our adventures have become "went to school, studied, repeat next day". This is not an exciting blog. So finally we had something exciting happen that allows us to post a blog worth reading. But first the boring part - school is still going great. Nicole has a new teacher in the days and so does Josiah (one returned to university and the other was reserved by a student who arrived recently). We will post pictures of new teachers soon. We also decided to extend our 4 hours of Spanish class to 6 hours of Spanish class, so after lunch each day we return to the garden to meet with our teachers. Nicole has her teacher from the first week in the afternoons, Tyler has a new teacher, and both kids are sharing Emma's day teacher. Classes are going great and our Spanish is improving each day!

For the more exciting part, Tuesday was the day to honor the patron saint of Antigua, St. James (Santiago). There were many events to honor their saint, starting with a parade in the morning where many of the schools participated with floats, costumes, and dance! Pictures below!

Start of the parade!

Flags and Fireman leading the parade

Another crest... not sure what for...

A float of the famous Arc of Antigua

Notice those flowers are little kids!

Not what you think, these date back to 1500 and represent cleansing of sins

This school focuses on caring for and respecting the elderly of the community

Many of the students dressed in formal attire

... very formal

Others reenacted legends of Guatemala and the Mayans 

Another float of the arc

More formal attire

They really like to do floats of the arc

These kids were adorable!

Each school selected a princess (and often a prince as well) to represent the school

This school did a dance in honor of the elderly of Antigua

I captured part of the dance - very fun!

Did I mention the floats of the arc?

Later that afternoon, the city had a procession where a huge image of Saint James was carried around the town. This procession was much smaller than what they do in holy week, only one image and only about 4 hours (rather than the dozens that are carried for over 12 hours). These heavy pieces are carried on the shoulders of community members and are changed every block for the weight of the float. This float was carried by 30 students of various schools

The image as it approaches us

The students carried it past us

Side view

Back view

No pictures of us this time, but a fun adventure to watch the parade and procession. Next post will have some pictures of us... hopefully!