Health wise the kids seem well. They had time for a siesta before our
orientation. Lisa is the one most affected by allergies and the altitude.
(We are at 5000 ft) But with Allegra and a good night sleep, she should be
fine.
We enjoyed coke and Domino´s pizza with a Guatemalan twist--pizza chapina
("chapin" is a term used by the locals to refer to things Guatemalan) which
was a refried bean and onion pizza. So all are fed and off to bed with
grateful hearts that we are here and excited for what is to come. LOVE YOU
ALL!!
So far the trip is going great. We were met with a warm welcome at TN 2. They decorated the church with balloons and streamers and lit off firecrackers, that were kinda like black cats. We have eaten a lot of beans, chicken, and foods traditional to Guatemala. Nobody is sick, there's a little bit of heartburn, a few caffeine headaches, you know the usual. Oh, and we broke the toilet. It was kinda funny. They had to make a plunger since there wasn't one. There was a really good band that was from TN 1 that played on Saturday night. They played for like an hour, and we had a bonfire then too. They played music from the Andes and other ethnicities. On Sunday, we went to the zoo during the day. It was a nice zoo and they had a lot of birds and animals that came from the area. And they had raccoons. HAHAHA.
We have met a lot of new friends here. We showed them how to play a lot of card games, hand games and they showed us how to play some of their games. We sang lots of songs that are from the US and Guatemala so everyone is learning new songs. We are about to leave for some Mayan ruins. We have to drive like 3 hours to get there though. It's amazing how many people we can fit in the van. We can fit 11 people, plus all of our stuff for 3 days.
It's really hot down here, well compared to Minnesota. It usually rains once a day and when it does, it's REALLY hard. So hard, its hard to hear people that are sitting close to you(Ed. due to the tin roofs!). But it only lasts a little while. The youth group consists of about 15-20 people, ages 13-22. They are all very nice and patient with our horrible Spanish! We are on our way out, we'll write again later!!!
Love from all of us!!! Adios!!!
3rd Email: Thursday, June 20th
Hi families!
The past couple of days have gone by so fast. We have been doing a lot of driving on the most insane twisty winding roads that go up and down the mountains. A few of us got car sick, a few others were affected by the altitude, and a couple had some stomach aches, but everyone has recovered.
First we visited the Mayan ruins of Iximche. Then we went to San Lucas Toliman where we learned all about the work of the mission and had some peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, grilled cheese, and coke. Finally--real American food!!!! Later we went to Santiago where we saw the Peace Park and learned more history about the war and massacres that took place here in Guatemala.
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| Market at Chichicastenango |
The next day, we went to Chichicastenango where we stayed at the Ruth and Nohemi Project. We played soccer with some kids, had some steak, and got a chance to meet with some of the youth that work there.
This morning we went to the market. WHAT A CRAZY PLACE! We left Chichi and stopped at a really nice restaurant in the middle of nowhere. I still can't believe how much food we ate. Tonight we are staying at the Sister Parish Center and tomorrow we are driving back to TN2 to meet our host families.
See you soon!
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