Hey-lo all you whiteys out there! On Friday we packed up, hopped our bus, and took off to Monterrico for 3 days! It was AMAZING! We drove to this lagoon and then had to take this sketchy looking boat through most likely pirrahna and lagoon shark-infested waters to reach the place where we were staying. It was SMOKING hot and awesome. We had to walk for about 20 mins to reach our hotel, but it was sooooo worth it.
ok, get this: EVERY room (2 person per room) has a hammock hanging outside of it and each bed has a mosquito net that hangs over you at night. There was a small pool that was always the most perfect temperature, and then (drumroll please) THE OCEAN! Smokes, it was so great! I couldn,t believe that it was the Pacific Ocean! SUPER warm and HUGE waves and BLACK, smooth sand. I was in heaven. AND we had boogie boards, so we body surfed and boarded alllll day. and I brought my thermarest, let it self-inflate, and laid on it with my towel for the rest of the hours of the day. It was super salty and sandy though, so when i was feeling particularly sticky, i showered off and jumped in the pool, where i stayed for HOURS, reading "The Princess Bride" (the book is super hilarious!) which Dee leant me. For dinner we walked down the beach until we reached Johnny,s, which had good food, but BAD sand fleas. The first night i was bit SO bad, but only for like 30 mins, and then they were gone! it was nuts! the next night we decided to sit up on the veranda at Johnny,s to avoid the buggies.
Nathan Reiger, a speaker we had from first semester, came to Monterrico with us and we had a few sessions with him. It was fantastic! He spoke on community and the natural stages that groups go through. i think it really helped our group to recognize some of the vibes that have been going on within us and how to healthily reach true community. Me and Nathan talked for a while too after, and he challenged me to face some of the demons in my life. I was super glad that we talked. I know I need to take some time to sit and process it all though... things move pretty fast-paced around here. Today marks our 5 weeks in Guatemala! It,s insane, really...
So we came back from Monterrico, all very very red. Nicole, remember how we just sat in self-pity on the cruise because we were so fried and how bad it hurt to move? massive deja vu. except it only hurt for 2 days and i haven,t peeled or anything. hopefully i,ll just brown nicely :) i totally forgot to bring sunscreen to the beach, but even those who slathered every 20 mins look like tomatoes. its awesome :)
so we came back from Monterrico, showered, packed for our independent service week, and met in the park for pizza, as we do every sunday night. Me, Ben, Kara, and Joanne are all working at this amazing orphanage in Xela ("Shay-lah") called La Casa de Fe y Amor (The house of faith and love). There are 7 children: Roxana, Pedro, Jose, Elias, Arresallie, Juan Carlos, and Edgar. The owners of the place are a young married couple with 14 month old Andreas. Our instructions on how to actually get to Xela were ridiculously ambiguous and insane, so i woke up on monday morn and prayed for an adventure. whoops! haha! It was awesome, seriously. We took a bus from Joco to Antigua. Then we bussed from Antigua to Chimaltenango, where I saw a huge box of teensy chicks and proceeded to buy one for 6 Q (a buck Canadian). Jo (our fearless leader for the week) forbade me from buying one, so i told Ben to get one. and he did. and so did Xena (her group travelled with us for part of the way). and we loved the chickens SO much. they were adorable! except they didn,t have fluff on the backs of their necks. must be some Guatemalan strand or something. anyway, from Chimalte, we caught a coach bus (v. nice) to Xela, where we played with our chicks the whole time. But when we got to Xela, Ben all of the sudden decided he didn,t want Franklin! (that,s what i called him). I was devastated, and Xena refused to take him. This guy that worked at a furniture store came by and said he was cute, so Ben gave him away. I hope he doesn,t become a meal. anyway, so in Xela we took a taxi to the address we were given, which, as it so happens, DOESN,T exist! we spent over an hour in the taxi, wandering around the same area. we tried calling our leaders, and the leaders of our leaders, and our contact people, and this other lady, but none of the phones we tried worked, and when they did, none of those people,s cell phones were on. so he dropped us off at McDonalds where we had burgers and McFlurries (they have butterfinger mcflurries down here! score!). We finally got a hold of the lady that said she might pick us up, and an hour later, she did that. and another hour later the owners of the orphanange arrived and we arrived at the place. it was a long day, but fun!
It,s SUPER chilly in Xela, which took us all by surprise. But we,re surviving fine. We,ve mostly just been cooking meals for 14 people and folding clothes. Tomorrow we,ll do a bunch of painting for them. The kids come home from school around 1:00 pm and have a siesta (nap) for a few hours after lunch, so we hit the town for internet, phone, and chillaxing. We,re here until Sunday. Then on Monday we head to a coffee plantation for a spiritual retreat week with another one of our first semester speakers. it should be awesome! anyway, i must run. miss you all! see you later!