Weekend at the lake!

A few weeks back some of the new volunteers were talking about how wonderful Karla and Miguel are. Karla is one of our new volunteers, and the first ever Guatemalan volunteer here at NPHG, and Miguel is her boyfriend. They have been ridiculously nice to all of the volunteers here - giving them rides to and from town, giving tours of Antigua, and just being so sweet! In addition to talking about how awesome they are, “Miguel has a sweet lake house at Atitlan that Karla has invited us all to” MAY have gotten thrown into the mix. So, being the wonderful and awesome people they are, Karla and Miguel invited ALL the current volunteers here at NPHG to the lake house this last weekend. Que chilero mano!

We decided to leave Friday after work around 6 (which of course turned into 7:45)…now how to do that without taking taxis or camionetas? Karla and her friends were going to drive us of course! Talk about service – inviting us to a lake house AND bringing us there? How ridiculous! So, Friday night we piled into 3 cars (Karla’s, Miguel’s, and their friend, Estuardo’s) and the shuttle that we have here at NPH to head to the lake. Unfortunately along the way, Estuardo got a flat tire (thanks to Jonas joking around that it was going to happen…THANKS JONAS…) Regardless, the rest of us stopped at a restaurant along the way and listened to some SWEET jams from the 80s and today ;-).

Waiting at the bar...our first destination...

THREE HOURS LATER (aka roughly 1:30 am) the others in the car arrived and we all made the drive the rest of the 30 minutes to the house. We unpacked the vans and proceeded to head down literally HUNDREDS of dirt stairs, and, having few lights, had NO clue where we were going. After 2 trips down the stairs we finally made it to the GORGEOUS lake house with all our stuff, claimed our beds, and called it a night (at least some of us anyway :-p).

The living room

The back of the main house

We woke up the next morning to one of the most AMAZING views in the world – the lake, the volcanoes, the flowers – absolutely gorgeous. It definitely made stumbling down all those stairs in the dark COMPLETELY worth it!

The view from the top house :)

After a delicious breakfast of scrambled eggs, frijoles volteados (refried beans), toast, and guacamole, we “bathing suit-ed up” and headed down to the dock for some good fun – swimming, “surfing”, reading, Uno, soccer, and good conversations.

Everyone hanging out on the dock :)

Veronika, Hannah, Regine, Molly, and Elisa on the "surfboard"

Jonas and Michael sharing some love

After a full afternoon of relaxing, we enjoyed another delicious meal – steak and sausages on the grill, fresh salad, and the most delicious salsa and guacamole out of a bag that I think I’ll ever eat (SERIOUSLY WHERE can I find more of that guac???) In addition, we spent the night diving into Bananagrams (my new favorite game), Loopin’ Louie, Twister, and some good ole fashion dance party mania.

Playing Loopin Louie!

Time for...BANANAGRAMS!

Twister!

The old volunteers out for the weekend :)

The next morning, well rested and rejuvenated, we unfortunately had to make the 2 hour drive back to NPH. MUCHISIMAS GRACIAS a Karla y Miguel for their wonderful hospitality! Here’s hoping we all get to return back to the lake soon for another amazing weekend together :)

With the beautiful view!