Going to School!

Last week I was looking for one of my students, Pichi, to tutor him in English. Every afternoon Pichi works in Herrería, the metal workshop, and in the afternoons I’m *supposed* to tutor him (stars because it has yet to happen…) Regardless! Last Monday I went to the Herrería looking for Pichi and he was nowhere to be found. Instead, I talked to and hung out with his teacher, Profe Giovani. I think Profe is one of the coolest people I’ve met in Guatemala – he’s incredibly sweet, down-to-earth, loves the volunteers, always has a smile on his face, and has a HUGE interest in learning English. In fact, one of the other volunteers, Meghan, has been trading English classes for metalwork classes for the past few months.

Well! Last week when I was there, Profe Giovani asked me if I would like to do the same! This past Monday I walked to the Herrería after lunch and got right to work! First, he had me look through books of pictures so I could see what types of items I could make. After settling on a few different designs to work on over the next few weeks, he took me outside to grab some metal and began my lesson :). This week I learned to cut and bend the metal…so while I didn’t make the whole thing…it’s just the beginning. I decided I would make a little golf player for my dad :). Unfortunately, Profe didn’t know what a golfer was supposed to look like (HANDS TOGETHER!) So instead of looking like a golfer…he kind of just looks like someone who wants to beat you with a golf club haha!

My first creation :-p

Needless to say but, sorry Dad, I’ll make you something better after I get a good grasp on things! Next week I’m going to learn to solder for myself so that I can make all my own creations :). Wish me luck!

Look into my Crystal Ball…

These past two weeks I’ve been covering the future tense with my Tercero Básico class (ya know – I will, you are going to, etc.) and I think the kids are really enjoying it…mostly because it’s easy…but also because I’ve been doing a lot of fun activities (today we read each other’s fortunes while wearing a ridiculous costume and using our “Crystal Ball” (aka an upside down Tupperware…)) and also lots of exercises to get them thinking about their own futures. On Monday for homework I told them to go home and write the 10 biggest goals that they have for their lives. On Tuesday in class, they shared their goals with one another. It was really amazing to see the aspirations that they have and want to accomplish – they have some big dreams :). Today in class I asked each of my students to pick their most important goal in life and write it on the board. I then took pictures of each of them to be given to them when they graduate from Básico. (I wish I could take credit for this AWESOME idea (and the crystal ball one for that matter) – but it all goes to Molly – you’re the best Mol!) Below are just some of the incredible, wonderful, and amazing dreams that my kids have for their futures :).

Rocio: I will study tourism in hotels.

Alexander: I will graduate from college and then I will be a good chef and I will cook rich food.

Mildred: I will achieve my goals.

Deic: I will graduate as a doctor and be somebody in life!!!

Suceli: I will graduate and be an engineer or a veteranarian.

Martin: I will travel to Italy.

Angel: I will start my own life.

Say WHAT???

A few weeks ago I collected my kids notebooks for a “notebook check,” making sure they had all the notes and everything that we had covered in class written down. For this notebook check we had covered several things: occupations, using A vs. AN, the present tense, forming sentences, colors, shapes, and interrogative words (who, what, where, etc.) While going through the notebook check I came across something interesting in one of my external student’s books:

Why did you shave it off?

Say WHAT??? I was expecting sentences like “What is your name?” “How old are you?” and “Where are you from?” I NEVER taught the verb “to shave” nor how to put it in a sentence like that. A little disturbing...a little impressive…but really?

A real STICKLER

As our time here in Guatemala winds down, many of us volunteers have started to gather our clothes for donation to the home…which usually pass through the hands of the volunteers, and then go to the oldest sections of kids. Cassie (who will unfortunately be leaving in about 2 weeks…) gathered up her things and left them in the front of the house for anyone who wanted them. Last weekend, Molly grabbed a pair of pants to try on…and then we heard it:

“AAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!! F#*%!!! AHHHHHH!!!! IT’S IN MY BUTT!!! IT’S IN MY UNDERWEAR!!! IT’S EVERYWHERE!!!!!!”

I ran out of my room to find her clutching her butt screaming in pain. “WHAT HAPPENED???” Turns out a PRICKLY CATERPILLAR thought the back pocket of Cassie’s pants might be a good place to call home…and instead he died. The long pointy spikes on his back kept him stuck in the pants pocket so when Molly put them on, she was greeted with an unpleasant surprise!

We spent the next few minutes in Molly’s room helping her with…her situation – roughly 20 black spiky points sticking out of her butt! Yvonne used tweezers to pull them out while I held Molly’s hand for moral support. It was definitely a bonding experience to say the least!

Gi-tarrrrrr

Over the past few months I decided I needed a new hobby (pre-Insanity of course...) My new chosen love? Playing the guitar :)

I started picking up my friend's guitar (thanks Cass!) and just finding chords online...but then I discovered that I can actually play a bunch of songs with just a few chords! I've taught myself about 6 songs now (with a little help from my wonderful guitar friend :)) and I'm having a blast!

In addition, Cassie has been singing/performing at a restaurant in Antigua over the past few months and this week she asked me to sing a song with her! While I won't be strumming the guitar, I'm insanely excited to perform in front of people and sing with her at the Rainbow Cafe :) Wish us luck!

INSANITY

It finally happened. I started working out. Now don’t freak out – everything’s going to be okay.

Last week I was talking to one of the other volunteers, Meghan, and she told me that when she gets back to the states she wants to start doing P90X with her boyfriend (a 90 day workout video). I told her that I had both P90X and Insanity (a 9-week workout video) here with me in Guatemala. She got SOOOOOO excited and told me we were starting it tomorrow.

Now I know what you’re thinking: but Jess – you don’t work out. And it’s true – I DIDN’T. But times they are a changing. I’ve been getting pretty bored here in Guatemala and decided it was time to change my routine – so why not add a workout to my daily life? Also, it REALLY helped me that 5 of the other volunteers – Meghan, Katie, Erika, Thayer, and Molly – all decided to start the video on the same day – we’ve been very good support :).

Today was Day 7 – my first rest day – THANK GOD. I mean, I’ve worked out in the past, but NEVER like this. The workouts are 30-45 minutes a day of STRAIGHT Cardio. Needless to say, after only a week, I think I’ve now experienced pain in every muscle in my body, and also gotten a lot stronger (imagine that!) In addition, almost every day I look at this woman (the Asian one on the right):

And think – in just 63 days I WILL have abs like you. And I WILL.

La Posada de Mi Abuela

Last weekend I finally did it. I FINALLY went to La Posada de Mi Abuela (aka My Grandmother’s Inn). I’ve heard so much about the place – amazing breakfasts, horseback riding, an amazing view that helps you forget you're in Parramos – and a pool to boot! Last Sunday Katie, Cassie, and I walked the 20 minutes up the mountain to La Posada for a nice dip in the pool!

La Posada de mi Abuela!

We arrived around 11:30 to find the pool being cleaned…although it didn’t look like they were doing a very good job…

So the pool was just a little green…

So while we waited, we hung out, talked, and just relaxed, happy to be away from the hustle and bustle of NPH. We spent a good 2 hours there just hanging around and listening to music. I think it was just the break I needed with 2 good friends :).

Katie, me, and Cassie :)

Party at Erika’s

Last weekend (aka May 14th…sorry I’m a little behind…), our volunteer coordinator, Erika, decided to throw an impromptu dinner for all the volunteers at her house – what a nice treat :). Erika is a pretty wonderful cook so all of us were excited for the chance to go hang out and eat some delicious food!

We wandered over to Erika’s around 7:30 and arrived to a delicious treat – homemade guacamole (side note: yes. I eat guacamole practically every day for dinner. But it doesn’t make it any less awesome when someone ELSE does all the hard work and I just get to enjoy it ;-).) We got started on the wine and beer, some delicious guac, and got to know our newest staff member at NPH: Jader, our director of casa. While it was a little strange to have him at the dinner with all the volunteers, it was also nice to see that he was eager to get to know us AND had already learned most of our names – fairly impressive considering he’d only arrived about 3 days prior. We ate delicious pasta and salad, then scarfed down cookies, fruit, and ice cream from Sarita’s and well…had a bit too much of everything...

It was definitely a really great night with the volunteers. And what made it even better? Frannie. I LOVE Frannie. She is a volunteer from Italy who is just so much fun and a really cool person. She knows a billion languages and works her butt off and never complains. Anyhoo. Frannie had…a bit too much fun at Erika’s. Now, I’ve never seen her in such a state before but let’s just say while she’s a very outgoing and bubbly person, this was BY FAR the most outgoing and bubbly I’d ever seen her! I told her before we went to Erika’s that I didn’t have any pictures of her and that it needed to change…and she definitely took that advice to heart, swiping my camera and taking one amazing picture after the next :-p. Here are some of the winners from that night – enjoy! :)

Me and Frannie

Bridget and Cassie

Hannah, me, and Frannie

Molly and Frannie

Frannie making herself at home with Miguel and Karla

Karla and Molly practicing the quince "vals"

Frannie...looking after Sandro...

Hannah, Frannie, and me in the backseat driving home

Bien hecho Karla! Karla, Hannah, Frannie, me, and Miguel in the car!

Stitch, Frannie, and Molly (and yes...Frannie is on the phone with my boyfriend...)

FRANNIE!

May Projects

This past week I had both of my projects for May – woo! After spending HOURS tracking down each of the 7 children separately, I ended up with *almost* complete projects! Hooray!

However, even after finding all the kids and their tias, talking about projects and what we would do, of COURSE there were still a few glitches... Thursday I walked to Parramos during lunch to pick up some fruits and veggies. On the way home I ran into Sindy, whom I had project with. “Sindy – where ya going? We have project in an hour…”

Sindy: “Oh. Oops. I forgot. I’m going to Chimal to buy stuff with my tia!”

Major bummer. I was really looking forward to having project with all the girls, but instead it was just going to be me, Sucely, and Estefania. I walked down to the section to find them both at 4 pm. I found Estefania in her section and she told me she just needed to change her clothes and she’d be at the English Department soon. After that, I went to Sucely’s section and was told she was in the library. So I walked from the sections up to the library….and didn’t find her. I then proceeded to walk back down to the sections…still not finding either one. Then I realized – idiot me – that I didn’t have the right pizza pan! SO! I went back down to the volunteer houses, found one, washed it, went back up to English – still no girls. I went BACK down to the sections and STILL didn’t find them! I was told they were in the library. WHAT??? I went to the library. NO GIRLS. FINALLY I ran into Sucely when I was going back down to the section…again. We went back to English and decided to start the pizza (since neither of us had any idea where Estefania was...) Roughly 5 minutes later Estefania arrived. After that, project went off without a hitch! We watched “Ramona and Beezus” (GREAT children’s movie if you haven’t seen it) and ate delicious pizza! Project complete!

Sucely and Estefania making a pizza!

How adorable :)

My project on Sunday went a little bit smoother than the first one… I walked up to the English Department to put my things down…and all the kids were already upstairs cleaning! I walked around, told them all to come to English, and we got to work on our cake :)

Gaspar and Sebastian making the cake!

The only one who didn’t show up was coming from Bachillerato. I had tried calling at least 2 times a day, every day for the past week, and the tia in charge of the section never responded…so imagine my surprise when I came back from getting the cake out of the oven to see all 4 kids sitting in the English room watching “The Karate Kid!” Sweet surprise! And the family was absolutely adorable to boot. They got along insanely well and really seemed to enjoy each other’s company – always a nice treat for a family project :).

Gaspar, Sebastian, Petrona, and Dominga

All of us :)

Why my roommate is cooler than your roommate

I’ve now been living in Guatemala a little over 10 months…and in that time I’ve had 3 roommates. Due to changes in our houses, people coming and going early, and new volunteers, I’m on my third roommate…and I couldn’t be happier. My roommate, Regine, is AWESOME. She’s from Germany, super cool, really easy to talk to, and a great person to live with!

Regine with Franny and Hannah, two of our housemates :)

In addition, she’s insanely creative – which I love! A few weeks ago she came into our room with a poster and some paints. She had found a poem that she really liked and decided to hang it on our wall – so she painted the poem onto the poster and it has been one of my favorite decorations ever since! Below is the poem in Spanish and then in English – enjoy!

Tiempo
Toma tiempo para jugar…pues es el secreto de la juventud…
Toma tiempo para leer…pues es la base del conocimiento…
Toma tiempo para amar…pues es el único sacramento de la vida…
Toma tiempo para trabajar…pues el trabajo es el precio del éxito…
Toma tiempo para rezar…pues te ayuda a acercarte a Dios…
Toma tiempo para pensar…pues es la fuerte de la fuerza…
Toma tiempo para soñar…pues así transportas el alma a las estrellas…
Toma tiempo para reír…pues la risa es la música que ayuda a soportar las cargas de la vida…
Toma tiempo para venerar…pues les la senda hacia el culto de Dios…
Toma tiempo para tus amigos…pues la amistad es una fuente de la felicidad…

Time
Take time to play…it is the secret of youth.
Take time to read…it is the base of knowledge.
Take time to love…it is the only sacrament of life.
Take time to work…it is the price of success.
Take time to pray…it helps you become closer to God.
Take time to think…it is the strength of the strong.
Take time to dream…so that you can transport your soul to the stars.
Take time to laugh…because laughter is the music that helps support your life.
Take time to venerate…it can take you on the path to worship God.
Take time for your friends…friendship is the fountain of happiness.

“Will you braid my hair?”

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – there are just some nights where it’s a bit of a struggle to go down to my section. Sometimes I’m just not prepared for the attitudes or the “joking” or the hitting or the yelling…but mostly the attitudes…

On Tuesday I went down to my section to hang out with my girls and was immediately questioned with “Did you bring a game for us to play?” No "hello". No "how are you today?" Just – “what did you bring for us?” My response? “When do I ever bring something down here?” I help you with your homework, we read stories, I help you with your chores, we talk about life and different things, we play hand clapping games and say silly tongue twisters – why do I need to BRING you something to have fun?? But here’s the kicker – I was asked by SIX of my girls why I didn’t bring a game… It was SO strange. Regardless, I told the girls that they had never asked me before and that’s why I’d never brought one…and that if they were good I would bring a game the next time I came to the section. My response was met with a lot of eye-rolling, name calling, and “meh, whatever” attitudes from all of them. I felt REALLY welcome.

I decided that I was already in a bad mood and this wasn’t helping at all. I grabbed my stuff, said goodnight and headed for the door. On the way, I passed 3 of the girls sitting in the bathroom, braiding Maria’s hair. I went in to say goodnight to them and Margarita (whom I LOVE) asked "Will you braid my hair?" – something that NONE of the girls in the section trust me to do! (For some reason they think I can’t braid…don’t know where that comes from…) Regardless, she always knows how to put me in a good mood :). I put my things down and got to work. Tia Fruc told the girls it was time for bed so they all got themselves settled, but she let the 4 of us stay in the bathroom – talking and braiding…and then she came to join us. She started asking me questions about my relationship with Jon, how long we’d been dating, if I’d had boyfriends when I was the girls’ age, what our vision for our wedding was, etc. As we talked and braided each of the girls from my section started to trickle in to the bathroom and ask one of us to braid their hair. Soon we had roughly half the section sitting in the bathroom with us, talking about what style of dress I would wear and what my hair would look like and how excited they all were for me. The whole night turned out to be one of my favorites in my section in a looooooooooonnnggg time. And it was all thanks to 3 little girls and a whole lot of braids :).

Los Tres Chiflados

I have come to realize that I do not need to plan for my año de servicio class. While we started with 7 students and a whole lot of grammar lessons, the class has finally settled at 3 – Francis, Elmer, and Jonathan – honestly, 3 of my favorite “kids” at NPH. I say kids in quotes because they’re basically just my friends, ranging in age from 19-23, and our class has just turned into a “hang-out and talk about our lives” session. In the past few weeks our conversations have been about: school, plans for the future, significant others (we got some REALLY juicy stuff during that one!), and most recently, bucket lists.

The two boys were on my computer on Tuesday during our class and noticed my “New Year’s Resolution” list, where I mention that I plan to complete #1 on my bucket list this year, wherein they asked what a bucket list was…so I explained and then showed them my own. They had a great time translating all the different phrases like “drive across country,” and “get Lasik eye surgery” and all the countries that I want to visit, and especially, “get a tattoo.” Elmer was SO excited to see that on the list and he said “I want to get a tattoo, too!” after which of course I asked, “Of what?” And this is what he came back with - “Los tres chiflados.” What are the tres chiflados you ask?...

The Three Stooges (this is the exact tattoo that he wants)
...right...

Needless to say it lead to a long discussion about why you would get a tattoo and (on my part) the reasons why a tattoo should be something significant in your life…to which he replied… “Eh…what can I say? I like ‘em.”

Día de La Madre

Although it’s a little bit late, FELIZ DÍA DE LA MADRE (especially to my wonderful mother, Debbie, and my wonderful future mother-in-law, Eleanor)! Although this post is fairly late for Mother’s Day in the states (which was last Sunday), it’s only un poquito tarde for Día de la madre as it is celebrated in Guatemala – always on May 10th. On Tuesday I went up to the head of Básico’s office to drop off some papers and in return was handed an invitation to a Mother’s Day luncheon. I turned to Profe Francisco and said, “Thank you Profe, but I’m not a mother.” “That’s ok,” he said, “it’s for all the mothers – current and future!” How do you respond to that?

I was convinced that this was one of those oh-so-common Guatemalan meetings that I should just bail on. Believe me – there are a lot of them (the excuses: 1. Oh sorry I missed that meeting, I didn’t really understand what you were saying – my Spanish isn’t so good! And 2. I didn’t know that meeting included me... and 3. We had a meeting? Oh, I’m sorry, I never got that message….) have become kind of common phrases since moving to Guatemala…). Regardless, after receiving the invitation I immediately went and told Molly exactly how lame/weird this meeting would be. Her response? “Dude. We’re totally going – it’s gunna be awesome.” Recently, basically since becoming beyond homesick, I’ve been realizing how negative I’ve been about everything, and I decided she was right. Not only were we going – we were going to ENJOY IT gosh darn it!

At 1 pm Molly and I walked to the library. Oddly enough, being 15 minutes late, we were STILL the first ones to the library. Shocking. We sat down at a table and were soon accompanied by Julissa and Francis, two sisters who are both doing their year of service and who are insanely awesome (and also non-moms). The library was soon filled with the women from the school who were all seated and then served by the men of the school (taquitos and homemade Danishes – yum!) Ok, so the lunch was worth it…kind of.

After receiving our hand delivered lunch we were all given interesting cards. I use “interesting” because I don’t really know how else to describe them…so just have a look…

The card that all the women were presented with…

Sometimes it baffles me how “alright” people are with breastfeeding in this country. Show your knees in a dress? HECK NO! Show a little bit of cleavage? I THINK NOT! Pop out your breast to feed your babies? WHY NOT?? Regardless, it was hard to believe that they actually PRINTED it and put it on a card. Wow. And I’m not even a mom…que suerte!

After receiving our tacos, Danish, and cards, there were then presentations on mothers which included: 2 youtube videos (one actually showing a mom birthing a baby with the caption “thank you for suffering through birth for me…”), one of the teacher’s singing 2 heartfelt songs (sounding like a bad ‘80’s karaoke singer complete with closed eyes, clenched fists and all!), and an “interpretive performance” by a new teacher at the school in which he acted as a child whose mother had just passed away….it was moving…it was…hard to keep a straight face… In fact, it was hard to keep a straight face throughout ANY of it – including when some of the mothers were asked to tell funny anecdotes about their children and started talking about inappropriate topics….awkward! SO awkward!

I don’t really think this blog post could EVER do our Mother’s Day here at NPH justice – I wish I could convey all the emotions we felt during that meeting to you...but I just don’t think it’s possible… Instead, I will just say, it makes me appreciate the *subtle* way that we celebrate in the states: with flowers and cards and dinners. So to all the wonderful mothers (past, present, and future!) I wish you a (belated) Happy Mother’s Day!

Out of Breath

I’m not a person who likes exercise. Or really any type of physical exertion haha! I prefer to read a good book, or snuggle, or watch a movie… Regardless, I think I often forget how much more exercise I get on a daily basis here just walking around NPH than I would get in a week in the states. First of all, not having a car is a big one. I walk everywhere. And even though Parramos isn’t that far away, it’s still a LOT further than I would probably ever walk in the states AND we’ve got plenty of hills. Secondly, the volunteer houses are on the side of a hill. To get to the bottom is 104 stairs. Granted, I don’t live in House 7 anymore, so I don’t walk down ALL those stairs but house 6 isn’t too far from the bottom and it’s still a long way up and down roughly 5-6 times a day! Anyhoo. The purpose of this post is to say after being lazy and on vacation for just ONE WEEK, it was insanely difficult to go back to walking those stairs. I mean, I’m normally a little out of breath walking up them every day, but this week has been REAL rough. I’m thinking maybe I’ll actually start an exercise regime when I get back to the states? Maybe?

An Interesting Way of Doing Things

Here in Guatemala I feel like we always have an interesting way of doing things… On Monday I hopped in our shower at lunch time – the perfect time to shower: plenty of hot water, nobody waiting in line, and lots of free time (as teachers we get almost 2 hours free for lunch…) But for some reason the shower was scalding hot. I tried to shower like normal but I couldn’t aguantar the heat (I just couldn’t deal!) I finally turned off the water and yelled for Katie to check our other shower to see if it was really hot too, but alas, the other shower was just a trickle of cold water, even when turned on at full force. Resigned, I tried to turn the shower back on…but there was no water! I kept turning the knob but only a small stream of water fell, and now that was cold too. I was so confused and I still needed to wash my hair!

Now when I was little and didn’t feel like washing my hair, my mom would just bring the shampoo and conditioner down to the kitchen and we’d wash my hair in the sink. So I thought…why not? The difference?

Our sink here is outside. And everyone from the office to the clinic to the school can see you.

Regardless, I gathered the bottles and headed to the Pila out back. I shampooed and conditioned my hair and then headed back inside. Problem temporarily solved! Yet there we were: two showers and not-a-one worked (they have since both been fixed - hooray!) It’s still the little things that baffle me about this place.

Our First Vacation!

Last week was such an amazing week with Jon! It felt so great to be able to show him the country that I have called home for the past 10 months, show him around NPH, have him meet my friends here, let him see how I live day-to-day, and, of course, introduce him to some of my students and the girls in my section, plus, not to mention – go on our first ever vacation!

We spent his first Saturday and Sunday in Guatemala at NPH, taking a tour, and hanging out with my section. My girls were COMPLETELY enamored by him – “Que guapo” they’d all say (how handsome!) But at the same time (and per usual) they didn’t listen to/remember anything that he said.

“What’s his name again?” “How old is he?” “When is his birthday?”

I must have heard these 3 questions about 4 times each from every single one of my girls each time we went to the section. Seriously. They couldn’t seem to think of any other questions to ask him, yet they were excited to just spend time AROUND him..at least most of them….There were a few girls who didn’t quite fit the mold, like Luvia – who kept hitting him and trying to kick him, and Kimberli – who moved away from us when we sat down to eat with her. But the others certainly made up for it – providing him with a continuous stream of attention…and some hugs. ESPECIALLY Francisca, the little girl who is in the “especiales” (has special needs) and who is in my section. I don’t think Jon has ever really been in love with another girl before…but if I had to pick anyone…it would probably be Francisca, who I don’t think ever stopped hugging him or holding his hands when we were around :). I was only a little jealous…

In addition, we spent part of my birthday on Sunday hanging out in the baby’s house, just for kicks. I think Jon had a pretty enjoyable time…wouldn’t you say?

Jon with Yay-Yay

Jon with the babies! (They loved his facial hair!)

Me with mah babiessssss :)

After spending my birthday with the volunteers in the morning, the babies at lunch, and my section in the afternoon, Jon and I headed to Antigua to spend the night there and enjoy a glorious dinner (and some amazing wine – I forgot how much I love wine!) at “La Peña del Sol.”

Going out for my birthday dinner!

Next stop? After 8 hours on a bus/shuttle/boat, Jon and I found ourselves at Finca Tatín – aka a hotel/hostel located on the Río Tatín (Tatín River) and in the middle of a jungle. Literally. A JUNGLE.

Now, I had been told that the finca was in the middle of the jungle – but it just looked so cute in the pictures! (You can check it out here.) And a jungle? What an adventure! It also helps that all my friends and fellow volunteers gave it rave reviews and talked about how awesome it was and how much we would love it there. So there we were. In the middle of the jungle. I feel like anyone that knows me even the SLIGHTEST bit, should know that I am not an outdoors person. So what do you get when you put a girl like me in the middle of a jungle? Not a very happy camper :-p. Regardless, Jon and I made the most of our time at the finca and enjoyed spending a lot of quality time together :).

On Tuesday we spent the day kayaking on the rivers in and around the finca and then relaxing with some beers and the delicious food that the finca served (seriously SO good). Wednesday morning was fairly rainy, but we decided to brave the weather, thinking the rain would probably subside fairly soon. (Side note: it POURED every night we were there from roughly midnight until 7 am and then was gorgeous the rest of the day…so not such strange thinking that the rain would stop sometime in the early morning…) Regardless, we took a boat to nearby Livingston to spend the day at the Siete Altares (the Seven Altars – aka a group of 7 waterfalls) and the beach, Playa Blanca. When we got to Livingston it was still pouring and, needless to say, none of the boat drivers were too keen to take us to either place (and they flat our REFUSED to take us to the beach! Lame.) We finally found a boat driver that was willing to brave the storm, Manuel. As we pulled out of the dock there were other boat drivers actually LAUGHING at how foolish we were, to which Manuel replied “well…we’re just gunna have an adventure and get ourselves a little wet!” Manuel drove us from Livingston to the Siete Altares…basically in a storm – the waves were up over the boat. It was quite the adventure as he said! We ended up at the 7 altars and well, I didn’t realize that we would be CLIMBING the waterfalls and that, unfortunately, I was not wearing the appropriate shoes to finish all of the climbing. Major bummer. So while we only got to see 6 of the 7 waterfalls, it was still absolutely beautiful :).

Jon and I at the Siete Altares

Not only was it really beautiful, but Jon WAS wearing the appropriate shoes…so Manuel took him on their own little adventure to jump off a waterfall! He set me up with a great spot to take pictures and I got some sweet shots of the two of them climbing before Jon made the leap!

Jon and our guide, Manuel, (over on the left) climbing on the waterfall!

Jon jumping off the waterfall!

While at the siete altares, the rain had subsided for a bit and it became beautiful and sunny :). After swimming around in the falls for a bit, Jon and I made our way back to Livingston with Manuel...right before the skies opened up again and we were left to walk around Livingston in the rain. We wandered around, walked to the two closest beaches (which were just kind of people’s backyards on the water…), and, realizing there really wasn’t much to do in Livingston without being able to go to the Playa Blanca, we bought a deck of cards, a couple of beers, and played cards until our boat came to pick us up :).

Jon looking fly (and sporting a lime…) as we enjoyed some Brahva

Happy the sun finally came out!

The dock in Livingston

On the way back to Livingston we took some pictures of the rivers and the surrounding jungle, including the winner below with the tires hanging. Why are there 2 tire swings hanging directly next to a cliff you ask? How could that possibly be any fun or safe? Well it’s to keep your drinks safe from the water of course!

The view from our boat on the Rio Dulce

Beer holders!

On Thursday morning we said goodbye to the Finca, but not before taking some awesome pictures to show you EXACTLY how crazy where we were staying was… Enjoy!

The bed. And yes. That IS a giant mosquito/bug net. (And NO. It did not keep out the 3 inch long spider that crawled into bed with us…)

Our bathroom...

The view from right outside our cabana. Yup. THE JUNGLE.

One of the little cabanas…

The "Big" room shared by everyone

The comedor (aka dining room) - the food was so good!

The walk from the big room down to the river!

The Rio Tatin

Jon and I before heading back to Rio Dulce

Thursday we headed into Rio Dulce to catch our bus back to Antigua so we could spend a few days there. We arrived in town around 11 and our bus wasn’t until 3, so we decided to take a nice leisurely stroll to the Castillo de San Felipe – aka Saint Felipe’s Castle. We had seen it on a previous boat ride and thought, why not? Because really...what else is there to do in Rio Dulce? We saw a sign in town that said “Castillo San Felipe – 2 km” and we thought (or at least I thought) “2 km? not so bad – let’s walk instead of taking the bus, it should only take 15 minutes or so.” So we began the walk. And the rains began. It rained for probably the first 1.5 kilometers. We kept walking. That’s when we saw another sign – “Castillo San Felipe – 2 km.”

Wait. What?

It turns out there is a HOTEL Castillo San Felipe at approximately 2 km and the ACTUAL Castillo de San Felipe at about 4 km. WHO KNEW? Certainly not us. (Additional side note – Guatemalans are EXTREMELY bad at marking distances…4 km should NOT have taken nearly an HOUR to walk!) I also felt pretty terrible because Jon was wearing a new pair of unbroken-in sandals that he had just bought that morning…slightly painful. After another grueling 2.5 km, (give or take…) this time being pelting with the late morning blazing hot sun, we finally arrived at our destination. WHEW!

El Castillo de San Felipe in Rio Dulce

Jon and I in front of the castillo...kind of...

Cannons on the top of the Castillo

We wandered around the Castillo (which was actually used as a fort to keep pirates away from the area) for a while and then we trekked back to the bus stop to take the nice, comfy bus back to town. Totally worth the 30 minute wait with some colorful characters and the 3Q per person. After returning to civilization we grabbed some delicious pizza in town before boarding the bus. At this point my stomach was feeling pretty lousy and all I wanted to do was lie down. Jon and I settled in on the bus to watch “Rush Hour 3” and “Shooter” and ride the 6 or so hours back to the capital. As we approached the capital my stomach was a huge mess. I couldn’t sit up or lie down without being in tremendous pain. All of a sudden, right about the time we were just reaching the capital, I looked at Jon and said “I’m gunna throw up. Right now.” He started to take off his shirt, realized I was wearing a sweatshirt and told me to throw up in that! Instead, I darted for the front of the bus, where the “driving assistant” (per se) THANKFULLY realized what was going on and opened the window that was on the front door, just as I threw up EVERYWHERE. I proceeded to throw up, out the front door of the bus for a good 6-7 blocks…just as we made it to the bus depot! I felt RIDICULOUS! And not only that, but after throwing up, people immediately got in my face asking if we needed a taxi! Crazy! Thank heaven that was the end of that for the night. We got in a shuttle from the capital and rode to Antigua, arrived around 10:30 pm and immediately passed out. Whew.

Jon and I spent the next 2 days touring around Antigua – going to the market (where I introduced him to my fabulous friend, Florinda, and we bought some goodies for our wedding :)), eating delicious food, watching television (what a novel idea!), and just being lazy and happy :). On Saturday afternoon we returned to Parramos, went to the fresh food market to buy fixings for some delicious meals, chowed down on homemade guacamole and licuados (smoothies), and spent the night hanging out with the girls in my section. The next morning we rode to the airport to say goodbye….yet this goodbye was by far the least sad of all the goodbyes I think we’ve ever said.

Jon and I started dating when we were 16. Since that time, we have dated for almost 6 years in total, 4 of those being lost distance (although never quite as long as right now…) After 6 years together, 4 years of college at different schools, 4 years of being a long distance couple, and one year spent in Guatemala, Jon and I will finally be together for good in 10 short weeks. Just 10 weeks. After all the tearful goodbyes, after all the wondering about when the day would come, it will be here in just 10 weeks. And I could not be more grateful. Jon and I were fortunate to have found true love at such a young age. And what’s more is that we are incredibly fortunate to each have the understanding of the other. Neither of us has ever wanted anything but the happiness of the other. And unfortunately it has lead us (physically) down very different paths – college, grad school, Americorps, and Guatemala. Yet here we are 6 years later with all those beautiful memories behind us, and a wonderful life together spread out before us. And last weekend, we said the last extended goodbye of our lives. And it was amazing.

So yes, I was incredibly sad to see him go. Yes, there were still tears, but more than that, there was the joy of knowing that in just 10 short weeks we’ll be together again for good :).