Trip to Guatemala

Jessica and I spent the week in Guatemala. Guatemala City

We stayed in Guatemala City with Sister and Elder Clarke, my Mission President, now serving as Area President of Cental America. We attended the Guatemala City Temple. It was nice to return to the temple after 8 months.

Sister Clarke got a big kick out of this guy sleeping in his wheelbarrow.
We hiked Volcan Pacaya, a live volcano.

Antigua

We spent two nights in Antigua, a great colonial style town with cobblestone streets and brightly colored buildings and Volcan Pacaya soaring over it. We stayed at a cool little hostel. What a view from El Cerro de la Cruz.

Can you tell that Jessica is pregnant in this picture? She just started to get a belly on this trip!

The city is spotted with of beautiful cathedrals and the ruins of countless monestaries that were destroyed in an earthquake years ago.

I'm not sure just how much help this Bombero Municipal (Fire Truck) would be in the case of a fire.

Some of the finest textiles are hand produced in Guatemala, like this babay blanket that we bought for $30. Weaved by this woman and embroidered by her husband.

No where in Belize will you find any American stores or restaurant, so I hate admit that we were pretty excited to see an Antigua style McDonalds.

I liked this guy... risking his life to get the windows clean.Three wheeled Indian "Tuc-tuc's" can take you anywhere in town for less than a buck, but you get the heck jolted out of you on the cobblestone roads.

Lake Atitlan

We stayed two nights at Lake Atitlan, a beautiful lake surrounded by foliage covered mountains, three volcanoes, and a dozen villages.

We stayed at El Casa Del Mundo, The House of the World. Accessible only by boat, it consists of a few dozen cottages that are nestled away in the cliff side rising up above the water. Ranging in price from $30-$70.

The highlight of the trip, for me, was the bike ride around the lake. I rented a mountain bike for $2.50/hour and headed east from the town of Panajachel. I made my way through countless villages that rose up the mountain sides. I finished the 46 km ride at Santiago and took a boat back.

I stopped along side this woman's house to watch her weave and of course I ended up buying some of her textiles.

I rode through some incredible farm land, all of it handed tilled, planted, and harvested, moslty coffee beans, corn, and sugar cane.The things that the Guatemalans can carry on their backs and on their heads amazed me, especially the old ladies! We must have seen some ninety year old women packing firewood around like it was nothing. Everywhere we turned someone was hauling some huge bundle of sticks or rocks.

I rode my bike through a busy street market in San Lucas where they acted like they'd never seen a gringo before.

While I took a water break on the side of the road, this kid came walking right up to me proudly holding his empty five gallon water jug and rambled off a bunch of jibberish as if to tell me what a good helper is was being. It made me excited to be dad.

After the bike ride we soaked in the hot tub with some Dutch firends that we had made along the way. It took halkf a day to clean, fill, and heat the hot tub by firewood. The night time view was spectacular. And it felt great after a long ride.

Atitlan is a dreamland for meditation, yoga, and mental health enthusiasts, so we had to try yoga one morning.

On our last day we visited the last villiage that I had yet to visit. Coinicidentally it was the village's aniversary. They held a great parade and festival in honor of the La Virgen de la Cruz, the Virgin of the Cross, or some variation of that. It was a great way to spend our last few hours in Atitlan.

We had an amazing trip!