Were Back!

Chad and I just before we loaded onto the boat for the 2 1/2 hour boat ride. On our way to Puerto Barrios

Early morning in Puerto Barrios

It is so good to be home! Guatemala was so amazing! We really loved it. We had so many great experiences that I hope I can express in my words how great it really was. I am going to try to do a couple of days at a time so that way I don't have one super long post.

We flew out on Friday April 17 at 12:00 noon. Our flight was 2 hours delayed so we were worried about missing our connecting flight in Houston. Well we got into Houston and they rushed our group off of the plane, out a back door, on a bus that took us across the entire airport. Apparently they were holding our connecting plane for over an hour for our group. Then we were on our way to Guatemala. Landing in a third word country was quite different than the USA. Very dirty, unorganized, and men with loaded machine guns every where you turn. We were picked up by shuttle and taken to our hotel. A quick swim in the pool and a good nights rest was very welcomed. When we woke we had a great little breakfast and we were off.

April 18: Happy Birthday to Chad. We loaded the bus, which was quite nice and pretty comfortable. I presented Chad with a little MP3 player that some friends helped me record on before we left. I had as many people in our ward as I could contact, come and record happy birthday greetings to Chad. It was great and he was very surprised. We were on the bus for about 5 hours and we made one pit stop at a little convenience store as soon as we unloaded we were approached by at least a dozen women and children trying to sell us cashews. They were balancing baskets of them on their heads, very interesting and a little uncomfortable. After the bus ride we had a nice lunch of chicken, rice and fruit and then onto the boats. We had three motor boats to take our group to Puerto Barrios. This boat ride was awesome, a little bumpy and rough but wow what a way to see Guatemala. It was beautiful and amazing. There were at one time little canoes with children no older than 5 in them, trying to get money from us. Which they did because they were very cute! The boat ride lasted 2 and 1/2 hours.Happy Birthday Chad!

We got into Puerto Barrios that evening, checked into our hotel which was pretty interesting. We had a nice dinner consisting of chicken, rice and fruit. After dinner that night, the waiters brought out a pastry with candles in it for Chad and we all sang to him. The bugs were out strong here, so the bugspray came out of the bags and from this point on we were pretty much coated in bug spray and hand sanitizer.

April 19: Rise and shine! We had an early breakfast, some quick picture taking and then back on the bus. We then road the bus for 4 hours and then stopped at a police check point. Which was dirty and old. Not the ideal place for a potty break, but when you got to go...you go! Then we loaded on one of two 20 passenger vans with open windows. And we drove for 2 hours on a dirt, bumpy road up the mountain. Now this country was beautiful. I was just praying that we would not tumble down the 1000 foot cliffs that were next to us on this dirt road and I prayed that another car would not be coming the other way. I held my breath more than once! But it was beautiful. Chad teaching the boys outside of the church
how to do the fist explosion.
The little girls just outside of the church, after Sacrament meeting

We then stopped to attend Sacrament meeting, in our yucky clothes...No skirts, just pants or capris, but that was ok, we were welcomed with open arms. It was so cool to go to this little church deep in the jungle and to sing "We Thank Thee Oh God for a Prophet" in three languages (Spanish, Catchee and English) and knowing that we were singing about the same man. So dang cool! Then we were off to the village of Chimaxyat, about 30 minutes away. We continued to drive up our windy, cliff lined road until we turned a corner and wow what a sight! There linning the tiny road were these beautiful people. Dark skinned, dressed in color, women wearing skirts and flip flops or no shoes at all, shying away from their new visitors and the men in work boots- some with holes in them, T-shirts that obviously they didn't know what they said, I saw one with a George Strait concert shirt on and another with a Kentucky Derby shirt. And children, lots of sweet smiling children. They were so excited for us. We had quite the welcome. When we got out of our vehicles the men and boys lined up to take our luggage, tents and supplies...We couldn't get near our stuff, they were so anxious to serve. Chad immediately taught the children how to do the nuckle hit (I don't know what it's called but when you hit your hand with theirs and you have a closed fist). The kids loved it. We then followed the villagers down to the village. The surroundings were beautiful. They had a program ready for us. They were dedicating the new school building that last year Chad's company started helping them with. They were so excited it was completed. After a prayer of some sort in their language (Catchee) the party began. They had music they were playing with home made instruments and lots of dancing. As our welcome meal the villagers donated food to us (they have very little, so this was huge) and made us a welcome soup. Which was some sort of broth with a part of a chicken in it as well as rice and homemade corn tortillas. I felt like I was on a mission. I ate what I could which was a lot more than I thought. It was interesting to have all of these little faces watch you eat knowing that because you are eating they are not! Wow, what an experience. After dinner we set up camp and continued with the dancing and music.

Our camp was on part of their soccer field
I had brought some bubbles with me so I got those out, those kids went nuts! They loved the bubbles, something so simple and they were extatic. As the day turned into night we settled in our tents and crashed, we were all very exhausted.The kids in the village LOVED the bubbles