t.i.g... baby!

Considering I have been home from Guatemala for over a month now, it's definitely time to blog about my little journey.  Several people have asked how the trip went, and my response is always the same.  "I am ready to go back!" And it's true.  I can't wait until my next trip... And there will be a next trip!

Our journey began on Saturday June 8th with a shuttle ride to the Fort Smith airport - did you know this airport has award-winning restrooms?  Well they do.  And if the start of the trip were any indicator of how the rest of the trip was going to be, I should have known right then it would be awesome.  After a quick Starbucks and McDonalds run at the Dallas airport, we boarded our flight to Guatemala City.  Three hours later, we were on the ground, navigating through customs and making our way to the hotel.  After freshening up a bit, we met our driver for the week - Arcenio - and headed out to the city of Antigua for dinner and ice cream.  My first efforts in communicating en Espanol occurred in Antigua when asking about the ice cream flavors... "que tipo?"

The Arch in Antigua

On Sunday morning we headed out to the city church for morning worship and lunch.   That afternoon our group loaded up on the bus and headed out to the village of Santa Luisa along with another bus of amigos from the city church.  We attended the evening worship in Santa Luisa and met some of the kids we'd be hanging out with for the next couple of days.  On our way back into the city we stopped at a restaurant that served "meter pizza" - and for this little math geek, it was pretty great.

"Welcome Brothers and Sisters from Arkansas"

Monday morning began with a trip to the grocery store and city church to purchase supplies for and assemble our sandwiches for lunch that day.  I believe this was the morning that a few members of our group nearly got ran over by a bus... named Dolce Jesus.  From that moment on... we were always on the lookout for the bus that read "Sweet Jesus."  After our sandwiches were packed, and our team was safe and accounted for, we headed back out to Santa Luisa for a day filled with medical clinics, construction and hanging out with kids.  That afternoon there was a huge storm that brought in a nice breeze and rain... and lightning that may or may not have traveled through the metal roof we were under.  The Guatemalan kids thought it was funny to hear the white girl from Arkansas scream.  (If any of you are still wondering who the white girl from Arkansas might be... she looks a lot like me.)  These kids also love playing a little game called Pato, Pato, Gonzo... can you guess?  We played A LOT of Duck, Duck, Goose in Santa Luisa!

We had a similar schedule on Tuesday as we did the day before, with the addition of playing soccer at the kids' school.  Let's just say that the group of ladies who volunteered to go to the school was probably not the group that you'd pick to be on an Olympic soccer team.  Or at least this sweet teacher who wanted to visit the school isn't the girl you'd pick to be on an Olympic soccer team.  I don't think I have ever been so hot in my entire life!  My favorite quotes from this futbol match include...

"Ladies!  We just got skunked by a bunch of kids!  Be aggressive!"

and,

"Sarah, do NOT jump over the ball."

... courtesy of my pastor, Jonathan.  :)

It was sad leaving Santa Luisa Tuesday night knowing we would not return the following day.  But I took great comfort in knowing that I will return some day.  As I was leaving I gave Sister Yolanda a hug... it touched me to know that even though we could not communicate with words that we didn't end up needing them.  A hug said it all.

Futbol Field at the Santa Luisa School

Pato, Pato, Gonzo!

I wanted to take this cutie home with me!

And this little sweetie too!

Wednesday morning began with a stroll down paparazzi lane.  There was a PAGEANT going on in the mall next to our hotel.  I am super intrigued by the pageant world of Toddlers and Tiaras... and I could not stop staring.  They didn't seem to mind.

Little Miss Latin America

Mister Venezuela of course!

On our way out to the mountaintop village of Bejucalito we stopped at a gas station with the last clean toilet.  This is where I began my carer in petty theft by stealing a Sprite from the convenience store in front of an armed security guard.  Apparently I have a knack for petty theft... who knew?  It was a total accident, and as soon as David pointed out that I had exited the store with the merchandise - ironically trying to get enough cash to PAY for the Sprite - I quickly entered undetected, paid for my Sprite and thanked Jesus that I hadn't been caught!  (Luckily the guard had been grilling another girl from our group about her granola bar purchase, and my little charade went undetected.)

Once we arrived in Bejucalito, our medical clinic set up and the Jesus Film was shown to the kids at school.  This was the first time that our church has formally presented the Gospel in this village.  After the film we continued with more soccer playing, frisbee throwing and nail painting.  One thing I thought was sooooo neat about this village was that it had been visited by TOMS shoes!  Lots of the kids were wearing them.  I love TOMS, and now I love them even more!

Just a little exponent lesson in Bejucalito :)

TOMS 

Thursday we headed out to another village near Antuigua called San Filipe.  We visited a school ran by an organization from the UK and helped out at coffee plantation.  We got to learn how our friend Pabs performs a coffee tasting - very interesting (and gross!) stuff!  After spending the afternoon at the coffee plantation, we went back to Antigua for some market shopping and dinner.

At the coffee plantation...

Antigua, Guatemala

Our designated "Adventure Day" was on Friday - even though we had been having adventures all week!  We made our way to a lake surrounded by three volcanoes, and took a boat ride into a port across the lake.  We shopped around for a little while, climbed back on the boat, made our way back across the lake and ate lunch at a place called Casablanca.  We had Pizza Hut Friday evening for dinner and began packing our things to head back to the States.

View of the lake

Tossed by the waves!

Coca Cola stop at the market

A friend of Dolce Jesus... these fancy school busses were everywhere!

We had an easy travel day back to the US - other than the pilot who accused me of stealing chips at Subway.  He must have heard about my reputation... We made it safely back home and picked up our pup at doggie daycare on the way.  I had missed my buddy.

Overall I think that my high school Spanish teacher Senora Karraker would be proud of my attempts to speak a language foreign to me... or she'd be really embarrassed and disappointed.  It could really go either way.  But when it comes right down to it, hugs and smiles and laughter don't need much of a translation.

Like I said earlier, I really can't wait to go back.  I had such a great time.  One moment that stuck out the most to me was on Sunday morning during the worship service.  We attempted to sing the worship songs in Spanish - but sometimes I gave in and sang in English.  And then it hit me.  "This is like Heaven."  Every tribe.  Every tongue.  Every nation.