Wednesday, August 3, 2011

guatty

Back in college, I spent the spring breaks of my sophomore and junior years in Guatemala. These trips were both mission trips through Wesley, the campus ministry I was involved in at UGA.

I LOVE GUATEMALA. Can I just say that?? And even though I haven't been since 2004, it is still one of my favorite places ever, despite the fact that it is the place where I contracted giardia,  which is an incredibly awful parasitic infection (and a great way to lose 15 pounds in about two days!!). When I find out I have students in my classes from Guatemala, I am automatically biased, because Guatemala=awesome. Some of my favorite friends were acquired on these trips, folks you might know like Lisa and Jolene (not that Jo blogs, but she does comment).

So the place we visited in Guatty was...remote. Here's how you get there. Fly to Guatemala City. Then take a bus for 14 hours. Then get out and go on horseback for another 2 hours. Then you're there! Easy peasy, right? That's why I go back and visit so often.

*sigh* At least I have my pictures.


OK, this picture was from one of the much larger cities. But hello-- a shoe store named after me?? PERFECT.


This little boy, Tul, was my FAVORITE. I fell in love with him in 2003. And when I went back in 2004, HE REMEMBERED ME. And I him. And he is still my favorite, even though he's probably like 40 now.

Seriously, Guatemala is BEAUTIFUL. This is at Lake Panajachel, which is probably misspelled, and is a tourist destination in Guatty.

We had to entertain ourselves on the long bus ride.
Banana tree!
How could you NOT love these kids to death??!!! She is so beautiful!
The kids loved my sweet cell phone (not that they had any idea what it did). Ahhh, Nokia goodness.

Also interesting was that they didn't speak Spanish here. So everything had to be translated TWICE. From English to Spanish, then from Spanish to Ixchel (their language)...because no people speak both Ixchel AND English. Ixchel was a very interesting language. Very clicky.

Now I have to go to work. But I'd much rather go to Guatty. Just sayin'.
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6 comments:

  1. MollyanneAugust 3, 2011 at 9:58 AM

    It's fun to see glimpses of old Wesley folk in these pictures. =) The Erika store reminds me of a picture of my brother in front of a theatre in England called the Garrick theatre (his name). How would have guessed?!

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  2. Jenny FlemingAugust 3, 2011 at 12:20 PM

    I have such sweet memories of the Wesley Mission trips I went on (Omaha, Costa Rica, and Italy). How in the world did we not go on any together????

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  3. The JoinersAugust 3, 2011 at 1:13 PM

    Two things:

    1. Noah, our dog, had giardia when we got him, so you have something in common!
    2. After all that pouting about not being tagged to do the "Seven" post, you STILL have not done it!! I'm disappointed.

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  4. Lisa ElaineAugust 3, 2011 at 4:08 PM

    Woot Woot! I remember Bartholemew- what a cutie! LOVE Guatemala. I miss it.

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  5. AnonymousAugust 3, 2011 at 10:04 PM

    Yaaaaaay my favorite post of the year :) I still have the DVD, somewhere..I made Tato watch it and he wasn't very impressed...but then again, he is from Mexico and he says Guatemala is just like southern Mexico (so we will def have to make a trip there one day)...ahh, memories :)...too bad you didn't mention one of the best parts of the trip (tus ojos........)

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  6. ~StephanieAugust 4, 2011 at 12:14 AM

    I'm impressed that the store was spelled with a K. :)

    ReplyDelete

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