Day 24

Epic day.

Today we hosted a family day on the land. We asked all the workers to invite their kids and wives to come spend an afternoon with us. Expecting only 15 kids to come, we ended up having over 30 kids! It was amazing! We had many activities planned for the kids. First we started off with a tour of the first house, then "Uncle Steve" pulled out his kite and all the guys hovered around him, completely fascinated! The first activity was making clay hearts. These were made from the same soil that was excavated from the land for the first house. We encouraged the kids to give the clay hearts to their dad's on Father's Day! Afterwards, Pedro showed the kids the eco-bricks and how they can help out by filling plastic bottles with plastic bags! They got super excited and were so into it! I think this will be a fabulous way for recycling in Guatemala...since there is no such thing right now! Tricia then led the kids to plant cilantro into the bamboo sticks which they got to bring home! And finally (and the best part), was taking family photos of everyone in front of the house. I think this would be such a great gift them them especially since many of them probably don't have photos of the whole family.

Even though some kids were quite shy, I think everyone had a fabulous time. The sweetest part was when a few moms came up to thank me with a hug and a kiss. That was so sweet and so amazing. :)

I also have a boy crush on little Wilson. He was so cute. He kept running up to me and then running away as soon as I tried to take a picture of him. And then out of the blue, he would come and stand with me...just hanging out. He was so sweet and so happy. Really adorable. :) (oh and that's Wilson...first picture on the left.)

Day 18 - 23

It's been a really good past few days! Here's a quite update: Last week we worked on the land again and they started building the first bag above ground! They have been moving so fast with this whole process....I think the whole house will be built in the next few weeks!

I also went to Lake Atitlan for the weekend with my fellow housemates! It was a very relaxing weekend of eating, drinking, sitting and sleeping. :) San Pedro (the town were we were at) is a cute little party town and has a total beachy feel to it. It was so relaxing! And drinks are cheap! $2 for a mojito! Gimme 3 please! :)

This morning, we went to an elementary school in Tecpán to invite the kids to help us create eco-bricks for the children's village! Eco-bricks are plastic bottles filled with plastic bags! It's an amazing idea to get the kids to start recycling! The kids all got so excited that they can help out with building the children's village! When we told them that this will be a village for abandoned kids, one girl came up to us and told us that her cousin was abandoned. It was very touching....and gives them a bigger incentive to help us out since they are very aware of the situation.

Tomorrow we are organizing a "Family Day" on the land. We have asked all the local workers to invite their kids and their wives so they can learn more about what their dad is doing! We have organized many activities for the kids including making clay hearts with the same soil that is used to build the houses, planting cilantro seeds into a bamboo "pot", a quick lesson on the Mayan culture, teaching them about the eco-bricks and of course, snacks!!! I'm pretty excited, it will be an amazing day....so stay tuned for pictures to come!!

The clay hearts that we are going to have the kids make for Father's Day!

A local roaster in San Pedro, Lake Atitlan!

My fellow volunteering housemates, Parker, Calum and Kate, enjoying drinks at Buddha Bar for hours.....yum!

Amazing kids.... :)

Day 16 & 17

Yesterday was a productive work day in the office! We finally sent out the invitations to fellow NGO's in Guatemala for our workshop in July! Hopefully we will get some good responses and people interested in attending! Today, we brought our laptops and worked on the land! It was amazing! Just seeing how much has changed since the last time I was on the land (just over a week ago) was just fascinating. They have laid out the floorplan on the first house and started filling the bags with dirt to create the outdoor walls! Exciting!!

Afterwards, Heather, Denis and I went for a walk around the village and met 2 wonderful ladies with their kids! The kids were so sweet and loved posing for my camera! Laughing and smiling kids definately made my day. :)

Filling the bags with dirt and cement to create the outdoor walls!

The layout of the first house! How cool is that?

Day 13, 14, 15

Sorry for the delayed post! It's been quiet for the past few days except for our little adventure on Saturday as we were driving back to Tecpan! Heather, Greg, Heather's dad and her brother came into Antigua for the night on Friday and we all drove back to Tecpan on Saturday. So as we turned the corner to head onto the highway from Antigua to Tecpan, Heather noticed that there was a lot of steam coming out of the hood and so Greg went to check it out. Turned out that there was a hole in the radiator! Unfortunately that meant it would not have been safe to drive an hour back to Tecpan. As we were deciding on what to do, a tow truck drives by and stops in front of the truck! The two men come out and randomly ask "Do you guys need a ride back to Tecpan? We recognize you guys and know where you live!" So for $60, we ended up sitting inside the truck, on top of the tow truck! Amazing...the timing of things. :)

I also went to a coffee cupping session at Finca Filadelphia in Antigua on Saturday morning and in the middle of the cupping session, my new barista friend, Mynor (from Tecpan) and his friend popped by because they wanted to learn more about coffee from the coffee master! How random was that? It was a fun cupping session....I wrote more about it on the Ethical Bean blog which will be posted up soon!

A truck on top of a truck!

Drinking a yummy coconut water while trying to figure out what to do!

The entrance to Finca Filadelphia.

Freshly roasted beans!

Me and my spitting funnel!

With Mynor and the cupping master!

A cute church that we drove by along the way.

A old, ruined church

Day 12

Not much of an update today. It was a nice and relaxing day at the market and then I hung out with some friends at a rooftop bar near our Spanish school! I did sign up for a Coffee Cupping tour for Saturday which I'm quite excited about! I am eager to see the difference (if any) between what learned about cupping from Aaron vs. how they cup the coffee here in Guatemala. I'm sure there won't be much of a difference, but it'll be cool to experience anyways.

Also, the only reason that I'm blogging every night is because it's dangerous to go out at night. So since I'm home by 6:30pm every night, other than Spanish homework, I really don't have much to do! :)

Enjoying a special Guatemalan beer concoction - Moza dark beer + vegetable juice + worchestershire sauce + tabasco + black pepper.

The verdict: the first sip was nice, but once I reached half way, I got a bit sick of it.

The lovely Dutch couple that was also living in our homestay!

My fellow Canadian friend, Annetta and I chilling at the patio of our homestay.

The view from our patio - thats the volcano that had spirts of lava! We missed it though. :(

With some fellow Spanish school students!

Jadine - this one is for you. My new friend, Mischa! She loves being pet on the head! Super cute, but she meows SOOOO much! Apparently, Mischa ran away from home for a month, and she just came home this morning!

Day 11

Today was a nice and relaxing day. After Spanish classes, I went to the Macadamia Nut farm with 2 other students as well as our guide, Milton. We had our first chicken bus experience, which I admit was pretty exciting!! I felt just like a local! Except that everyone kept staring at us... Chicken buses tend to be a bit more on the dangerous side. I have heard of a few stories that chicken buses go too fast and accidents happen (moreso out of town trips)...and I have also heard of stories where the driver gets exploited by a gang member and then crazy things happen. We were fine. :)

The macadamia nut farm was amazing! They gave us free macadamia nut oil facials and as well as fed us macadamia nuts and chocolates with macadamia nut! I ended up purchasing a bag of coffee from the farm next door. There was no label....but it was grown, processed and roasted in the farm next door....so we'll see how it tastes! It does smell good at least!

Afterwards, we came back to our homestay and hanged out on the patio with wine and chips. It was amazing as there was lightening flashing behind us, and we also had a view of the volcano which apparently was spewing out a bit of lava....which I unfortunately missed!!! Nevertheless, it was a fabulous day!

Their little sanctuary.

Whoohoo facial time! :)

Do I look 19? Supposedly, this macademia nut oil and cream facial is supposed to make me look 10 years younger!

Day 10

Hola amigos!

Today was tiring. After a confusing 4 hour lesson on Spanish, we hiked up a small hill to see the Cerro de la Cruz which overlooks Antigua. It was beautiful! Unfortunately it was a bit foggy so we couldn't get a clear view of the Volcano Pacaya but it was beautiful nonetheless. After a drink with some fellow Spanish school students, I went to the supermarket to get my 2nd bottle of $4 Chilean wine. :)

Pictures below are from the Cerro de la Cruz.