First, some FAQ about our family trip to Guatemala:
What prompted this trip?
Shane's parents are senior humanitarian missionaries for our church in Ciudad de Guatemala. Their primary focus is to better the lives of people living in Central America, so they've been able to travel around Honduras, Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, and Nicaragua.
They're coming home to Virginia in February, so we knew we'd better jump on the opportunity to visit them.
Were your kids good travelers?
We've taken our kids on so many long road and plane trips from one side of the country to the other, so they're used to entertaining themselves for long periods of time. They were incredible travelers -- even better than I expected they'd be. We had some nasty stomach bug episodes, sleepless nights and many early mornings, yet they rarely complained and rarely fought. BUT - we left Lela (18 months) home with my mom. She would have been a nightmare to travel with.
Is Guatemala safe for tourists?
Although my in-law's apartment is in the Americanized portion of Guatemala City, we traveled quite a bit to more rural parts of the country where American tourists are less common. We slept in different hotels and accommodations and I never once felt like my children or I were in danger. My in-laws have said the same thing. Of course, there are bad people everywhere in the world, but we found the Guatemalan people to be exceptionally warm, helpful, and kind.
Were your children impacted by seeing the Guatemalan culture?
Yes. I was able to visit my grandparents (also on a mission for our church) in Ecuador when I was eleven and it opened my eyes to 1.) my luck at being born an American, and 2.) therefore my duty in using what I have to bless the lives of others. I think my children were equally affected.
The funnest part for my kids, I think, was being able to connect with the children there, and realize that we are all brothers and sisters, despite our many differences.
What impacted you the most?
These thoughts:
Why was I born in a life of such ease - clean running water, indoor plumbing, a smartphone to guide my daily tasks, quality healthcare, a stable home environment. Why was I born into that and not these people? Where is God's hand in justifying the inequality of human circumstance? What is the afterlife's role in accounting for these injustices? What am I doing to account for these injustices?
What prompted this trip?
Shane's parents are senior humanitarian missionaries for our church in Ciudad de Guatemala. Their primary focus is to better the lives of people living in Central America, so they've been able to travel around Honduras, Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, and Nicaragua.
They're coming home to Virginia in February, so we knew we'd better jump on the opportunity to visit them.
Clara, perusing the beautiful displays of fruits and vegetables in the market
Were your kids good travelers?
We've taken our kids on so many long road and plane trips from one side of the country to the other, so they're used to entertaining themselves for long periods of time. They were incredible travelers -- even better than I expected they'd be. We had some nasty stomach bug episodes, sleepless nights and many early mornings, yet they rarely complained and rarely fought. BUT - we left Lela (18 months) home with my mom. She would have been a nightmare to travel with.
Is Guatemala safe for tourists?
There were a handful of children playing on a platform in the middle of the market. I hopped up and asked them to pose for some pictures. This little girl was the only one brave enough not to run away.
Although my in-law's apartment is in the Americanized portion of Guatemala City, we traveled quite a bit to more rural parts of the country where American tourists are less common. We slept in different hotels and accommodations and I never once felt like my children or I were in danger. My in-laws have said the same thing. Of course, there are bad people everywhere in the world, but we found the Guatemalan people to be exceptionally warm, helpful, and kind.
Were your children impacted by seeing the Guatemalan culture?
Yes. I was able to visit my grandparents (also on a mission for our church) in Ecuador when I was eleven and it opened my eyes to 1.) my luck at being born an American, and 2.) therefore my duty in using what I have to bless the lives of others. I think my children were equally affected.
What impacted you the most?
These thoughts:
Why was I born in a life of such ease - clean running water, indoor plumbing, a smartphone to guide my daily tasks, quality healthcare, a stable home environment. Why was I born into that and not these people? Where is God's hand in justifying the inequality of human circumstance? What is the afterlife's role in accounting for these injustices? What am I doing to account for these injustices?
Millions of people live in little shacks built in random on this volcanic hillside.
Okay, so now here are some more pics that document our 10-day journey.
A boy Logan's age in church wanted to practice with Logan to play this together on the violin. He even brought an extra violin for Logan to practice with. In the end, Logan just plum forgot all those years of violin lessons and it never happened. I included it to remind us of the night he spent in frustration practicing.
Sibling love at the Guatemala City LDS Temple.
I'm embarrassed by this, but I can't remember exactly what this building was, but it was old.
A wonderful meal in the city with Shane (while my in-laws graciously took the kids to McDonalds)
Logan's baby Jesus kiss was completely spontaneous as I took the photo. It warms my soul.
The kids loved playing on all the concrete jungles around town. Also, this is Clara's all-time favorite dress and she would wear it everyday left to her own devices, even now amidst the popped seams and craft paint stains.
Guatemalan birds on a Guatemalan wire.
One of the humanitarian projects we helped with was to cut, fold and deliver baby blankets to a rural hospital near the coast. The kids spent all night at their tasks.
Emmie holding the hand of one of the ward members after we delivered cookies to their family.
So much color everywhere - why are we so brown and dull here in the US (and especially in Utah)?
Emmie and her bestie Paula, who she danced all night and played all day with. Paula's family of 6 lives in two bedrooms. Total.
Another member's home we visited on Sunday and her ornery bird
Here are the girls delivering blankets to new mothers in the hospital. It was so hot and humid there, and people were standing in unmoving lines. Spiders roamed the cracked and dirt-caked walls. Nothing looked sanitary, or even somewhat clean. My how I take the American healthcare system for granted.
Here's what the labor and delivery wing looked like. It was SO HOT. So hot. It was hard to stand in there for 10 minutes. Luckily some of my amazing friends donated money to provide this room with an AC unit! It should be installed soon!
This picture was taken in the brand new (never been used) NICU. The money for this unit was provided by a US relief organization!
I see a hole in the wall in the middle of the hospital, I can't help but document it - right there like it was no big deal.
We had to ferry to our place at the beach, so there they were. Ferry boats. (yikes!)
Our ferry boat driver detailed all of the poisonous snakes living in these waters, so these pictures were taken as I was yelling at the kids to get keep their hands inside the boat at all times (!). Shane rolled his eyes and told me to relax (jeez shane, how relaxed would you be if the masterpieces you puked for 18 months to bring to earth were flirting with a painful 4-minute flat death? huh? how?)
freckles + no teeth FTW
We stayed at a beach resort overnight with a single mom my in-laws work with in the church office building and her two teenage daughters. The highlight of the day was releasing the baby sea turtles. This was quite a stark difference from our North Carolina sea turtle experience, where ten gloved volunteers created paths for the babies and directed people to STAY TEN FEET AWAY!! Here they gave us a bucket of sea turtles, said "have at it", let us play with them as long as we wanted, and told us to show them to the shore.
Four pools + black sand beach = my paradise. Why do people go to Hawaii when they could spend half the price at this Hawaii (it was really called Hawaii) and have better accommodations and an almost-private beach?
Clara and her friend Sarah became instant friends. Sarah and her older sister were so cute with the kids.
Clara, Sarah, and Emmie's treasure loot.
We had collected a few books and some school supplies to bring with us. When we arrived, we drove to a bookstore to buy more children's books for this new school my in-law's helped organize and build. The school had almost no books, so delivering these supplies and books was so rewarding.
We all played a rousing game of pato, pato, ganso.
The gorgeous faces of the Guatemalan babies, I could kiss them all.
Here we are visiting a father with some type of illness that prevented him from working (perhaps Parkinsons, we guessed). We gave him some money and his children some dollar toys but I still feel like I didn't do enough here. The mud hut in the back is their home.
And this their living room/bedroom/family room.
The wives of the city officials fed us this beautiful meal of corn, pork, potatoes, carrots, broth and tamal
A grandma, granddaughter picture.
The captivating volcanoes here look cloudy, but some of it is ash. Lake Atitlan is down below (aka Waters of Mormon)
Shane and I had a mini getaway to Antigua, where I apparently just took pictures of old things.
And lastly, a picture of our mini trek to the Guatemalan Zoo, where Logan's stomach problems prevented him from seeing the last half of the zoo, but were soon remedied with what probably was a whole bottle of Pepto (pepto, I love you.)
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