Finish Volunteering and leaving Antigua for travels!

Once again, we thoroughly enjoyed our volunteering experience. The organization, volunteers we met, both young and old and family we stayed with as well as each of our projects, all get high ratings! Our second week, we were joined by Shelley, from Seattle at our homestay. We enjoyed hanging out with her, caught Life of Pi at the local bagel place that shows movies and I finally had a buddy to go to free salsa classes with!!! Yep, went twice and still don´t have the right moves but I´ll keep trying! Thanks Shelley! Salsa class must have propelled my dance moves since I later joined our volunteer group in the ¨Harlam Shake¨ Can you find me in the floppy hat, grabbing the white board at end. Some say they have seen Aaron but he was watching a jazz concert down the street!!! SKG does Harlam Shake. OMG!!. Will include pics of salsa and jazz concert, love the church backdrop below to give you an idea of what we did when we weren´t working.

Shelley and Susan at salsa class

Jazz group from Minnesota!! Guitarist from Guatemala

 Our projects had bittersweet endings. I really enjoyed teaching the same children every day vs once a week, but the attachment both ways, was tough to say goodbye to, and after only 2 weeks. One girl in particular, caught my attention, probably because, like my friend Deni, she opted to call me Susie!! Aaron´s construction project continues but not without his leaving a bit of sangre aka blood, after getting a small nic from something in cement bag. Ouch. Since it is an animal shelter, no bandaids. They only had gauze and tape which made the nic look like he received a dog bite or worse!! Made for a laugh once he told me.

My fav, Anna on right

Preschoolers, age 4 getting lunch

SKG and her class!

 We said our goodbyes to our homestay family. Reina our host was away, but her brother Eduardo and grandson Diego enjoyed opening the 1000 English-Spanish picture word book we bought them. Hopefully, it will grow with Diego as he practices with family and new volunteers who visit. Their house, like the one we stayed at in Peru, was simply furnished and comfortable. Pics probably tell the story.

 

So, onward to other parts of Guatemala. Chichicastenango aka Chichi, is home to one of the biggest Sunday food and crafts markets, so that is where we were on Sunday. Like Antigua, the celebrations leading up to Easter called, Semana Santa, continue throughout Guatemala with Chichi being no exception. Just down the street from our hotel, an entire local neighborhood helped decorate the streets by designing and building alfombras, or sawdust carpets covered with various fruits, flowers and other things in anticipation of the passing of Saints, carried by 50 persons up and down the streets. Some of the saint platforms weigh 1 to 2 tons. Ugh! Take a look. All sawdust and fruits, veggies, candles and loving care to put these alfombra designs together, only to get walked on by the procession and immediately swept away. Some are truly displays of fine art! The church, cemetary, sacred grounds were all must see visits, often accompanied by Mayan shamans, chants, incense and other forms of ceremony and celebration. I even took it upon myself to will the Shaman to say a prayer or two of my own.

Alfombra built by our neighbors

Alterboys with incense during procession

Shaman does his magic at cemetary

Chili Rellenos and Guacamole for lunch

Tortillas anyone?

We took a local bus to Quetzaltenango aka Xela, pronounced ¨Shayla¨. Try saying that 3 times. Go on, I dare you! Our B/B is a few blocks from the main plaza. Beautifully decorated, lovely terrace and gardens and yes, wifi and cable. Today is a lie low day, trying to fend off colds we picked up. Aaron is snoozing as I type right now. Tomorrow, which is now today since I resumed this post,  we went to Fuentes Georgiana Hot Springs which are in the area, very hot and helped steam all our cold germs out. Or so we hope! We are looking forward to finishing up our visit in Guatemala at Lake Atitlan, one of the pretty areas we fondly recall from our last visit here, 12 years ago.

Our first day in Nicaragua, we will join friend, Jane and Marc´s daughter, Lauren for an international Seder. Lauren has just finished her Peace Corp stint and the seder is put on by a USAID worker. We are thrilled we will be able to celebrate Passover, see Lauren and share the holiday with a truly diverse, international table. To that end, we hope you have a nice holiday, whether Easter or Passover.
Stay tuned.

We would love to hear from you, get feedback on the blog and catch up on local stuff.
STRONG and HEALTHY wishes go out to Francine, Randi and Betty. Have easy weeks ahead.
Adios, Susan and Aaron