Some of the random things we saw in Guatemala

Map of Guatemala

A little snack cart on the street.

I just like this saying.  Translation:  Work as if you don't need the money.  Dance as if no one is watching.  Love as if no one has ever hurt you.

A silly clown at a red light.

Tuc, tucs.

A million masks on the wall.

Our cell phone on the trip.

People selling fresh (literally) goats milk at the park.

A drunk person sleeping on the street.

The variety of delicious fruits!

Our hotel.  The name was in English?

Brianna

Tortrix is our favorite brand of Guatemalan chips!

Tigo is the cell phone service that everyone has there and we saw it everywhere!

Going Home (Maybe?)

Because of the crazy way that I got to Guatemala, I had a different flight on the way home also. So my parents and K left before Derick, Alex and I. We dropped them off at the airport and then had a couple of hours to do whatever.

We got lucky and found a "POPS" ice cream shop. This was always a childhood favorite for both Derick and I!!

We didn't know what else to do so we went to the airport and did a little shopping there. Malox did not think this was too much fun.
View from the plane.

Then I was on my way home. Well so I thought.... The flight was just fine till I got to Miami and had to go through immigration. They checked my passport and I was told to go stand in a line. From there they had about 5 of us follow an officer. I had no idea what in the world was going on???

They took me into a room where a bunch of people were just sitting looking bored to death. I waited and no one said anything. There were signs posted all over the place that no cell phone use was allowed. In the meatime my parents, K, and Jef were waiting for me to come out and they were calling me too.

Every once in a while they said that if you missed your connecting flight you would just be put on the next one. I asked a lady sitting next to me if she knew what we were doing there. She said that every time she travels internationally she gets put in this room because she has a common name.

Finally, after about 45 min.they called me up to the counter and asked me a bunch of questions. They told me that they are looking for a person with my same name but after some background check they found out that it wasn't me so I was free to go. Ay, Ay, Ay!

Then I still had to find my luggage!!

Well, after all that I finally met up with the group. Jef had a nice dinner ready for us and then took us to Miami Beach for a little while. He is the best host ever!

This is K at JFK in NYC with ther purple luggage!! I bet she had a good trip by the look of things.

Colegio Italiano

All I wanted to eat in Guatemala was mamey, this yummy fruit that I have no idea where else you find it but in Guatemala. On the way back from Chiquimula we saw a mango stand and my dad and Derick got out to get some and what a surprise when they came back with some mamey also!!!! We ate those that night but here we are having mangos for breakfast because we were leaving and we couldn't take them with us.

We got packed and then went to Colegio Italiano. The school where Derick and I attended while we lived there.

It looked the same but yet so different?

These are the same uniforms that I wore.

Nuestra Casa en Guatemala

After Chiquimula we finally got to go to our house and see the inside. We kind of took a long way home so it took us a little longer and it was getting dark.

This corner of our yard I remember there was a tree and Derick hung a little chick there. I think it was already dead but it was still cruel. This is where we stood when the Earthquake happened.
The front door.

The family room.

The hallway. I used to always play school and I would place all of my stuffed animals throughout the house and the bus (a cardboard box) would come and pick them up and take them to class where I was the teacher.

The dining room.

Oh, the memories of our house!

Chiquimula

It was almost our last day and we had to take advantage of it so we got up really early to go to Chiquimula. We even missed our free hotel breakfast! So we found this little Chinease place and had breakfast there.

El parque central. This is how I remember Chiquimula but it has changed a lot.
Then my dad promised the kiddos that we would go swimming so after much searching we found a pool that was open and surprise. We were the only ones there!

On the way home we saw a coconut stand and had to have some! It was so good!

The teens thought watermelon was better.

My crazy matching parents advertising for Tortrix.

Playa Zipacate

Malox's only request was to go surfing in Guate. So D found this beach and they taught lessons. So we drove forever to this remote place that not even my parents had heard of to go surfing! We had to go on these little boats over to the place. It was so quiet and desolate. Almost like "Survivor".

Here we are going our boat.


Classic picture of my mom. It was extremely hot and sunny. And the black sand was really hot!

This is the little hut where they met the instructors for the Surfing lessons. The rest of us hung out here while they surfed.

Oh man, this was so relaxing! Our own private beach!

This is Malox. Of course he picked it up so fast!

D was not too bad. His instructor was trying to show off by diving in and hit his head really hard. Kind of funny but not really. D just got tired a little sooner.

Antigua

After church we went to see our house. The tenant wasn't there so we only looked at the outside.

While we were waiting we saw this cute lady walk by with a watermelon rind on her head. We thought...only in Guatemala so I ran behind her and took a picture.

Then we went to Amatitlan. We used to go here alot growing up. It used to be such a cute tourist place but now it was all run down and dirty. So we didn't spend too much time there.

We then drove to Antigua. A huge tourist atraction but very pretty. It used to be the capital of Guatemala until a volcano erupted and destroyed it, so they moved the capital to Guatemala City. They have since rebuilt it and it is beautiful. These are a couple of cathedrals.

People try to make money in whatever way the see possible. Here are some of the things we saw:

A person playing all kinds of different musical instruments to make some nice music.

A girl drawing pictures with her feet.

A young girl taking care of her brother while mom worked.

A dad and his sons playing music and dancing.

An elderly lady selling jewelry.

There was a market of many people selling stuff of course.We walked around the park and took a picture.
We listened to a full marimba.

We went to dinner at this cute restaurant.

Here's my drink. Ohhh so good!!
We walked around the streets some more.We looked around this mall that had all kinds of souveniers. These are some of the typical indian dresses.

Luckily we found our car afterwards and went home. We probably got lost looking for our hotel though. :)