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. :)

La Capilla

Sunday is a fitting day to write about our Sunday in Guatemala. My mom told us that church was at 8:00am in our old building, none of of believed her of course. But we went at that time anyways, cause of course my dad thought being there an hour earlier would be wonderful. We get there and we find out that church is normally at 8:00 but because it was Stake Conference it would not be starting until 10:00. So my mom was right. We have to give her credit!!

But then what do we do. Wait till 10:00? That's precious vacation time when we wanted to go to Antigua later in the day. Well, we decided to go to a different building across town in a different stake so that we could go to church at 9:00.

Before that we walked around the building and took some pictures. The Spirit was so strong here and I felt so blessed to have the gospel in my life!

This was a special building also since it was the building where my mom first came to church and where my parents met and attended for a while. As we were walking into the building my mom shared with me something that was very special. She showed me a hallway and said that this is where she first walked into the building with the missionaries and as they walked down this hallway she heard beautiful singing coming from a classroom or somewhere. At this moment for her the Spirit touched her very strongly and she KNEW that this was the correct church on the earth and she wanted to find our more about it so that she could join. She got emotional and so did I. To be in a place that has changed so many of us! And to share this special place with my mother and my mother. I can't put into words how special this was.

We went into the sacrament room and it was so wonderful. No one knew us, yet so many people came and greeted us. The meeting was exactly the same as it would be in the US except for the fact that it was in Spanish.

After that, we went back to the previous building and listened to a little bit of the stake conference, just as they were sustaining a new Stake Presidency. My parents knew some of the people and I know it was a special moment for them. We wanted to stay longer but really had no time.

La Capital

Saturday we spent the day in the city. Including Mercado Central.

These guys walk around selling fresh goat's milk. En el parque central.

Of course we had to go to a mall. This was not like anything that I remember. It was the most American Mall that I've ever seen! Some things have changed a lot!


At the Guatemala City Temple.

People find any way to make money. This clown would clown around at red lights and hope that people would give him money. We also saw some girls doing gymnastics at red lights.

Well, I don't remember the name of this place but we had a great view of the city and we bought Atol de Elote and a Tostada de Guacamol (We shared it cause we were worried about getting sick).Looking at Chepe's pictures after eating tamales.

Lago Atitlan

We got up early cause there was no time to waste. The teenagers thought we were crazy cause you are supposed to sleep in on vacations (they said). We had breakfast at the hotel.

We were on our way to Lago Atitlan but D needed some Pepto just in case so we stopped in this little pueblito called Santa Maria Cauque. Tiny little cute town.



Cute girls selling stuff. I caught a good picture. These girls could not be older than 8 years old.
We stopped and had brunch at this cute (well recomended by Chepe) restaurant along the way. Oh, it was sooooo good.We continuted driving through Chimaltenango. What a wild city! These Tuc Tuc's (as D called them) were bumping each other out of the way! We saw some things on the streets here on the way there and at night that were not pretty.Once in Atitlan, we were trying to find our way to the lake but we found a cementary instead so we went in and walked around for a little bit. It was a very peaceful place.

Lago Atitlan. But it was very clody so we coudn't see much. You can barely see the volcano in the background.

On the way back we saw these pretty waterfalls and had to stop and take some crazy pictures.

Finally Arrived

I was so happy when I finally got there! It was great to see my parents, K, and Chepe. Well, we went to eat lunch at the mall (I know, this is normal for us). But it was Guatemalan food at the mall. How much better could it get. Of course K got pizza but Guatemalan style. I ate pepian yum yum.

Then we went to Chepe and Hileana's house for a while. We had to wait until 9:30 for D and A flight to come in.

We also walked around "El Centro" for just a little bit to pass the time. This is La Catedral del Centro. We went in and they happened to be having a mass. We walked a little on the side and saw the Priest (I think) so that is what this picture is of. Then we went to the airport to pick up los patojos and we went to the "Quality Service" Hotel. We were all there! Yay!

Trying to get to Guatemala

We left on Tuesday afternoon to Long Beach and from there to Ft. Lauderdale. We were a little concerned in CA about catching the next flight but we made it on. This was an overnight flight and so we tried to sleep on the plane.

We made it to FL and we went straight to Spirit so we could be all ready for the flight to Guatemala. We get up to the counter and I give them our passports and the clerk is looking around wondering where KC is? I then look at the passports and I accidentally brought KC's and K's passport but forgot mine!!! How could I do that?!! I always double check everything and I am very careful. I was so upset. To make a long story short. They couldn't do anything without a passport so I had to stay behind. Luckily my BIL lives in Miami and was able to come get me and help me figure out what to do.

He was very kind to me while there. We went and ate lunch at a delicious Cuban Restaurant. Then that night one of my nephews had a concert so I went with them to see that. Besides the thought that I was missing Guatemala I had a good time there.

The next day, KC FEDEX me my passport. It was guaranteed to be there by 10am. My flight left at 12:15 and we were close to the airport so we were not worried. Well 10am comes around and no passport. Why me?? We start calling and they tell us that it should be there. They can't track the truck for some reason. Finally they tell us where the truck is and J goes looking for it, finds it but it's the wrong truck. Luckily this guy had the cell phone number of the other driver and called him. At 10:50am the truck finally arrives and we leave asap. We get to the airport and they tell me that it's too late to check my luggage in for this flight. The only option was to take a later flight and pay $150 or take whatever luggage I could as a carry on and get on the flight. So I chose the latter since I had already paid for an extra ticket to Guatemala cause I lost the first one.

I ran to the gate and went through security. I sit down and I am just exhausted! but relieved that I am on the plane.

I made it safe and sound and met up with my parents and K! It all worked out in the end!

Spectrum Olympics

This is amazing endevour for the Spectrum kids at the school. They participate in all kinds of events. They include opening and closing ceremonies. It's an all day event. I helped with the football throw (with G).

Mother’s Day

We had a wonderful dinner made by the husbands and fathers!

Here's my favorite kids!

Here's my favorite mom!

Here's a sign the kids made for us and put on the front door. Leave it to C to start cute projects like these!