Busy Busy Busy

Last time I posted my parents were about to arrive. They have come and gone now, so as you can imagine, a lot has happened since then. I met my parents at the airport and got them on a shuttle safely for Antigua the returned back to the project to work the rest of the day. Then, because of national holidays we didnt have the project on Thursday or Friday. So on Thursday we hopped on a chicken bus at the market and headed out to a local macadamia nut farm. It was a very tranquilo place with a kind of crazy owner who has been planting macadamia nut trees in Central America for most of his life. Then on Friday we headed to Volcan Pacaya. We went with a group of other Camino Volunteers and friends, so it was nice for my parents to meet some of my friends. It was a good practice hike for my parents for what was to come, as you will read about later. I hiked Pacaya last time I was in Guatemala 2 years ago, but it was all different from the eruption that happened last year. you could see the whole lava flow from the eruption, and the dome of the volcano was not how I remembered it. We got to go into a small cave at the top of the volcano that felt like a sauna from the natural heat of the volcano.

That night we headed up to Earth Lodge, a small nature hostel on the hills right outside Antigua. My parents go to stay in their tree house cabin. Lots of my friends from Safe Passage and Antigua came up to Earth Lodge so we had a fun night. Then on Saturday morning my parents walked down from Earth lodge with a couple of my friends and stopped at Cerro de la Cruz, a beautiful place looking over Antigua. I had to stay at Earth lodge waiting for a friend. My parents were leaving for Tikal early Sunday morning so they got to sleep early and then I played my gig at Cafe No Se. I had a relaxing day Sunday and finally figured out my housing. I moved into a house with 2 other Safe Passage volunteers as well as some other friends. Its great to finally have a place to settle down.

The next week as a good full week at the project. I continued to teach guitar and shadow Mandy. We started to teach the kids Stand By Me so that they could all play at the event we are organizing for August 23rd. I had a full week of gigging that week... Rainbow Cafe Tuesday night, Ocelot Wednesday night, Abasi Indian Restaurant as well as Cafe No Se Thursday night. On Thursday my parents took the tour of Safe Passage and got to hang out with me at the project during the afternoon. It was great for my parents to finally get to see the project that I've been working with and in contact with for over 2 years. Then on Friday I toured Nuestros Ahijados, a local NGO, with the Safe Passage English Team. The project was impressive and it was also interesting to compare and contrast Nuestros Ahijados and Camino Seguro. Things like the specific populations they serve and the different structure of the organizations affect the organizations.

Then after the tour ended I went off to Xela where my parents had gone earlier int he morning. We were going on a 3 day trek from Xela to Lake Atitilan, about 45 Km total. We started out Saturday morning and it was all uphill... after a couple of hours we made it to the ridge and started hiking through the cornfields of all the local villages that were up in the highlands and cloud forests. The trek consisted of a large group of about 25 hikers and 4 guides. We got where we were staying the first evening, a local town that was letting us use their municipalidad building. It was not much, but it was a roof over out head, so it worked. My parents had made it the first day, but it was definitely a push for them. But we all got up the next morning and all of us got ready to plod along again. The hiking was beautiful with great views of the highlands and some of the volcanoes around. Then around 11:30 on the second day it started to rain. So we put on our rainjackets and pushed on the paths had been somewhat slippery before, so now with the rain it made it even worse. Then in the afternoon we had to cross a small river 15 times to follow the path. Most people had sandals to do this, but I didnt so I did it all barefoot. It was actually a lot of fun, crossing rivers in the middle of the forest in the pouring rain. So then we finally got to where we were staying the 2nd night. It was a man who ran a sort of hostel out of his house, so we slept in a big room he had. He also had a campfire and a guitar, so that night we sat around the fire and I played some songs for the group.

Then on Monday morning we woke up at 3:30 am and hiked an hour to a lookout over Lake Atitlan. It was amazing, we got to see the sun rise over the lake and over the 4 or 5 volcanoes surrounding the lake. We then hiked down to one of the towns on the lake, had lunch, and said our goodbyes. My parents and I took a boat across the lake to the main city, Panajachel, and caught a shuttle back to Antigua from there.

Then it was back to work on Tuesday, and now with Mandy gone I started to teach classes by myself. I had support teams work with my classes twice that week so it was nice to have lots of volunteers in the classroom to help out with class. It was great to be back at the project. My parents caught there flight back early on Wednesday. It was great to have them visit me and see why I love to come to Guatemala and why I have and will come back.

Now the music program is getting a little hectic planning for the event on Saturday. We have been having group rehearsals with the guitar, piano, and chorus students for the concert we will have. Everything is falling into place for the weekend so it is exciting. Hopefully next time I post I will have pictures and be able to tell all about how the event went!