Trip 2-Day 3

The 3rd Day, or the day we went to a volcano and crashed a wedding...

So today was virutally unanimously voted the coolest, jam-packed day of fun that we´ve had so far in Guatemala! Everything we have done so far on the trip (it´s crazy to think it´s only day three!) has been incredibly beautiful and rewarding! After a fun night of dinner and hanging out with our new friends on Friday, everyone was pumped for our volcano hike on Pacaya! The day started out with a long, but pretty ride to Pacaya that only included a few heart attack inducing games of bus vs. even bigger bus chicken (but don´t worry parent´s-our driver´s a professional)! As we went up the winding road on the base of the mountain, it was interesting to see the lush fields of various crops growing on the hillside and every now and then passing a little boy with the proposition of "you want horse?" We didn´t want to mention to the little guy that tour bus > horse when dealing with ten people, but oh well, he´s working out his business plan :) When we got to our destination, we were flooded with even more kids selling their precious cargo-walking sticks! After making sure everyone had their stick, we set up the volcano, eager to see the lava! The hike was challenging but fun, and because it was a rainy day we had a surreal mist to wade through all the way up! When we got to the top, everyone was excited to see the star of the day-the lava! It was a little unnerving being so close to molten magma, but who cares, it was really cool! After a yummy marshmallow roast the group had lunch nearby, and in the view of two volcanos (Pacaya and Agua) some of us took the opportunity to have a little fun with gravity! Many, many jumps and pictures later we had a slippery descent down the mountain and headed back to Antigua!

After a little downtime and rest, the group decided to go to the Saturday evening Mass at La Merced. It is a beautiful, immense church that left all of us awestruck and contemplative. There was a service going on that turned out to be a wedding, and after a little shuffling around we took our seats. What happened in the next few minutes was all of hilarious, incredibly awkward, and permentantly documented! As it turned out, we were not sitting there (in the front rows no less) waiting for Mass to start, we were apparently sitting there waiting for wedding number 2 to start! As we tried to beat it before the bride´s family made it down the aisle to be seated, we tried our very hardest to be respectful yet swift (all the while trying to suppress giggles). Fortunately for us, we had the wedding march to hide our shuffling footsteps! Welcome to Wedding Crashers 2-St. Andrews Style (rated E for everyone and coming soon to video!)
After that experience we decided to have our group dinner at the nicest McDonalds in the Americas and spent the meal buzzing over the wonderful happenings of the day!

It´s only day three of the trip and already it´s been one of the most positive, fun, and rewarding experiences of my life! I feel truly blessed that I could be a part of it with such a great group of friends! Stay tuned-tomorrow we take a trip to the village!

Sarah Grubb

Trip 2 [Build] Day 2

It's Friday, which means it's the end of the workweek (already!). Because we just arrived on Wednesday, there were only two days to start the new houses. It was also a very, very rainy day. As a trip veteran, I would even say it was without a doubt the rainiest day I've seen here. We got drenched on the way to the worksite and then spent a good bit of time in one of the family's houses waiting for the rain to let up (and returned a few times during the day when it got too heavy for work again).

As we found out, there were definite pros and cons to having a rainy work day. On the plus side, being indoors with the families meant that we had extra time to bond with them. The family members were somewhat tentative on the first day, but the kids especially had warmed up to us by today and we had a great time with them. The families don't speak Spanish, so it is sometimes more difficult to communicate with them, but both parties are very patient and tend to get enough of a conversation going.

On a downside, we got very wet and muddy. The houses are being built into a hillside and the rain created quite tricky work conditions. We still ended up quite well for the day, almost on par for where we should be in building, and muddy boots can't slow us down!

After we got cleaned up, we went to a German restaurant where the From Houses to Homes crew met up with us for dinner. I was really happy to have the opportunity to socialize with the workers outside of our work on the house. It's a reminder that we are all regular people who have come together to make something great happen. And it's also a good time, of course!

I have decided to call it a night somewhat early (it is a Friday night, after all) in order to rest up for our hike on Pacaya tomorrow. I am really looking forward to it again. I am also looking forward to seeing everyone else's reaction to being on top of an active volcano. It's a pretty impressive scene!

On a personal note, when I first arrived, I was feeling different from the "noobs" who are here experiencing Guatemala for the first time. I didn't have the rush of being somewhere so differnet like they are experiencing. But now, I am very much enjoying Guatemala in a different way. Much like a movie being watched again, I get to see things I didn't see last time. Also, I get happiness out of watching those who are being bitten by the Guatemala love bug.

- Lindsay Flis