"Guat's Up?"

***I know it's hard to believe but I actually have more pictures I want to add to round out our trip.  My old lap top completely died on me and now I have to wait to be able to get the other pictures off of it.  Grrr.  So, here's an imcomplete travel log.  Just know I reserve the right to add more pictures once my computer decides to give me the goods.

Many have asked how and why we got involved with this amazing adventure.  Well, we basically invited ourselves through my mother who heard about it through my Aunt Donise and Uncle Lloyd who have good friends who organize these groups to go down for humanitarian trips.  Easy as that.  We've wanted Lucas to have foreign experience and to have service opportunities, so we decided to throw caution to the wind and just go for it. And we couldn't have asked for a better experience!

We left Portland Friday morning braced for our longs flights to Guatemala City, just Lucas and me while the rest of of our group left together from Arizona.  I can't complain because there was some special deal going on when we bought our tickets and so Luke and I traveled 1st or business class the whole way down.  So no, can't complain about the fresh squeezed OJ, hot towels, actual steak meal. (How good is an airline steak meal?  Not so great.  But still no complaining.)

We got to Guatemala City about 11pm and my mom and uncle had charitably driven back from Antigua (where we would be living about 1/ 1/2 hours away from Guatemala City) after getting up at 3am that day and traveling nonstop just so we didn't have to arrive and travel alone to Antigua.  We all didn't get to bed until 12:30am. They went above and beyond that day!

The very next morning, Saturday, we woke up at 5:30am to get out to the Pacaya National Park to hike up their active volcano.  As soon we were parked we were swarmed with young boys wanting to rent us sticks to help us on our hike.  The sticks actually helped a lot on the loose lava rock.

Lucas was a little green around the gills that morning & toughed out the hike as long as possible.  We finally convinced him to take a horse and that made all the difference.  It gave his stomach time to catch up with the rest of him.

Uncle Lloyd, Lucas & Nana hiking the volcano which has erupted just 2 years earlier




Once we got to the top, you could tell where the heat was still venting through cracks in the mountain.

 The next morning we all went to church which turned out to be the cutest little capilla with dark chandeliers and beautiful wood pews.  I wish we had gotten more pictures of it.  And the best part of church?  We sang "La Alba ya Rompe," or "The Day Dawn is Breaking," as our opening hymn.  Wouldn't you know it?!  That is the one and only hymn Lucas knows in Spanish!  Aaron taught it to him when he was smaller than Jonah because it's his favorite hymn in Spanish.  I rack that up to a sweet tender mercy for Lucas. It sure was special to him.  :)

After church we went for a sah-weet buffet over at Santa Domingo, an old convent and monastery turned 5 star hotel which served delicious food.  The grounds were covered in old ruins, a glass and candle museum, and a large outdoor hall where mass was being held.  (The rumor is since thay had both a convent and monastery on the grounds at one time, there was also an orphanage. Go figure. But I don't think that is publicised.) 

They left some of the old timers.

My breakfast of pupusas filled with cheese, a platano and black bean souffle, crispy bacon, fried platanos and a crepe with strawberries, almonds, whipped cream and of course, chocolate sauce.  And fresh squeeze orange juice.  (Which will for the rest of my life remind me of summers in Utah and Grandpa J making fresh OJ every morning. Just a side note.)

A woman was there working a loom making gorgeous table runners.  She was there for tourists but it was still beautiful work.

That night we got together to sort the 1500 reading glasses and hundreds of thousands of vitamins and medicines.

Jim, Becky, Rick & Diane working hard at the Pill Party

 Larry and Ellen, who organized this wonderful trip.  This is just one out of dozens they have done over the years.  Good people.

Just dividing our drugs.

Just a fraction of the vitamins.

That night a religious procession passed right on front of our apartments.  Each of the surrounding villages get a week during Lent to march with their patron saint around town to celebrate their devotion.

We were supposed to have 4 full days working at a clinic, each day in a different community. But Thursday didn't work out because their city officials did not come out to set up the details on Sunday when Larry and crew went out there. So we had to make do with 3 days working with the sweet and humble people.  We left each morning at 6am for a bus ride out to the village we would be working in that day.

Our view on the early Monday morning bus out to Santa Lucia, our first little town about 2 hours away from Antigua.  This sight reminded me so much of the mission field.

Looking back at one of the 3 surrounding volcanoes as we left town.  Gorgeous, no?

Puff of smoke, just reminding us he was there and to keep watch.

A lovely couple on their commute to work.

About an hour in, our overstocked bus got a flat tire. 

How many dentists does it take to change a flat tire?

Many of these days and pictures are all lumped together.  But at each village we set up in the school, the dentists taking rooms for anesthesia, oral surgery and triage.  The eyeglasses were in another room.  Here's a video of Lucas giving a quick tour one day.

Rick and I were put at intake since we both spoke Spanish (Him much better than I.  He's a native Cuban.)  But we got to talk to everyone and figure out what services they needed.  By the end of the first day my brain and tongue were exhausted!

We had 10 dentists who did some amazinging work on people who may have never seen a dentist before.  They were great!

I finished intake and Wendy and Becky taught me to do fluoride treatments one day.

Soldiers were there to keep the peace at every community.  Not that we had any problems.

We made sure they all got decked out with new sunglasses. Had to keep them happy. :)

Over looking our biggest crowd of the week.

So many of the older generation you could tell had dressed up to see the doctors.  How adorable is this old cowboy?!  Rick and Greg sure made friends fast!

 This was the last road out to our  most desolate little village They grow sugar cane as you can see.

This little boy became Lucas' shadow one day and kept by his side every where he went.  It was sweet.  but I never got his name. :(

Lucas and Popeye, our guide and expert on all things transportation.  Loved him!  Took great care of us!

Lucas posing in one of the classrooms of the school.  They all had cement floors, no glass in the windows and old desks.  Just a little different than his school in Portland.

A sweet posse of boys in our third city. 

Mary Kay and some friends in her ward in California made dozens of wonderful beaded bracelets to give out.  It was fun to have a little extra gift to give the beautiful women.

Here is Aunt Donise working with a women to find reading glasses that suit her needs.  We got to work together a little after I finished with intake.  

Here is Nan, our resident doctor of the trip.  She is one amazing woman and when I grow up I want to be just like her.  :)

She spent her time doing home visits to those who couldn't travel.

I SO wanted to go on "rounds" with her as the translator, but it never worked out in the schedule.  Next time!!

The homes and animals sights brought me right back to places we worked in Argentina.  Tender to my heart.

My mother and Lucas worked in "Fluoride" most of the time where that gave treatments to kids and then handed out toothbrushes.

My mom had been practicing her Spanish and I was very impressed with all she knew! Que bueno!

Lucas gave fluoride treatments, worked as a runner getting patients to and from each line and ran errands for whoever needed help.  He made me proud!

Our third day out was the farthest away, the poorest community and the hottest day.  The night before I hadn't been feeling well and my stomach was rolling all morning.  I tend to get car sick pretty easily, especially early in the morning.  I worked for a few hours but since my stomach was yucky, I wasn't drinking cold water and I got overheated.  My stomach took a tun for the worse and I excused myself from the intake table to take a break.    My uncle asked to give me blessing which I most welcomed. So after a quick trip to a local kiosko, they consecrated some oil and I got my blessing. The tenderest mercy of the day was that a government official who hadn't been either of the other days, was on site with her car.  Which had AIR CONDITIONING.  After sitting in the cold car for a while, I felt better and went back to work.   About an hour later, it hit me again.  Light headedness, nausea, headache.  My mom and Guillermo took my arms to walk me back to the cold car, when in the middle of the school square and in front of everyone I began tossing my cookies and then with much pride and grace, I fainted dead away.  I woke up 60 seconds later with 4 different people jostling my arms and legs as they tried to hoist me in to the waiting car.  It was one of those times I had to ask where I was and what had happened. Even with being so out of it, I still had enough sense to be thoroughly embarrassed.

A local woman brought ice cold water for my feet and I got ice packs shoved under my arms and around my neck.   Again, I felt so blessed because this sweet worker offered to drive us back to the apartment two hours away.  I would NOT have made it back alive on the hot, stuffy bus in the condition I was in.  I would have rather have just stayed fetal on the side of the road with the pigs.

I of course attracted quite the crowd, so I couldn't leave without reassuring my adoring fans that I indeed lived to see another day.

Here is our wonderful group.  Each one of them are so kind and welcoming and made the trip so perfect.  It's hard traveling in a group.  The phrase "herding cats' was mentioned a few times, but everyone was so upbeat and easy going.  And they especially welcomed Lucas and put their arms around him to make sure he felt part of the group.  I would again with these wonderful people in a heart beat!

Antigua, the city where our apartments were, was a perfect and colorful place to see.

We ate one night at "Ni-Fu, Ni-Fa" (which doesn't translate into anything) an Argentine restaurant.  Matt, a fellow Argentine missionary, and I had milensa con papas and it was DIVINE.  Unfortunately not every else enjoyed their meal, but we sure were in Argentine heaven!

We of course did lots 'o shopping at all the tourist markets and brought back goofy stuff for family back home.  My favorite?  T-shirts for the men saying "Guat's up?" and "Guatever."  Doesn't get classier than that.

Dinner anyone?

We did buy some beautiful jade and took a tour of a small, local factory.  Nan bought each of the members of the Church in our group (she is not) a necklace with the symbol for "And it came to pass."  That symbol along with depictions of Lehi's Tree of Life vision and Noah and Abinidi have been found in caves in the area.  Pretty cool, huh.  And thank you again, Nan for such a thoughtful gift!

Lucas. Being Lucas.

On our way home we stayed a night in Guatemala City.  Here is a sign for visitors staying the 7th floor, the Quiet Zone.  Be aware. No marching bands or circus animals. Plus no loud singing in the shower.  I did my best.

Our last sunset before our 6am flight back to the states.

This trip could not have been better and we loved this opportunity we had to serve adn visit such a beautiful country.  I would do it again in a heart beat!