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Friends and Fams,

thanks for your thoughts and prayers while I was in Guatemala - i am now home safe and sound.

it was a really short trip - 3 days total in Guatemala. My first day in Guatemala, we visited 3 of our ACSI schools in Guatemala City (see picture). I got to meet a lot of our precious sponsored kids - i recognized them right away when i saw them sitting in their classrooms. They were so grateful for my visit - it was so precious to get to finally embrace these kids after this last year of them in my daily thoughts and prayers!
The second day, we drove a few hours south, to the coast of Guatemala. Once we got out of Guatmela city, the skies opened and through the clear air i could see a horizon of volcanoes - really amazing. Another full day of visiting ACSI schools and meeting kids and "talking" to directors. I was really surprised that practically no one in Guatemala knew english. Wow, that sounds so awful for my surprise, but everywhere else i've been in the world, i have been able to communicate with people at least on a minimal level: thailand, kenya, tanzania, uganda, mexico...but not in guatemala.

The third day we drove a few hours into the mountains of Antigua. This may have been my favorite day. It was so lush and beautiful in Antigua and the people of Antigua wore traditional guatemalan dress, which was beautiful. and we drove beside vast fields of coffee! It's amazing the way the coffee clings onto these very steep hill-sides. Starbucks has fields in Antigua, Guatemala and i was happy to see some coffee!

Then we spent the afternoon in the town of Antigua, which was the first place i saw other caucasian people - i guess it's a touristy town, but it was really an incredible little town. Much unlike the other towns, but really neat to see some old old buildings - all the colors and the architecture were amazing. yet, the people of antigua have been kicked out of the town, forced to sell their property and now walk long distances to sell their goods in antigua, or the students walk forever to continue to attend their school.
(this is a picture from the center of antigua)

It was a very short trip, but a blessing to meet those in our latin american office in Guatemala city and to meet our school directors and especially our kiddies within our schools.

though, i wish that i could have spent more time there as a tourist - i wish i could have learned more about the culture and spent time in northern guatmala as well - maybe another time. my 4 years learnin spanish during my teenage years began to kick in during my last few days there. i was able to understand a bit of what was going on but it was very difficult for me to respond - i kept speaking swahili to the people - gosh, it was embarrassing to try to communicate, i felt awful for being less prepared (should have learned spanish last week before i left!).

I will send more pictures later - these are all pictures i found on the internet of things i saw, but they are not my actual pictures.