Guatemala!!!

Well, we just missed Hurricane Ike and made it to Guatemala a day early and enjoyed a relaxing 8 days of bliss.

Our trip started out a bit crazy with a phone call to the airline finding out that our original flight was going to be canceled due to the hurricane and the only way we could make our trip was if we got to the airport in 5 hours for a flight that left a day earlier than planned. So we rushed around packing and completing those last minute details that must be done before a trip, ran to the school to say goodbye to the kids (since they had no idea we were even leaving that day!) and got to the airport just in time. Flew to Houston, said a few prayers that our next flight to Guatemala the next day wasn't going to be canceled. Ended up flying out 3 hours before they closed the Houston airport.

We flew into Guatemala City and were completely amazed at the city. I don't want to ever hear ANYONE complain about the traffic or bad drivers ever again! The driving in that city was absolutely nuts. Pretty much all traffic laws were out the window. Changing lanes took at least 2 people, one to steer, one to look out the window at all the other cars trying to change lanes too and give suggestions to the one steering AND to wave out the window to the other cars to get out of the way we are coming into your lane (since no one looks at turn signals, I guess) and probably another person or two are sitting in the back seat praying that they don't die on their first day in the country. And all of this is happening going at least 50 miles an hour! Boy were we glad that we made the decision to get a driver and not just rent a car like we did in Costa Rica. The driving was definitely different than what we are used to.

Once we made it out of the crazy city and to our resort we were able to take a great big breath, take off our watches, turn off our cell phones, and get into vacation mode. Our resort was gorgeous, right on the pacific beach, with black sand beaches, (from all the volcanoes) waves big enough to have a little fun in but not too big to kill you! (photos 1 & 2- sorry about the sideways Brady, I don't know how to edit the photo on the blog,oops)

We spent lots of time just relaxing on the beach, in one of the pools, hanging in the hammocks, taking naps & eating! It was so nice to sleep when we were tired, eat when we were hungry, play when we were bored and relax and just enjoy ourselves instead of feeling rushed and busy like we do in our "regular life".

We took a few day trips as well. Our driver, Marco, spoke about as much English as we spoke Spanish so it was fun playing charades the whole time. We went to a city called Antigua. It is a really old city, I mean really old like 1500 kind of old. It was really neat to see all the buildings and how the city was laid out. We thought it was a lot like New Orleans French Quarter with the narrow streets and right after the sidewalks were these great big walls all around the block and on the inside of the walls were the garden or yards and the houses, etc. We explored a couple of the old cathedrals (photo #3- Cathedral San Jose) All the people in front of the cathedral are watching a never ending parade. We ended up going on the country's Independence day, Sept 15th. We were told that it isn't a "big" holiday, just a few parades. Well, there were tons of people and the parades went forever, literally the whole day, it just kept winding around the city. Puts our little 4th of July parades to shame! It was fun for me because I love to people watch and it gave me that many more people to watch :) Photo #4 is part of the parade. It is some Mayan girls holding what looks like a casket with flowers. I'm sure some kind of symbolism was involved but since I am not a historian or anything near, it was just a neat photo op. for me! Antigua had lots of Mayan people compared to Guatemala city or the cities near our resort.

Another day trip was to Lake Atitlan and Panajachel. The lake (photo #6) is beautiful and the picture doesn't do it justice. It is huge and surrounded by 3 volcanoes. Around the lake are a handful of small towns, some only accessible by boat. We went on a day that was overcast so most of the time you couldn't even see the tops of the mountains. We were so high up, there were times the clouds were right on us. We were able to take a boat trip across the lake and back, really neat experience.

Panajachel (pan-a-ha-chel) is a predominately Mayan town, very colorful with small narrow cobblestone streets. (photo #5 - notice the security guard armed with a shotgun. They were everywhere. Wasn't sure if they made me feel safe or scared!) We were able to shop at both Antigua and Panajachel. We found lots of neat handmade fabric items, some neat stone replicas of the local ancient carvings and some just fun stuff for the kids. Shopping is a "fun" experience all it's own. Of course there are no set prices and since we are obviously Americano's it was almost like a game to get them to price it reasonable. By the end of the trip Brady got pretty good at the game :) I wasn't allowed to barter since, 1. I didn't really care how much I paid for it, I just wanted it! and 2. it took me way too long to convert the dollar to the local Quetzal in my mind and 3. would probably pay WAY too much than any of it was worth! Luckily, Brady can handle all 3 and more all on his own :)

Well, after 8 days. We missed our little turkey's and had to resign ourselves back to "real life" and made it home in one piece. We were soooooooooooo... grateful for my wonderful, patient, full of energy parents who were willing to watch our turkey's so we could get some R&R and fill up our "buckets" once again. I did have to laugh at my Mom, she called after we had been gone only a few days and said, "You DESERVE this vacation!" Ha! It's nice to know someone has walked in my shoes for a little while and agrees with me :)!!!