Yesterday was a long travel day as we left the Guatemalan highlands and journeyed back to Guatemala city, with a stop at Lake Atitlan. We left at 6 am and traveled through the hills - up and down, around and over we went, finally stopping at Panohachel and Lake Atitlan, one of the most beautiful lakes I´ve seen. It has 3 volcanoes and numerous other peaks and valleys surrounding - it truly is stunning! We had a nice few hours there and headed back up to Guatemala city, which took forever with traffic. Traffic in a country like Guatemala is really interesting, to say the least. With no laws, no speed limits, very strange road engineering, tiny streets, driving rain, and older cars - it is a miracle we made it anywhere! In fact, every time we passed someone successfully, Salamon would say, "Gracias a Dios!" And you had to say Amen! After finally arriving home, the girls were able to meet some other youth in the neighborhood and be a part of a group meeting. They had a lot of fun! In fact, the girls have been able to meet many other people, and it is a wonder that in this day and age, people can connect up with others so easily through the internet. (I really think the cellular and internet revolution might be a huge impetus to getting underdeveloped countries out of poverty. None of these things were here 20 years ago, and now you see peasant farmers with cell phones making connections, and taking calls as they meander down the road with cows! Technology may be a giant salvo in the "war on poverty" that is so needed).
Today we flew from Guatemala city to Tikal, in the northern province of Peten, here in Guatemala, to see the Mayan ruins there. This is an amazing place. It is in the jungle and has hundreds of ruins from the Mayan culture which peaked in the area in the 8th century. Did you know the Mayan culture flourished for over 1700 years? Wow. I hope the US can make it to half of that! We wandered through these amazing ruins with a guide, sweating, sweating, sweating - it was so hot and humid in the jungle! But it was a lot of fun! Meeting other tourists, other Guatemalans - our Spanish is getting so much better! After a final goodbye to Salomon & Mery, we decided to give our remaining cash towards their work with the poor in Uspantan. People like Maria need it a lot more than New Vision Partners does! We feel like this trip has been a great success.
Thank you for all you did to help make this happen! We return home tomorrow, tired, our hearts full, our minds expanded, thankful for this opportunity. "Gracias a Dios" and "Dios le Bendiga!"
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