Week 7!!

Can you believe we've been here almost 2 months? We can't!


This week was fun. We did a few things that we (especially me) really enjoyed!


Sunday January 15th... Went to church and went to Antigua and Applebee's with Rosie and her husband Ricardo.


Tuesday January 17th... Got to go back to the Mormon Temple.


Wednesday January 18th... Went to the BEACH!!! A beach with black sand! The water was ridiculously warm. If you are from New England, you know the water will always be cold no matter what time of year it is. So for a New Englander to set their feet in bath water warm ocean is unbelievable! After 5 minutes you can still feel your feet!

Puerto de San Jose (Port of San Jose)

"I'm in the water and I'm not cold!" -Luis Mendizabal

YAY!

What black sand looks like on your feet. They kinda look like hobbit feet!

Where we ate lunch, right on the beach.

Little kids selling gum and candy.

A guy selling fish he JUST caught from the ocean!

Recharging my batteries.

There is something about a beach. It just makes me so happy!

After the beach we went to a club house pool. But on our way there we stopped at an area where Luis's family owns some land! I said lets move here and build our dream home... so close to the beach and always perfect weather. I think I could live with that :)

An unassuming piece of land but Luis's family owns it!

The entrance to where their land is.

Very cool places. I love that in Guatemala you can drive one hour and find a completely different climate. We left Guatemala City in the morning and it was cloudy and 60 degrees. When we got to the beach it was sunny and 80 degrees! From mountains to ocean views, Guatemala has been gorgeous wherever we've gone. Here's the club house where we went!

Gorgeous!

So happy!

The mini waterfall at the pool.

Thursday January 18th... Nothing exciting to report. We can tell our time in Guatemala is winding down.


Friday January 19th... Julio took pity on us doing nothing so took us to a Natural History Museum. It was cool, although I wish Luis had translated more. A place that had several stuffed animals, like the Natural History Museum in Washington D.C. They also had a small pond with one real live turtle and a butterfly exhibit. You could see the different stages of the butterfly from caterpillar to cocoon to mariposa (butterfly)! We weren't allowed to take pictures.. what is it with cool museums not allowing pictures? But we took some with our phones, there were some HUGE bugs we just had to show people!

                                     The butterfly room.              This caterpillar went at this leaf and finished
                                                                                           it while we watched!

                             That bug was the size of Luis's hand!    Cool shot of Luis getting a picture.

A stuffed (or fake) Quetzal. The national bird of Guatemala.

Saturday January 20th... Went to a park to celebrate one of Luis's Cousin's birthday. Happy birthday Pablo!

From left in back, Andrea, Pablo, Luis, Me, Ana, David, and Juan Carlos.
From left in front, Ana Sofia, Velvet, and Moi.
Luis is related to all of them except Andrea (Pablo's girlfriend), and Ana (David's new wife).


Our final week in Guatemala has arrived. I don't know how I feel about that. Hopefully we'll get to do one more cool thing, but I have to thank all of Luis's family for making our trip so amazing! I know we will spend the last few days saying goodbye to everyone and that is more important! Who knew we would love it here so much!