July 9th Guatemala 2016

Day 2, July 9^th Guatemala 2016

We got up bright and early Saturday morning to leave Guatemala City and head to Panajachel. Panajachel will be our home till next Saturday. A beautiful home with so many stories to tell. It is hard to explain how a place so beautiful is yet so heartbreaking..I won’t say sad because the people here are so happy and so full of joy..they are full of laughs and smiles.

As we traveled to Panajachel we saw so many sights. There are stray dogs literally everywhere, fruit/vegetable vendors on every corner and all down the road. Children running down the sidewalk with a backpack on and a smile on their face. Chicken buses everywhere you look and decorated so beautifully and uniquely. So many familiar sights, for a minute it looks like home in the US…then you pass children selling things on the street..elderly people who can barely even stand much less walk trying to make it down the road and some even selling things, hoping to make some money…a home with a tarp roof…homes made out of adobe…dirt floors…then you realize this is nothing like home.

Riding down the roads here almost feels like a life or death situation haha…the roads are very narrow and at times it seems impossible for two lanes of traffic to pass each other…there is a lot of swerving and horn blowing. Your life depends on that driver, you learn a lot about trust that is for sure.

There is a lot of riding in the back of trucks here…it is quite a fun experience, but you have to remember to hang on or you may go flipping over the edge, haha

The people here are so friendly and they will do anything to help you..yes shouldn’t it be the other way around..us helping them? But don’t forget what I said..the people here are happy…they may struggle..and they may do without but they are happy.

I wish I could put into words what I have seen and what I have felt. It has been amazing and it has been heartbreaking all at the same time.

I wanted to write more but I am heading out soon for a day with my boys. I have so much to write about but it seems my mind comes up blank when I start typing