AMAZING week with my family! Oh my goodness was I blessed to have them here to experience Guatemala. I know how rare it is to have so many family members come down to visit and I don't take it for granted.
Amazing things that happened this week:
- My family got to see how beautiful Guatemala is.
- They got to meet all of my friends here who I love.
- They worked at Salud y Paz for a day and got to see everything I've been telling them about.
- I got a lot of family hugs that I've been missing.
Horrible things that happened this week:
- Lost my passport.
- Lost my drivers license (it was inside my passport).
- Dropped and broke my camera (yes I almost cried and was more upset about that than my passport).
- My family left to go back home.
Now get ready for some pictures. Since we didn't have internet at the house a lot this week I have to write about the whole week in one blog... get comfortable.
So my parents and Poppy made it to Guatemala on Sunday around 11:00. I caught a ride with Giovanni who was already taking some people to the airport around the same time and hung out at the airport and waited for my family to come (I think this is when my passport jumped ship). After about an hour and a half they came out of the airport. It was so great to see them and to give them giant hugs I've missed so much. After driving back to Pana we stopped at a gas station to meet up with Archy. Archy is one of the drivers we use a lot when we have teams come in and he's become a great friend. He has 2 little babies and the youngest has to have a special formula that you can't get in Guatemala and that is crazy expensive. I had Ashley bring down a case when she came a few weeks ago and after sending out a plea to my family for more help they got together enough money to bring down 6 more cases. He was about to leave town, so we stopped real quick and gave him the formula. It was great for them to meet Archy and for him to be able to tell them thank you. We then headed to the house to drop off the bags then walked back to town to eat dinner. We ate at Pana Rock (think rip off of Hard Rock) where the chairs are old Chicken Bus seats.
On Monday morning we got Giovanni to drive us to a village 2 away from Pana named San Antonio Polopo. The lake was really clear, so we stopped to take pictures along the way.
I had be to this village a couple of times and knew there was a cool pottery factory by the lake. I really wanted to take home a tea pot and cups and thought since I had 4 people to carry stuff home for me it was the perfect time to buy it. We ended up buying an entire box of pottery some for us and some to give away as gifts.
After San Antonio we headed back to Pana and stopped by my apartment to look around. Again so cool to have them here to see everything! After hanging at the apartment for a bit we walked to town. I took them on my short cut which is over this wooded bridge across the river. I couldn't help but stop and take this picture of Poppy and Pa trying to make it across the bridge without falling in. Note that the bridge is actually higher than it looks in this picture.
After walking around town we headed to a coffee shop (where I am right now actually) and waited for Parker. He was suppose to show up in a shuttle sometime, but we hadn't heard from him so we didn't know exactly when. After waiting for about an hour a van drove by and we saw Parker's hand waving out the window. My mom took this picture from the coffee shop. We were playing the game while waiting "What do we do if it gets dark and Parker never shows". Luckily we didn't have to play for too long.
After chilling at the house for a bit we walked back to town and ate at The Sunset Cafe. It is right over the lake and beautiful at night. It is where Ash and I listened to the band play Beatles' songs in Spanish.
This is the house we rented for the week. I forgot to take pictures until we were leaving for Antigua at 5:30 am, so that's why it's so dark outside.
It came with puppies! And by puppies I actually mean giant dogs. This is Shiva and Negra. They were sleeping because again it was 5:30. The house was cool, but it lacked a little thing called hot water. It wasn't until about day 3 that we finally figured out how to work it. You have to light the pilot light then turn on the water for the flame to spread. After my parents and Poppy went to bed one night Parker and I talked to the guardian for awhile trying to figure it out, but between Agosto's little English and our bad Spanish it just turned into a laughter fest. Agosto kept asking us from inside the house if outside the pilot light was a grande or
pequeño fush. Now fush isn't an English or Spanish word and we had no idea what he was saying for about 15 minutes. I'm pretty sure you're not dying laughing when you're reading this which just proves it's one of those you had to be there stories because I'm laughing so hard while typing this.
The house had all these cubbie holes and on the first night my dad made the comment that he thought he could fit into this one with all kinds of glasses hanging from it. We made fun of him all week, but then on the last night he proved us wrong.
By Parker and my amazement he got himself into the cubbie. We also had a bet going on if I could hold Parker or not. I thought I could hold him, but he thought I couldn't. My dad compromised and said that maybe if he picked Parker up and handed him to me like a baby I could maybe hold him. We tried for awhile then I gave up and was defeated. Other families make bets like this on their family vacations right?
On Tuesday morning my family walked over to the hotel that the college team was staying at in Pana and rode the Chicken Bus with them up to Salud y Paz. We stopped along the way to take pictures of the lake and waterfall.
My family at Salud y Paz. This may be my favorite picture of the trip (a VERY close second is a picture you're about to see in a minute of Poppy dressed head to toe as a tourist... get excited). It was so amazing to introduce them to everyone and to show them around. I feel like I can explain it to people as much as I want, but until you come and see it for yourself you won't be able to ever fully understand or appreciate it. So happy they all understand it now.
One of my favorite moments at work was when they walked into the first grade class. Oh man did they get tackled by the kids. I stood there taking their pictures for about 5 minutes as they hugged and picked up every kid in the class. I love this picture so much.
Pa with Gabby. :)
Poppy and little Kelly Luisia who is his sponsor child. Man she has a great name.
Mom and Rena... Just adorable.
Wayne wanted the microwave shelf rebuilt, so that's the main project we worked on all day. Apparently it takes 5 Craggs to build this shelf. Or really to be fair it took my dad and sometimes Poppy and Parker. I mainly just took pictures and my mom watched and held stuff they handed to her. Us Cragg girls could have done it, but then what would the boys do?
Another great family picture as Salud y Paz.
Tuesday night we went to a restaurant that we take a lot of our teams to. I went there with the team with the high school girls and was eager to take my family. When there is a team there they put on a show and explain how to make the instrument they are playing and talk about their culture. The college team was going that night, so we went and got our own table, but were close enough to watch the show. My dad became a huge fan of the band and while we were walking around the other nights we would stop and listen to them play their songs on the streets.
Wednesday was our lake day. We woke up and did the same boat tour Ash and I had dome a few weeks earlier. We left Pana around 8:30 and visited 4 different villages around the lake. We didn't go on the boat named Kelly, but we did go on one that looked exactly like it. My parents were really impressed that after just my short time here I already had a boat named after myself. We also saw a tuk tuk named Kelly. I'm just really popular here. :)
So this is how Poppy looked on the boat. He borrowed some sunglasses and wore them all day. He looked like a little captain.
The first village we went to was San Marcos, but we only had 40 minutes there. We tried to get breakfast, but we didn't have enough time for our food to come so we just had them pack it up for us. We took it with us to the next village (besides Parker who ate his on the boat), but we didn't have any silverware so we had to use corners of the plastic plates as forks. Parker thought we looked hilarious, so he took our picture. This village was San Juan which was cool. My mom bought a purse made out of organic dyed fabrics.
Next village was San Pedro. When we got off the boat we took a tuk tuk tour of the village. They took us to the church in town which is where this picture was taken.
This was outside the church also.
Next we went up the mountain to see the view. There were trees in the way, so you couldn't see Pana across the lake, but the volcanoes were beautiful to look at.
The last village was Santiago Atitilan where we ate lunch and walked around town a bit. It was also the village where Poppy bought his Guatemalan outfit. He (ON HIS OWN) decided to buy this hat and shirt. He never wore the shirt out of the house because he thought it fit a little odd, but he wore this hat and the sunglasses the rest of the time in Guatemala. We kept loosing him everywhere though because he looked exactly like a local and not touristy at all. :)
We took this picture on the boat and it may be one of my favorites from the week. So happy he got to come and see Guatemala! Also let me just brag on my grandfather for a moment. He had to climb in and out of this boat about 10 times and walked at least 2 miles everyday. I'm sure he was beyond exhausted and is going to take a week nap when he gets home and demand to be carried everywhere, but he did great on this trip!
That night we went to the market and to the store and bought things to make tostadas at the house. They were so shocked by how cheap food was here. I think we bought everything for the meal for about $20. It was also pie day because it was March 14th aka 3.14 (if you know my dad this makes sense and if not you probably think it's a little weird). Parker and I took a tuk tuk (seeing my family ride tuk tuks was HILARIOUS) to a bakery I go to sometimes and bought a key like pie for dessert.
Thursday morning we went to Chichi for the day to go to the market. My family wanted to see the hotel I stayed at in August on my mission trip. It is also the hotel we stay at with teams a lot.
I loved showing them the parrots. (Note that this was the last picture taken on my camera. I dropped it right after this and almost cried).
Now these pictures are from my mom's camera which she nicely left with me. After walking around the market and tuk tuking to cemetery we went back to the Santo Tomas hotel and chilled for a bit while waiting for our shuttle. I saw a team come in and then saw Jose Hernandaz (who I work with at Salud y Paz) walk in. It was great that he got to meet my family. I also think it was comforting to them to see that I do know people here who will take care of me if anything happens.
After one last night in Pana (this was when all the betting took place) we headed to Antigua at 5:30 in the morning. Once we got there we dropped off our bags at the hotel and walked to the central square to eat breakfast. After a long breakfast (because we got there at 8:00 and had a lot of time to kill) we walked around the square and into the old presidential building.
All the churches had similar offerings on the floor in front of the alters. There wasn't anyone to ask what it was for, but I hadn't seen anything like this before, so I am assuming it was for lent. Whatever it was for it was beautiful.
We also found a place to book a tour of a coffee plantation. That was on our list of things we wanted to do in Antigua, so we signed up to do that for a few hours before lunch.We went to a plantation called Filadelfia which picked us up in an army truck. It was funny standing outside a church and looking around the street and wondering what was going to show up. I mean I know they said army truck, but we didn't really think it was going to be an actual army truck. Here's a fun fact about my mom: she LOVES different modes of transportation. Between the boats, Chicken Buses, tuk tuks, and army trucks this was a great trip for her.
These are little baby coffee plants. I think these were 60 days old.
After about 3 years they start producing coffee seeds. You are only suppose to pick the red ones, so you have to check each tree daily.
The seeds drying out on the ground. I have seen this before at the nature reserve here in Pana.
After our tour dropped us back off in Antigua we walked to the Santo Domingo hotel. If you've been reading my blog this is the fancy hotel that Ashley and I ate lunch at and planned Parker's wedding for him. I knew my family would love to eat lunch there and look around the ruins. This place comes with parrots also. :)
Just a delightful picture of Parker standing where he will get married one day. Hopefully he will be wearing something a little nicer and have more friends to fill out the chairs.
After lunch we went to the jade museum then headed back to the hotel. We were exhausted and full after lunch, so we ended up not leaving again for the night. Archy was in town with a team and called and said he had something for my family. He came over to the hotel and we sat around talking for about an hour. It was really cool for my 2 worlds down here to come together. He gave us an adorable picture of his little baby that said thank you and God bless you on it. Also his mother in law had bought my mom a table cloth which was beautiful and his mom had made my mom, Ashley, and I purses which were pretty. I also had to go to another hotel to drop off something for work and Archy walked me there and back since it was already dark. It's great to know I have friends that are willing to help me out and look out for me. I really loved that they got to meet some of the people I work with here who I have become friends with. Also on the way to the hotel I ran into Joshua who is another driver we work with. He saw me from the other side of the street and ran over to say hi and meet my family. My dad made the comment that he was happy I was friends with all these drivers because if something happened and I needed to get somewhere I had friends to help me out.
On our last morning we ate breakfast at the hotel and played some 42. It's our family game and we hadn't gotten the chance to play yet during the week, so we played several games. Poppy played for awhile then he traded out with Mom and we played a few more games.
We had about 2 hours before their shuttle to the airport was coming, so we took a tuk tuk to the arch that Antigua is know for. I bought a painting of this arch in August when I was here and wanted them to see it. We then walked around a flea market and to a church behind the arch.
Last picture of the trip: Parker and I saw this funny little chocolate llama on the side of the road and took a picture with it. Cute little llama.
Sorry for the really long blog, but I use this as my journal and wanted to remember everything from this week. It was filled with so many beautiful moments that I know I am going to remember for the rest of my life. I know I have said this so many times, but I know I am blessed to have them come down. Now they get why I love it here so much and all the amazing people I have met here. It didn't quite feel completed or real without them having experienced it. Now it feels real.
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