MDUMC Construction Team...

What a blessing it was to have the team from my home church in country this week! I absolutely LOVED having them come and fully experience what I am doing down here. My parents and my uncle were part of the amazing team which puts my family who have come to visit count at 6. I keep telling them that they should all plan a huge Cragg family trip down to see me! Man what a blessing it would be to have everyone I love come down for a visit! Hint Hint!

The first weekend we played around Pana. On Sunday Adele invited the team over to her house for church in the morning. It was so beautiful having my family and the team get to experience where I worship every week. It is a completely different kind of church service than anything I've ever gone to before, and I feel blessed that they now know how I worship down here and who with. After church we grabbed some lunch in town then took a boat over to San Antonio Palopo, so the team could visit another village and see where the pottery that the lake is known for was made. The factory was actually closed since it was a Sunday, but there were a few other stores that were open which we shopped in.

Monday morning we drove up to Camanchaj to start our week of construction. My parents had spent a day at Salud y Paz in March, but it was fun to have more time to actually show off everything our organization does. This week the construction was working outside continuing the building of a new addition which when completed will expand our dental clinic. Doing that will then allow us to expand both our medical clinic and our surgery program. I have been told this will be about a 2 year process and it was fun to have my team work on it this week. Now everything I work construction with my future teams I will be able to look and remember what walls were built by my church.

On Tuesday morning we stopped at the waterfall going up the mountain to Camanchaj. It has gotten really big the past few weeks because of all the rain.

Sometimes I am still so blown away by how beautiful the lake is. Growing up in Houston I always said I wanted to live somewhere beautiful when I grew up. Mission accomplished. 

My mom got an email from my brother during the week saying that he was lonely because the rest of the family was off in another country without him and how he now understands how I feel all the time. I suggested that this be our Christmas card picture this year, but I think Parker would feel left out. :)

Archy was our driver and translator this week. I am constantly reminded of how blessed I have been to form amazing friendships. We talked again about me coming and living with his family in November to learn Spanish which I am getting really excited about. When I work with Archy we do a great job of always trying to teach each other new words. I help him with his English and he helps me with Spanish. It also always includes a lot of laughter which I always appreciate.

All week I talked about how we needed to get a team picture at the clinic, but didn't remember on the last day until we were already driving away. I then made everyone jump out of the van and run back to take a picture. Well worth it!

On Friday after working until mid afternoon we headed to Antigua. I usually don't go to Antigua with the teams, but since it was the team from my church I gladly made the exception. Friday we got to Antigua right before dinner, so we just ate and chilled at the hotel. Then Saturday morning we went to a breakfast spot which is connected to the Santo Domingo Hotel and has a great lookout over Antigua. I love the picture below. Again so blessed to have my family here!!! 

 Mommy and me. :)

 

After our delicious breakfast we drove to another scenic lookout over Antigua. It took about 20 minutes to drive to this cross which offers an amazing view of Antigua. I have heard teams talk about this for awhile, but I actually had never been there before. My brother bought the new iPhone 5 and gave me his old iPhone 4 to use down here, so I needed to go to the Tigo store in Guatemala City to get it figured out. Since Archy and I were going to be gone for a few hours to the City I was able to point out to the team from the lookout where the main plaza was and where else they needed to go see. Such a cool spot! 

Also if you are wondering no I didn't get my phone fixed. We drove for an hour to the city then sat in one Tigo store for about an hour before leaving because their system was down. Then we drove to another Tigo store and realized they couldn't help us either. Then we had to drive another hour back to Antigua all for nothing. Very annoying! I left my phone with Archy and he is going to try to get it fixed in Xela this week then bring it back to me when we works with our next team next week.

When we were at the Tigo store Archy mentioned that he had been looking for an used iPhone for cheap. He explained that a lot of people down here would love the old iPhones that so many of us have sitting in our drawers back home. I know that when I got my iPhone 4 I just threw my old iPhone 3 in a drawer and never thought about it again until I brought it down here to use. If you happen to have an old iPhone or iPod just sitting around at your house that you are never going to use again let me know. I would love to be able to bring some down for my friends down here. I'll be home for a week in October and would love to bring some back for friends.

Saturday night we went to the Santo Domingo for dinner. If you read my blog post last Spring about Ashley and I planning Parker's wedding this is the same hotel. I had never been here at night and it absolutely sealed the deal. It is hard for me to fathom not getting married at our church back home, but if I was going to do a destination wedding this would be the spot. There wasn't a wedding going one, but there was an Quinceanera going on. All of the chairs were filled and it looked exactly like a wedding only with the girl wearing a puffy blue dress instead of a puffy white one.

I've almost decided that I should just book the place now and worry about finding the perfect guy in the future! :)

Overall it was a great week of serving alongside people I love so much! The whole group was amazing! I knew most of the people coming on the trip, but it was such a beautiful week of getting to know everyone more. It was filled with laughter and love from home which I had been missing so much.

On a side note the last couple of weeks have been difficult at work. I love with all my heart working at Salud y Paz and serving alongside our mission teams when they are in country. However, like every place you work there are random challenges and difficulties that come up. I am hopeful that things will turn around and that it is going to be an amazing year serving at S y P, but I could use a little prayer if you have an extra one to send my way. Prayers for clarity, patience, and strongness (yes, I'm creating a word) would be appreciated.

I got dropped off at the airport this morning with the team because my flight to Costa Rica was suppose to be at the same time as theirs to Texas. However, they have now been gone for about 3 hours and I am still sitting here waiting for my plane. Apparently it was delayed arriving into Mexico City and won't be here until 4:45 (originally 12:22) which doesn't put me into Costa Rica until almost 7:00. I am about to walk around and see what I can spend money that I don't have to spend on. :) Maybe I'll end up with a lot of duty free stuff I don't need. Who knows. Hopefully my next blog next week will cover all the amazing adventures I had in Costa Rica with Scott and Carol Ann!!

Good news!

I'm not sure if I have blogged about this before, but when my family went to Africa this summer on a mission trip my dad caught Malaria. It took the doctors more than a month to figure out what he had before he could start taking the right medicine. He's finally on the right meds and is starting to feel better.

My parents are leading down a team from my church that is arriving on Saturday and will spend the week working construction at our main site in Camanchaj and staying in Pana where I live. The last couple of weeks have been hard because I didn't know if my dad was going to be able to make the trip. Then I started thinking that if my dad had to stay home then my mom would probably stay home to take care of him. My dad left the decision whether he could come or not up to the doctor and after getting some more test run yesterday he finally got the OK to come!!

So now I know for sure that BOTH of my parents and my uncle are coming on Saturday for a week! I am most excited to spend the week with them and to have them experience what it is like to be on a team. Since I am the Team Coordinator I work with all the teams that come down and I love that my parents will experience that.

Saturday I will head to Guatemala City in the morning to pick up their team. Let's just hope they don't miss their flight this time. :)

Guatemala's Independence Day and booking of flights!

Saturday was Guatemala's Independence Day (September 15th) which I celebrated by going with the other volunteers up to Camanchaj to help out with the parade. I thought about going to Xela or just staying in Pana to watch the parades then I thought about how cute the kids at the school were going to be and made the right decision to spend the day with the kids. The teachers had been decorating all week and when I got to the clinic that morning both cars were decorated as floats and all the kids started showing up in their costumes. This year the teachers decided the kids should dress up as different modes of transportation. All the parents were responsible for coming up with their own costumes and they all did an amazing job. Not only did all the kids have a cardboard or styrofoam vehicles, but then they all had matching outfits. I cannot even begin to describe how adorable the kids were. Hopefully these pictures can help you imagine how great of a day it was and how much laughter was had.

Some of the first grade girls were sailors. They were so adorable and came up with a little dance with their boats. Their sailor hats were my favorite part of their whole outfits. The parents really did an amazing job making the boats. 

 These little biker chicks are in the first grade. They were the first kids behind our car in the parade, so they led all the other kids. For the first half of the parade (which lasted about 3 1/2 hours even though we only drove up one hill) then got too tired and just started walking and pushing their bikes. Going up the hill at the very end was really hard for them, so I had to take turns helping the girls with their bikes. Adorable.

Our job for most of the parade was to drive in the car which led our school in the parade. Our car drove after the kids in the public school and in front of our school kids. Heather drove the car while I was in charge of music. All I had to do was put in a CD and hold the player in my lap. We had a loud speaker on top of the car which was blaring the music. Heather and I just watched the parade in front of us and laughed at the ridiculous kid music that was playing. Half way through Wayne took over driving and we were able to jump out and play with our kids and walk through the village watching the rest of the parade.

The pilots were another favorite. Please notice Rena and how over the parade she is. She is one of my favorites and was so tired. I ended up walking by her and holding her hand just so she wouldn't pass out. All the kids were so exhausted by the end of the parade. 

This was one of the 2 cars we had in the parade for our organization. No one could explain to me why this truck was decorated like this dog looking thing. Who knows. The 3 princesses from our school rode in the back of the truck and were super adorable doing their little princess waves.

 After the parade was done all the participants gathered at the public school down the road from Salud y Paz and watched the princess crowning ceremony. During the ceremony I kept looking around at our kids and after they finished eating their snack most of them were either sitting or laying on the floor. Such a hard day walking through town as cute little vehicles.

These 2 sisters are my favorites. Luisa Elaina is in first grade and Rena is in kindergarten. I walked by them and they grabbed my hand and pulled me in for a hug. Both of them are really big on hugging and kissing on the cheek. They do it daily and it always makes me smile. Their mom is extremely nice and also always hugs me when she sees me. She reached for the camera in my hand and asked if she could take a picture of us. I love that even though I technically don't work in the school anymore I still have that connection with the children and parents. Walking through town in the parade also helped me realize the connection I have with the community of Camanchaj. Sometimes I hate that I don't serve in the community that I live in. I think it would be a completely different experience if I both lived and served in the same village. However, even though it is different I feel a real sense of community in both villages. Just something I need to get over. 

 Now here are just some cute pictures of me with random kids. After the ceremony we all went back to our school and took down the decorations. While the parents and teachers were cleaning up I played with the kids (in my defense I did my share of cleaning after everyone left). The kids at the school love taking pictures with my camera. So while sitting on the steps I had so many kids come up to me and want to sit in my lap and play with my camera. Very easy way to entertain them for hours.

These sailor girls were super cute! We took about 20 pictures of us on the playground. They were both wearing make up for the first time and loved to take their picture and then zoom in and look at their eyes. They then kept touching my eyes and saying something in Spanish. I am sure they were talking about how I never wear make up. Who knows.

Karla Marlany as a chicken bus with her little daisy sun hat was a clear winner for my favorite. At one point during the parade she reached out her arm from one of the windows of the bus and grabbed my hand. It was really difficult to walk and hold her hand through the window because of the angle, but she held on so tightly. She has been one of my favorite kids since she had surgery in our clinic last year. She sat in my lap for a long time before hand then when she was waking up she held my hand again really tightly. Such a special little girl to me.

This little girl is Saydie. She is in kindergarten and was one of the princesses for our school. She was also really excited about wearing makeup. Heather told me she talked about how they had "painted her lips and eyes" that morning. Just precious.

 

Some of the kids had already left, but here are most of them after the parade which is why they are not smiling that much. Man were they all really exhausted. I can not imagine them looking any cuter than they were on Saturday. They bring so much joy to my life. 

On a random note I booked 2 flights this week. The first one is to Costa Rica the first week in October. The group that was just in Guatemala that I went to Tikal with are volunteering down in Costa Rica right now. However, both Scott and Carol Ann are moving back to the States in November. They finally convinced me to come visit them (even though I am a little concerned about spending the money right now) because in the long run it will be my cheapest chance to go. If I go now then I can stay with them for free and cook some meals at their apartments, so I wouldn't be spending so much money. I set aside some money out of my savings to travel this year and am glad I can take advantage of this "slow" time at work. Pretty soon my schedule is going to be crazy busy and I won't have time to do any traveling. Hopefully it will be a great trip with great new friends!

The second plane ticket was home to Houston. The last week in October Salud y Paz is having both a benefit and board meeting in Houston. Wayne mentioned this summer the possibility of all the volunteers going, but honestly I didn't think it would ever be possible. Then after booking my ticket to Costa Rica I had pretty much made up my mind that I couldn't afford to go to Houston for that week. Then I got the news that a couple of donations came in and were going to be able to cover both my plane ticket and Heather's. Janet and Wayne are also going to the benefit and I am very excited to have them all in Houston! It is going to be a lot of fun showing them my home and having them see where I am from. I am also more than excited to have a trip home next month! This is going to seem way lame, but I was actually sad I wouldn't get to see the pumpkin patch this year so just for that reason alone this makes me really happy! :)

Tomorrow I'll go up to the clinic and hopefully conquer my MASSIVE to do list. However, I am constantly being told by the other volunteers that it is laughable to make to do lists here in Guatemala because you'll always be disappointed. Hopefully I can prove them all wrong tomorrow. :)

Rio Dulce Lake Trip!

Last Friday the other volunteers (Heather, Janet, and Wayne) and I left to drive to Rio Dulce which is a river running from Lake Izabal (biggest lake in Guatemala) to the Carribean Sea. I couldn't have asked for a better vacation with my volunteer family. We were gone for a total of 5 days spending 3 of them in Rio Dulce and the other 2 as car traveling days since it took about 10 hours to get there. We took one of our company cars and the other 3 peeps shared in the driving. I have yet to learn fully how to drive a stick shift down here, so I skipped my turns driving.

On the way to Rio Dulce we stopped at Quirigua Archaeological Park. We had to drive through a banana plantation to get to the park then when we arrived we parked and walked around the sites. This site is known for it's sculptures. At Tikal most of what I saw were huge temples while at this park there were many more stone tablets and sculptures. I have decided I need to visit every Mayan site in Guatemala. I have been to 3 so far and apparently there are more than 1,500 located around Guatemala.  It's going to be a busy year. :) Here are some pictures from Quirigua.

Heather and I got one cute picture before it started to rain on us. However, luckily it was the only time it rained on our vacation. Really good for rainy season!

When we arrived in Rio Dulce we parked our car at a restaurant and got picked up by our hotel's boat and traveled for about 10 minutes down the river to our hotel. We stayed at Tortugal Marina Hotel which was really great. Janet and Wayne rented out a house to themselves while Heather and I stayed in the La Casa Natural. It has beds for 9 people, so we rented one of the bedrooms for 2. The walls of the rooms were mesh, so there really wasn't any privacy. Luckily there was only one dude staying downstairs and we had the whole upstairs to ourselves. Not bad for $14 a night! I think it would be fun to go with a bigger group and fill up the whole house. I also learned that the shuttles there and back would cost about $50. I would absolutely be up for going back another time with more people.

The first full day we were there we took a river boat to Livingston which is a town located down the river on the Carribean Sea. I loved the ride along the river. I got to sit in the front of the boat because I was willing to sit in the sun, and the views all around were beautiful. Such a pretty location.

One of the stops we made with the boat was to this lily pad area. There were hundreds of lily pads that we drove through. I have never seen so many in one place before and was grateful for the opportunity to stop and take pictures.

While we were stopped taking pictures these girls canoed over to our boat to sell random sea shells and other random things. I thought it was so funny that they were there waiting for the boat of gringos to sell to. I ended up buying a starfish for a friend which later I was told that I was killing the environment by buying it. Who knew that my buying one little starfish was the reason why the environment is going downhill.

Our next stop on our boat ride was to a little area on the side of the river where there was a natural hot spring. We swam around for a little bit then hiked to a cave that cost 15Q to tour. A man who was standing outside the cave gave us flashlights and led us through the cave. Here is our group outside the cave.

The cave was super cool and super dark. At one point we all turned off our flashlights and couldn't see anything (duh). However, pictures turned out ok inside the cave when you used flash. I thought I would be more claustrophobic than I was, but surprisingly I was actually really calm while hiking through.

When we finally arrived in Livingston this dude Charlie met us at our boat. He kept saying he was with the tourist center in Livingston and started following us around even though we kept saying we were not interested. He learned my name and kept saying "Kelly, come this way" and after awhile we just started following him. He kept referring to Janet and Wayne as my parents which I thought was hilarious. He walked us to the other side of town, so we could eat lunch on the Carribean Sea coast. Here is a picture of some wild Livingston Carribean Sea pigs.

This was the view from where we ate lunch. In the distance we could see Belize. It made me think about my trip there last Spring with my cousin. Such a beautiful place that I hope to return to someday.

After our lunch and tour of Livingston we took the boat back down the river to another restaurant because Heather wanted us to try a special soup that this area is known for called Topado. When Heather was explaining it to us before hand I thought it sounded really gross, but it actually was really good. Here is Janet and Wayne at the restaurant.

Other side of the table.

The soup. It may look gross, but it was so good. We split it since we had all just had lunch. I would absolutely order it again.

Heather went to the bathroom and came back saying that there was a cage of monkeys along the way, so naturally I ran to play with the monkeys. When I got to the cage I started taking pictures and when I was looking down at my camera one monkey reached through the cage and grabbed my foot which made me jump. Then the other monkey grabbed my hand. It was like I was being attacked by the cute little monkeys!

The next morning we took the boat back to where our car was parked and drove to Finca Paraiso which is a waterfall of natural hot springs. There is a river on top of the waterfall which was almost too hot to get into. That hot water flows down into the cold water of the river below. It cost Q10 to get into the park which made me laugh thinking of course that was worth the $1.20 to get in. We swam around for awhile and attempted to climb up the cold river behind the waterfall. However, the current was too strong to get far up the river. 

Next up Heather and I climbed up the side of the rocks to the top of the waterfall to see the hot springs river above. I decided it would be less scary to jump off the waterfall than to attempt to climb down the slippery rocks, so we decided to jump. Heather jumped first then I went right after her. We had Janet take our pictures jumping, but then decided we needed video proof, so we each took turns climbing back up and jumping again. First, be impressed I jumped off a 40 foot waterfall TWICE. Second, be even more impressed I did it with a sprained foot (still hurts a lot and I am debating if I need to figure out how to get an x-ray) and didn't hurt myself. Enjoy the video below. :)

On our last full day Janet and I kayaked to Castillo de San Felipe which is a pirate castle which was built by the Spanish in 1652 in an attempt to defer the pirates who would come to Rio Dulce to raid supplies. Heather and Wayne didn't want to go to the castle, so Janet and I took a 2 person kayak and made our way down the lake. It took us about 45 minutes to get there because the current was going the  wrong way, but on the way home it only took us 25 minutes to get back to the marina. When we arrived at the castle we walked around taking pictures for about an hour. I thought the trip was well worth it. I can now say I've been to a real pirate castle. :)

On the way back to the kayak at the castle I spotted a little stand selling these floats. Heather and I had been talking for days about wanting floats to use while swimming off our dock, but the hotel didn't have any. I bought both of these floats for Q55 which turns into about $3 each. On one of the first days I met Heather we were walking in the market and saw a Hannah Montana backpack to which Heather says we are kind of like Miley Cyrus and Hannah Montana. She is Hannah Montana because she has blond straight hair and I would be Miley Cyrus because of my brown curly hair. It made me laugh then and also when I saw the Hannah Montana float. Well worth it and maybe the best purchase of the trip.

Overall Rio Dulce was such a great trip! I really enjoyed experiencing all the other volunteers outside of work. For the most part we had a no talk about work policy which was great because then I got to know them better while talking about other random subjects. It is however good to be back in Pana for a little bit. Tomorrow is actually Guatemala's Independence Day, so there have been crazy parades going on all week. I am going to go up to Camanchaj tomorrow to watch the school kids who are in a parade through the town. Expect a blog full of cute pictures of them coming soon. :)

Right now I am sitting with Lungi at Crossroads Cafe. Because of the parades down the street there are no other customers, so we have been sitting here for about an hour taking random photobooth pictures. Man do I adore my friendship with Lungi. Hanging out with her and laughing reminds me of the youth back home. Such a blessing.