3 Aussies

Been traveling the past 48 hours with 3 Aussies I met in Tikal. They were in my tour group of Tikal and didn't realize that the transportation cost to get to Tikal didn't include the park's entrance fee. I had heard many stories from others that confused this as well. They sheepishly turned to me and asked if I had 150 Quetzales and I gladly gave it to them. They have been fun to travel with and they will leave for Lake Atitlan today - I've already been and told them I'd be staying here in Antigua. They are planning to return tomorrow evening and might see them again. Heading to have lunch with them now before they leave. Glad I wrote this blog, it reminded me that I need to get a picture of them before they leave...

to Tikal and Back!

I took a risk by taking a bus to Tikal - a 9 hour bus ride - but it turned out all right. On the way there, I got to know two doctors who just finished med school and they made the trip much more enjoyable. During my tour of Tikal, I met 3 aussies who I ended up returning to Antigua with...as you probably know, if you are backpacking, you have to make an effort NOT to meet people because its bound to happen, your going to make friends and travel companions.

Tikal was absolutely amazing! The pictures do not do it justice...Never experienced anything like it. The pics of Tikal I'll post later, but here's one of my hike to the cross outside Antigua - beautiful view.

Happy 4th to everyone up north!

Tikal, here I come!

Taking a bus to Tikal tomorrow. Planning to stay at Los Amigos Hostel, but they don't take reservations. I hope to get in and then get a ride to the ruins, which I don't think will be a problem at all. The bus ride is the most concerning part - it's only $35, but 9hours long. We'll see how this one goes. Fingers crossed...As Jacqueline can tell you, I can't make it 1 hour on a trip without having to go to the bathroom. I was in tears and about to loose control of bodily functions on the way back from Panajachel when I found out we weren't stopping for a bathroom break. I have never been in so much bladder pain, seriously. Well, here it goes, tomorrow at 7:30a I'll be boarding a bus which I made sure has a bathroom in the back. Yes, some adventures I'm not willing to go on. Oh, did I mention it has A/C? Yes, yes, traveling adventures have changed a lot in the past 10 years. No more sleeping on park benches...

Tale de Tres Villages

Arrived in Panajachel on Saturday and it's been raining off and on the entire time. It hasn't stopped us though, we made it across Lake Atitlan today splitting our time between San Pedro and Santiago. Amazingly enough, it only cost $5 more taking a private boat, so we took it - oh, and it was the only thing offered today. It was nice to wander the streets and feel like the only gringos around. Especially in San Pedro, I only saw 2 others while I bought socks at the market. The socks were next to the turkeys, chickens and eggs. I felt like socks were the more practical buy! Still loving Guatemala...

Day in Chichi!!!

Took a shuttle to ChiChi(castenago) today to see the market and it was quite the experience. The first treat was the fact the rain stopped for most of the day. We walked around the market, for what Chichi is famous for, and took in the experience. It's one of the largest markets where they appeal to the foreigners while also sale produce, livestock, and other basic necessities. The church in the midst of the market was a mix (as many of them are) between Myan and Catholic traditions quite a site. No pictures allowed. Ran into the Lehs and Brooks while having dinner at the Church de Saint Thomas.

So, the roughest part of this trip has been traveling between village to village. The exhaust becomes a bit much to deal with... seriously, stopping in town or following a chicken bus up the winding mountain road, I feel like I'm going to loose my lunch every time. So far, hasn't happened...thank goodness! A lot can be said for fresh air. ahh

Guatemala Part 2

Submitted by: Steven Erhart

(pic is not one taken by our group)

We officially completed the 'Mission' part of our time in Guatemala. Some have returned home (Kirsten, Steve, Todd, and Greg), and others will leave tomorrow and later this week. Today, I said goodbye to Todd and Greg who rode together to the airport and have enjoyed a lazy day at the hotel which included a short stint to a nearby coffee shop here in Antigua. It's hard to believe the week has flown by so fast and I still haven't wrapped my mind around all that has happened over the past 6 days. I do know, speaking for myself, this trip was a life altering event as all trips like this have been. I hope to catch up on my blogging over the next few days and put some words to these experiences. My free time has been spent collecting photos and blogs from others in the group and I have neglected my own 'blogging.'

For now, I know I'd be extremely sad if I knew this was my last day in Antigua. I am looking forward to spending some more time getting to know this amazing city. I will be leaving today and heading to Lake Atitlan with Jacqueline and then back to Antigua which will also include a short flight to Tikal next weekend.

Volcanoes, Mufflers, and other explosions...

I spent Friday, my day off, touring the local coffee plantation and walking around town. The volcano was quite active today as we toured the plantation. Afterward, I walked around the city with Todd and had lunch on a restaurant patio. Walking the streets of Antigua, the back firing of the mufflers can be a bit unnerving at first and they also seemed overly active today. We were told those noises were fire crackers, but I must have jumped 10 feet when a car drove by and it occurred once again - pretty sure those noises are coming from vehicles. The volcano, the mufflers, and food are nothing unusual here except for one last thing. What sets this day apart are the noises coming from my stomach. I spent most of this day ill and I won't go into much detail since the title of this blog probably says it all!!!

Cinder blocks and lots of hugs!

Submitted by: Barb

On Tuesday, I worked on the house that I was helping with. There were amazing views of the other surrounding homes, village and the hillside behind them.

For this home addition and the new church, they use concrete beams to span this roof. They are over 15 feet long, 5 inches wide and 2 inches thick. In between each beam a layer of cinder blocks are laid - imagine 10 rows of cinder blocks spanning this 15 foot long room. All of this will eventually be covered with more concrete on top and plaster on the sides. Good thing the walls of these houses are strong. Amazingly, all this construction is done without power tools. We had two power saws, one for wood and one for concrete.

The couple of the house are extremely appreciative. Their children are intrigued and inquisitive and wander in and out whenever they get a chance. Today, we had every child from blocks around crowding into the street where we were working. They love to get their picture taking and then getting to see it on the camera display. We departed with high-fives, hugs, and thank yous.

Words!

How do I describe today and still do it justice? For I'm at the end of my 3rd day in Guatemala and I am completely exhausted and don't have the energy to blog. We began this day at 6:30a with breakfast, then a devotional at 7p before leaving for San Lucas to tour the water facility there. Then, after the tour, the 'work' began!! Up until now, my time in Guatemala had felt more like a luxury vacation. Seriously, Antigua is amazing and I have instantly fallen in love with this town and it's people. Our work today split us into 3 groups and my work site is a new church in San Maria and I spent most of that time building support beams to hold the cement and cinder-blocks until the cement dries. My favorite task was chiseling holes on the outside to support an exterior frame. Half way through, I asked the other 6 on my team if they were concerned that I was the one responsible for the 'support beams' - quite scary if you ask me, not sure I'd give myself such a task!!! But, I was with a young man named Benjamin who definitely knew what he was doing. He was fun to work with and we helped each other learn some English/Spanish words in the process. I was frustrated that I had forgotten so much, not that I really, ever knew the Spanish language in the first place. I know the work, and experience bridged the language barrier today with the men and women we were helping, but it's still those darn 'words' that would make things so much easier...I'm learning the basics, still, 21years after my first Spanish course. Por que?

Getting there is half the fun!

Submitted by: Kari Pathuis

5:00am MST: Super Shuttle / 5:30am MST: Long Lines at the ticket counter / 6:00am MST: No lines at Security (quick check of surroundings to see that I was still at DIA) / 6:15am MST: Ahh!! Triple Mocha / 7:50am MST: Flight to Miami / 1:3pm EST: Miami / 2:00pm EST: Taxi to South Beach / 2:00pm EST: Lunch in South Beach / 3:00pm EST: Barefoot on the beach / 4:30pm EST: First City Bus ride ever back to Airport / 5:00pm EST: Miami Airport / 6:30pm EST: Man wearing 3 hats / 7:35pm EST: Flight Delayed / 8:00pm EST: Flight to Guatemala City / 8:45pm CST: (no Daylight Savings) Guatemala City / 8:50pm CST: Different man wearing 3 hats / 9:40pm CST: Van ride to Antigua / 10:30pm CST: Hostal Las Marias / 11:00pm CST: Bed

Waking up in a whole new world - timeless!!!!

Pastor

Flight into Guatemala

We Are Here...Some of Us at Least!

Just a quick note to say that the first group (consisting of the Lehs, Jacqueline, Steven, and Todd) has arrived at the hotel in La Antigua. We had an early morning, but an uneventful journey starting in Denver, thru Houston, to Guatemala City. The 45 minute shuttle ride seemed it would never end, but we are here and settled. We anxiously await the arrival of the rest of our group and look forward to the week ahead.

Submitted by: Todd Chalmers

The Night Before

It's 11:30pm, Jacqueline and Nick will be picking us up at 4:45am, why the heck am I still up? I've over packed and, for someone who doesn't take medicine, I have a pharmacy in the top pocket of my backpack. But, I still feel that I have forgotten something important and most importantly, why am I having this conversation with myself at the very last minute??? I've had 9 months to plan for this trip!! Ok, I need to crash and have no business writing this blog at this time of night!

The blogs of the other members have been incredibly helpful in getting pumped about the true purpose of this trip...Also, I can't get my mind off the others and wondering how their packing is going!

So excited, do I really expect to get any sleep tonight? Well, we'll see what happens.....Steven

The Countdown Begins!

In less than 24 hours, I'll be catching a Continental flight to Guatemala City with 18 others from Central Presbyterian Church. Ok, we aren't all getting on the same flight, but we'll all reunite in Antigua, Guatemala, which is at least a 45 minute drive outside the capital, late tomorrow evening. I'm sitting here wondering where the year went. It feels like yesterday when our pastor, Jacqueline, ask me to go on the trip and help with some of the organization. Here I am, 9 months later, scrambling to get everything together...to make sure I get an early start, I started the day with an incredible breakfast at Snooze where I'm also taking a few minutes to write this blog. Once I get up from the table, I know I need to visit REI, the bank, and the pharmacy. Then, it's back to the house to start the packing. This has been my week, I've been going, going, and have been so busy with the technical side of the trip that I have ignore the 'emotional' aspect, but it is finally hitting me. I was reading a blog entry by one gentleman going on the trip, titled "A New Kind of Adventure" (www.centraldenver.com/blog) and the quote of his 10 year son caused a swell of emotion. Why? I finally stopped 'doing' for a second. The more I slowdown and reflect, the more stronger the reality...tomorrow, i'll be in Guatemala. A lesson and reminder to me...I can change my reality in an instant, simply by slowing down, no longer focusing on the mechanics of a blog site or rushing to complete my errands, but stopping to look around, listening to the simplicity of someones thoughts and feelings and just letting life happen.

Mission, Guatemala

In April 2008 I went on my first mission trip. It was to Perlington, Mississippi with Central Presbyterian Church. Our mission was to help restore housing to a community that was devastated by Hurricane Katrina. I went with the idea that the residents of Perlington were living in FEMA trailers and had the desire and need to return to living in a regular home, which they had completely lost. Once there, I realized that the people of Perlington had an underlying issue that was not the focus at the time. Their water system was destroyed. So the fresh tap water that we as Americans enjoy (and usually filter before we drink it) was lost to this community and the surrounding areas. I had the opportunity to work with the local Baptist Church that provides lunch for all the volunteers in the area during the week. At first, I was not that thrilled to work on “lunch duty” instead of helping a family return to a normal home. Those of you on the trip also know that I had hopes that since it was a church, they would have a flush toilet, which I was missing after one day. They didn’t. And they didn’t have safe water appropriate for drinking or washing all the dishes that it takes to provide a meal for over 50 people every day. So daily I went to a shed and retrieved cans of beans, wiped them of the “debris” (mouse droppings), cooked them and made rice. I served the volunteers and washed all the dishes in a mixture of bleach and dish detergent. However, I also got to listened to the stories of survival that I will never forget from the residents of Perlington that would stop by for “left overs” while we were cleaning up. They never talked about the water problem. It became a way of life to not drink the tap water and to wash their dishes in Bleach even though 3 years earlier they did not have to do. That is what is happening in our country.

So I didn’t think twice about the opportunity to go to a country where fresh tap water is not something they had lost, but something they have never had and probably will never have. This is my first international trip. Except for occasional trips to Canada, which was only a 30-minute drive from my home in Detroit, I have never left the comfort of the United States. I am nervous, I’m not going to lie, but I will come back knowing that for one week I have helped a community become stronger in their dependence on clean water.

I thank you all for your support and ask you all to daily go to your cupboard, grab a glass and enjoy the tap water (unfiltered) that is available to you.

Kari Pathuis

Preparing for Guatemala

Blogging and Missions definitely didn't seem to go together the last time I traveled overseas on a mission trip. Even though I'm not a 'blogger' at heart, I am eagerly trying to get my head wrapped around the technology aspect so that I can focus on preparing for Guatemala. I'll be honest with you, I honestly have wanted to throw my computer out the window at times, but I'm slowly getting a hang of it. It's scary to think that, in a few days, I'll be helping others on our team navigate the blogging world. Through all the frustration, there is definitely hope and I truly believe that this blog will serve a greater purpose than just words, thoughts and feelings. Often, on trips like these, I feel that the individuals I am supposedly ministering to, are actually having a greater impact on me than I am having on them. This trip, after we return, will undoubtedly be but a spec in time which is why it is ever so important to capture and share our feelings, thoughts, lessons, and moments where we encounter the face of God. It is truly my desire that, despite this frustration with technology at this moment, we are able to use blogging to share what God is doing in our lives and in the lives of our future friends in Guatemala. From this day forward, our Mission Team hopes to bring you daily snippets from various individuals along with occasional photos and videos of our experiences in Guatemala. If I didn't believe this was for a greater purpose, I would gladly return to my paper and pen and leave my computer at home. I am reminded of the final phrase of one of my favorite musicals, Les Miserables, "to love another person is to see the face of God!" For me, that's what this is all about and this is what I hope my Guatemala experience will encompass. All worth the pains of blogging!! - Steven Erhart

Welcome!

Welcome to the Central Presbyterian Guatemala 2010 Mission Trip blog!