Last day . . .

We are back.  The last day was painfully hard.  These are pictures are of us leaving the school. Leaving the orphanage and homebase goes undocumented, but the feeling of that will stay with us always.  Thank you for reading this, and for thinking and praying for us!  So much love, Alison (and Madeleine and Henry)

Day 21

Alison: These first two pictures are from yesterday, but I forgot to post.  The last two are from work today.  In school we played the BINGO game that we had prepared the boards for in class the day before. It was a huge success!  The kids were SO into playing, and I think they realize that they learned some things!!  Yahoo! 

We can get the girl in the wheelchair to smile now.  And tomorrow is our last day . . . Urghhh . . .

While we are all looking forward to being home, I am not looking forward to saying goodbye.

Day 20

Today, after work we went to a macadamian nut farm. We learned how they broke the shells with a hand made machine. 

We saw a huge spider like this big:
[                                        ] 

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[                                        ]      As you can see it was very big.     

After that we went to a Mayan shop where we learned about weddings and everyday life of the Maya.

 Then we made tortillas and ground coffee beans.   

By Henry

Day 19

Day 18

Days 15, 16, and 17

By Mads: 
July 13, 14, 15 Tikal Weekend

July 13
On Friday we took a private jet to Tikal. We felt like Kimmy K. When we got there we went to Island Flores and walked around, and then stayed at Hotel Del Patio which was really nice, but you had to go outside the room for the Wifi. 

July 14
On Saturday morning we took an hour bus ride to the actual site of Tikal. We stayed in Tikal Inn in ligit the middle of the jungle. Then our tour guide picked us up and took us through the jungle on a 3 and a half hour hike through the jungle to the Mayan Ruins. The hike was horrible because there was so many bugs and it was on this tiny little path and it was burning hot. But the hike was worth it because the Mayan ruins were amazing. We only spent 20 minutes there though, because the tour guide had to take us back for lunch. That afternoon we went swimming, had dinner, and then had to be back in our room by 10:00 because all the electricity in the hotel shut off at 10:00. That night was horrible because it was pitch black dark, and there was an ant infestation in the bathroom, and you could hear all the monkeys and animals in the jungle. Henry didn't sleep at all because he was scared.

July 15
Today we went back to the ruins just us,  but took a shortcut so it only took 20 minutes. And it wasn't through the jungle. I don't know why the guide didn't take us that way in the first place. We spent about 3 hours at the ruins and we got to explore it much more than Saturday. It's actually HUGE. We visited all the different temples and pyramids and went through all the different secret passageways and stuff. When we were done in Tikal, we went back to the airport, ate dinner at Pizza Hut, and then flew home. Our private jet almost crashed though because we flew right through a lightning storm.

Day 14

Alison (I) have recovered. We were all SO happy to return to our placement.  Henry and I taught the kids English words for animals and we reinforced the colors.  Mads was helpful to her teacher, and she had a good conversation with her.  In the afternoon, we went to a crazy mall with carousels and bungee jumping.

Henry got a new haircut and a new shirt.  Sorry for the short posts.  Tomorrow we head to Tikal, where our hotel is in the jungle and a generator will work only until 10pm - likely no Internet, so we might not be able to post until Monday.

Day 13

By Alison

O.k., coming out of my sickness.  Henry went to the second placement, while I slept, again . . .

Day 12

By Alison
I got so sick last night, and I have slept all day.  I did not go to work, and Madeleine stayed with me.  Henry went with other volunteers to a different placement.

Both Madeleine and Henry went to the zoo in the afternoon.  I slept.

Day 11

Today we were able to do the color exercise with the beads in the school and it went so well.  The kids loved the beads.  Willy, a boy in the school who also lives in the orphanage, picked out beads that spell his name, but the string we brought was to thick for the beads, so we folded them in tape, and I have to find a way to string them.

During the second part of the morning, we did the same with the people left behind in the orphanage. Both Katherine and Paola could pick up single beads and we could string them for them.

In the afternoon there was a Spanish lesson, and we went to the gym twice.  Going to the gym makes me feel as if we actually belong here.

Day 10

By Madeleine 

Today we went to the school again. They had a huge assembly, and some kind of pageant thing. In the orphanage we raced Andre and Wendy on their little tricycles in the tiny courtyard that they have to play in. In the afternoon we took a tour of the National Palace in Guatemala City where the president has his offices, and also later the Cathedral in the central plaza. Afterward we walked around and got ice-cream, and then went back to home-base. Later in the night we went to the gym and got a two-week membership because Henry was literally bouncing off the walls, and we needed to take him somewhere to work out. 

Day 9

By: Madeleine 

Today we woke up, went out to breakfast and then went Kayaking on the lake. We each rented a Kayak for an hour, and went really far away from the dock. It was really hot and sunny, and so Henry ended up swimming alongside the Kayak for a lot of the time. After Kayaking we went shopping. Every single street in the village had like 100's of stands and shops running up and down. There were so many different things to buy. When we finished shopping we then drove home. We were all looking for a restaurant on the way home, but we needed to find one that was safe to eat at. So we found a Pizza Hut!!!!

Day 8

By Madeleine

Today we left at 6:00 am and drove to this huge lake called Lake Aticlan. It was about a 3 hour drive. When we got there we first found a hotel. Then we went to a Ziplining place. We hiked up this huge mountain and then zip-lined 8 different cables through the jungle. We were so high up and so we saw views of the entire lake and the village. Afterward we had lunch and then rented a boat for the day. The boat driver took us to two different villages--San Pedro and San Antonio. We walked around each of the villages and looked around. We also played fooseball with the kids.  In total there are 12 villages around Lake Aticlan, standing for each of the Saints. By the time we got back from the boat, it was late, so we went out for dinner, and then went back to the hotel. 

The Lake