After 6 weeks of living here, followed by two trips of departure to visit Northern Guatemala, Belize and El Salvador, we finally arrived at our last two weeks of living in Panajachel, Guatemala. Our almost 3-month adventure was coming to an end, so we had to savor every last moment, and squeeze in all the things we hadn’t done yet, and repeat the things we loved.
(Click below right to read more . . . )
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Our final tourist trip in Guatemala was an overnight camping trip to climb the Acetenango volcano, which provided us spectacular views of the nearby active Volcan de Fuego. It exploded in a brilliant display continuously through the day and night, throwing up showers of glowing lava rock which cascaded down the sides of the volcano until the glowing rocks turned grey and black.
(Truth in advertising, the picture above is not taken by us, we stole it from the internet . . . but it is a much better representation of what we saw, then the pictures we took below without a time lapse advantage. . . . ) (Click below right to read more . . . ) Our Airbnb house in Panajachel had already been rented to others during Easter Week, or Semana Santa as it is known here. So, we needed to vacate our place for about 10 days. A perfect excuse for another road trip! We decided to take a trip with some friends to the LDS temple and a waterpark, then our family continued on to El Salvador for a fantastic beach vacation. It was a delightful and relaxing time, and we checked a new Central American country off of our list.
(Click below right for more . . . . ) We crossed the border into Belize to begin our 4-day visit to this tiny country. We knew very little of Belize before coming, and learned a great deal while we were here. We learned about the small population (360,000), the various ethnic groups (mixed Mayan/European, African, Latin American), the many languages (English, Spanish, Creole, Garifuna), and the many Mennonite communities in Belize that now act as the economic and agricultural engines of the country. We pre-booked a few tours in the country, a very expensive way to travel and see the sights, but a sure way to get to those spots which are most unique and memorable.
(Click below right to read more . . . .) In the first leg of our road trip north, we arrived in Coban, Guatemala, which is the jumping off point for the charming backpacker town of Lanquin, the Lanquin caves, and the Semuc Chapmey waterfalls and pools and cave. Thereafter, we headed to Flores for a visit to the ancient Mayan ruins of Tikal. Both places were total highlights, and well worth the trip. One of my favorite quotes from the few days occurred while we were deep inside the Semuc Champey cave, as Tyler turned to us and said, “This is the coolest thing I’ve ever done!”
(Click below right to read more . . . . ) Our time in Panajachel came to a pause now. When we originally rented the house we have been living at, we only booked it for 1 month, hoping to give ourselves some flexibility to continue on to other parts of Central America for the rest of our 3-month sojourn. But we are enjoying our Pana groove so much that we decided to cancel our preliminary plan to drive down to Costa Rica and instead stay in Pana for as long as we can. Unfortunately, our house is already rented out for a few weeks in March to other travelers. So, after practicing some travel-planning yoga, bending our calendar of desired trips and destinations into multiple poses and contortions, we’ve settled comfortably into our Guatemala/El Salvador/Honduras/Belize Sun Salutation pose, and decided to travel during the weeks that the house is already rented and return on the weeks it’s available.
Click below right to read more . . . The last week of February in Pana was spent wearing ourselves out in days of service, in various wonderful ways. We volunteered with Solomon’s Porch to build a cinder block house for a local family. We toured the local “Days for Girls” office. We went to the Eagle’s Nest Orphanage in Sololá to play with the children and hold babies for a while. All very worthwhile activities and fantastic charities doing great work.
(Click below right to read more . . . . ) We’ve been living in Panajachel for about four weeks now, and we’ve put together a family rhythm that is working quite nicely. So nicely in fact, that we’ve decided to maximize our time here in Pana. Instead of driving all the way down to Costa Rica, we’re going to stay put a bit longer and then only travel as far as Belize, Honduras, and El Salvador before our return to Texas at the end of April.
While the kids are away from full-time school and regular music lessons, we’re trying our best to create some structure in our homeschooling to provide engaging and consistent learning opportunities. We split our time between school days and adventure days and service days . . . and we’ve had some marvelous days. (.....Click below right to read more) On Monday last week, we did some volunteer work with Cultiva International, which is a nonprofit organization started by the Jensen family here in Panajachel. We have become good friends already with the Jensens, and we're amazed by their generosity and goodwill, which they have shared with the local community for the past 7 years. We spent the entire day involved in garden box construction, travelling behind their van "Uncle Rico" full of supplies for building garden boxes at the homes of local mayan neighbors. It was an awesome and inspiring day.
Why living in Panajachel is, for me, a lot like paradise. - Written by Tera
I love beauty!!! It makes my soul happy. Here in Panajachel, we are in a beautiful house, near a beautiful lake surrounded by beautiful volcanoes, where the weather is beautiful every day, surrounded by local people who are living a beautiful ethnic culture. Paradise! (Click below right to read more . . . ) |
Plan? What plan?Our first Gap Year was a fabulous "2017-2018 School Year" of travel: from the Netherlands to Jordan to Texas to Hawaii to Mexico to Central America to London and back to the Netherlands. Our "2018 Summer Vacation" took us all around Western Europe, back to the USA on a transatlantic cruise, a road trip through New York and into Canada, and ending up in Utah. We have now kicked off the "2018-2019 School year" with a trip to Asia. Follow along with us on our visits to new places, as well as revisiting some of our favorite places from our time living there. It's going to be great!!
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