Coffee and Macadamias

While we were in Antigua, we took a couple side trips to local farms.  The first one we went to was the La Azotea Cultural Center.  We started the tour learning about Mayan musical instruments, from pre-Columbian times to the present.  It was very interesting.  Next was the coffee farm tour.  We saw where they grow, dry, roast, and package coffee.

Coffee growing, the Australian trees provide shade for the coffee plants.

The big concrete pad is where they dry the coffee beans, and the small building is where they roast the beans.

Coffee roasting, it smelt heavenly!

Another day we took a trip to a macadamia nut farm. The farms goal is to help local Guatemalans create their own macadamia businesses.  Most of the equipment used is low tech.

Macadamia drying

Sorting the nuts by size.  The nuts are rolled down, and they drop into the right compartment as the rails widen.

 

The boys loved doing this.  I think we could have left them there all day!

The farm also has a restaurant and spa.  We enjoyed the best panqueques (pancakes) ever.  Macadamia nut pancakes, topped with honey, macadamia butter, and wild blueberries.  

Afterwards, we walked 1 km into the neighboring town, San Miguel Duenas to catch our ride back to Antigua.  It was a sleepy little town that was filled with greenhouses growing flowers.

Reunion

We were able to track down Brooks's foster mother, Rosita.  The address I had for her was old, and she was no longer living there.  I posted on a Guatemala adoption forum, hopeful that someone else would have her current information.  I received an email from someone stating they knew a foster mother with a similar name, but wasn't sure it was her.  I emailed a picture of Rosita when I saw her last in 2008, and the other family confirmed we were talking about the same person.  We felt God's hand working throughout this trip, and this was one of those moments.

She came to our hotel with two of her children and we enjoyed a nice breakfast together.  She remembered us and was very happy to see us again, after 8 years.  

Brooks and Hudson enjoying the extraordinary pool at the Barcelo.

My car!  Not really, but we saw Protege5s everywhere we went.  Even as taxis.

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Hamilton

Next up on our adventure was a visit to our sponsored child with Compassion International.  We've been sponsoring Hamilton for a few years, and his birthday is right between Brooks and Hudson.  He lives near Coban Guatemala, which is an area we've never visited before.  Sonia, from the Compassion main office in Guatemala City, was our translator and driver.  It was a twisty mountainous drive to get there, filled with many annoying speed bumps.  What would have been a 2 hour drive in the US took close to 4 hours.  At least it was scenic!  We checked into a hotel outside of Coban, and headed out the next morning to Hamilton's house.

The wood burning stove his mom uses to cook.

Hamilton and his mom

His sister and her new baby, and his older brother.  In the background is one of the Compassion center workers.

Hamilton's family and us

Hamilton's father is a pastor, they live right next to the church, and it's also where the Compassion center is located.

Playing at the hotel before lunch

Meeting Hamilton and his family was a special time for all of us.  Seeing Compassion's work first-hand was eye opening.  If you don't already sponsor a child, consider doing it through Compassion.  They truly care for the children of the world.

It's a jungle out there!

As we entered Tikal park, we started noticing these signs.

Watch out for jaguars!

Turkeys?

And then when we were in the park, we started spotting some interesting creatures.

A tarantula, just hanging out on the tree

Hudson's hands

Our friend at the hotel, a coati

He was pretty oblivious to humans.

Later on that evening, we saw some baby coati by one of the bungalows.  They were super cute!

Here's the turkey they were warning about.  Much prettier than the standard turkey.

Our hotel was located in the park.  We only had electricity for 5 hours a day because everything is run on generators.  We were in the jungle after all.  Thankfully our hotel did have a pool, which was very refreshing and a good place to escape the deer flies.  The deer flies were super annoying and didn't care that we had DEET on.  They especially liked me, and 2 weeks later the marks are just starting to go away.

The boys have fond memories of Tikal, and say it was one of the best parts of vacation.  It was such a unique experience, unlike anything I've ever done before in my life.

Tikal

Our first stop in Guatemala was Tikal.  Tikal is one of the largest Mayan sites and located in the northern part of Guatemala.  We flew there (on a prop plane!) from Guatemala City.  The site is huge and has many temples.  We had a great tour guide who took us around for 4 hours.  Our group included high school students from Iowa.  The boys loved Tikal, and were great listeners.  It was very hot and humid, but we were fortunate to have cloudy skies and the rain held off.

Many of the temples you could climb, but a few are off limits due to deaths.

Hudson couldn't help himself from climbing the temples.  As soon as we came to a new one, he was off to the top.

A great view of distant temples above the jungle canopy.

Taking a rest after lots of stairs.

Hudson at the top in blue.

Ryan talking with our tour guide.

Temple 1, what most people associate with Tikal.  One of the temples you can no longer climb.

Next up, the animals of Tikal.