Decaf Cappuccino

Traveling around

We experienced many different forms of transportation while we were in Guatemala, including taxi, prop plane, tuk-tuk, and even the infamous chicken bus!

We took the chicken bus to the macadamia nut farm.  It was mid-morning and there were not many people (no chickens!) on the bus.

Chicken buses are old US school buses.  

They are outfitted with colorful paint jobs, chrome, and racks inside and out.

Each bus has a driver and a helper.  The helper hangs out the front door and gets passengers and collects the fare.  You will sometimes see the helper on the top of the bus securing luggage, while the bus is moving!

The plane we took from Guatemala City to Tikal.  

It was only a 45 minute flight, but we had snack service.  Non-US airlines love to feed you!

Around Antigua

Another old church

Awesome restaurant, everything was grilled on an open flame. 

Coffee everywhere!

The view of Volcan Agua from our bedroom balcony in our apartment.

Walking down the street to our apartment, it was the last one on the right.

Wordless Wednesday

Ruined

Antigua was once the capital of Central America.   It is filled with Spanish Baroque architecture and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  They say if you throw a stone in Antigua, you're likely to hit a church.  In 1717 and 1773, Antigua was hit with massive earthquakes that destroyed most of the town and caused the capital to be moved to what is now Guatemala City.  The thought was that the valley where Guatemala City lies would be safer (not true as GC was hit with a magnitude 7.5 earthquake in 1976 that killed 23,000).  We did experience a small tremor while we were in Antigua, enough to make the lights sway.

Antigua is filled with ruins of churches from the earthquakes in the 1700s.  They are amazing to walk around, however I didn't think the boys would be that interested in them.  I underestimated them because they said it was one of the favorite things of the trip.  They loved climbing around the ruins.

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.

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.