Big Events

Neal and I trying out some hot springs

Okay, I know this is getting bad.  There really is no excuse for the lack of new posts, except pure laziness mixed with a touch of busyness.  Anyway, we will see how the remainder of my time goes.  I will try to do better.

January was a blast.  I had some friends visit both new and old over the duration of the month.  I took a trip with two of them to Lago de Atitlán; had a St. John´s alum visit me; oh, and Esquipulas had an international festival take place in town.  The whole month flew right passed me.

First, St. John´s decided to send a photographer down to the Guatemalan sites in order to get some good photos for the program.  I realized from the initial message that the name of the photographer was the same name of a kid that graduated with me from SJU.  Sure enough, it was the same guy.  Granted, I didn´t know him all that well back in school, but having someone visit you can be an exciting ordeal no matter who it is.

Brad, the SJU photographer, and I had a good time during his stay.  He came at the right time.  During his stay Esquipulas hosted their annual international festival.  The whole town overflowed with peregrinos, pilgrims.  Multiple cultures and countries throughout Latin America were represented.  I heard there were visitors as far as Venezuela, which is pretty good for a small little town in Guatemala.  The sheer mass of people was something to see.  People had to camp out in front of the Basilica because there were no vacancies available in any of the hotels.  For a photographer, Brad had ample opportunities to get some good shots.

Lago de Atitlán

As soon as Brad left, I had a couple of old friends visit me from the cold north.  Neal and Amanda, from my Americorps days and also I knew Neal from SJU, came down to bask in the sun, see the sites, and converse with an old friend.  I was happy to see some familiar faces.  It is always a shock to me to see something familiar in an unfamiliar place.  I met them at Lago de Atitlán.  The trip went fast because we spent a small amount of time at each place we stayed.

A lot of pilgrims came to Esquipulas for the International Festival

Mexico had a strong representation during the festival along with the rest of Central America

The neat thing that I didn´t know before was that Amanda had lived in Guatemala for a substantial amount of time.  She could speak spanish very well and knew the ins and outs around Atitlán.  She knew a great place to bathe in the nice warm waters of some hot springs.  We even tried to find her old host family, but only found the neighbors.  However, we didn´t come away from our search completely dissatisfied because along the way we found some great indigenous artwork.  I couldn´t resist buying a couple of authentic items.  Plus, just looking at some of the little stores we passed seemed like a piece of artwork in itself.

Tempted to kayak Lago de Atitlan just to see the shack up close

Beautiful artwork on display everywhere I looked

In my return to the Basilica, I didn´t slow down.  Classes began again in the local schools and Padre Hugo, the director for one of the colegios, asked me if I could assist with English classes.  I help out three times a week in Colegio de San Benito teaching english.  The ages range from 15 to 18 years old.  The students are fun to work with.  Most of them are serious about learning a new language, so they stay pretty well engaged during classes.  On top of that, I have been maintaining a constant schedule with my work in the fields with Leonida´s and teaching my informal English classes in the Basilica.

I just can´t get over the fact that I will be gone in a matter of a few months, but I hope to make the most of it.  Until next time….whenever that may be…..

Good Traveling crew