I really really miss you Guatemala...

Last Day!

Last night... spending it in Antigua. Too tired to go out and do anything though, many of the group went salsa dancing but also many of the group are not flying out tomorrow. Cant wait to come home and see everyone! I have so many pictures, stories, and souvenirs!

I plan on getting McDonalds in the airport... everyone made fun of me when I told them... But I dont care I want American food and I want it ASAP!

I definitely think I will do this again... Maybe not Guatemala again but this trip has been amazing. Thank you again to all those who made this possible, it has been a life changing experience that I wouldnt trade for anything in the world!

I love this place... But I am ready to come home.

Flight leaves at Noon tomorrow!

Love,

Kelly

Last day in Quiche

Today is our last day in Quiche... we had to say goodbye to the families we were building for and they had a going away ceremony for us. It was very nice. I fed Pepito my Guatemalan stray dog one last meal of mine lol. It was sad but I think he will be ok atleast I hope so. Tomorrow morning we leave for the lake and then we go back to Antigua where hopefully I will be able to climb the volcano and get some glorious pictures. I have way too many to go through as it is but it will all be worth it in the end.

I should let you know that no matter how good the food tastes here it is a destroyer of digestive systems haha. We are all having a terrible time with illness here. I am not very sick but I am having problems to say the least. We all have some issues... and its very sad bc the food here is really good but it makes you sick... which doesnt make much sense but oh well I guess I just dont understand or want to understand how or why. I´m just ready to come home to normal food and normal life that doesnt make my stomach hate me... because it is a hater at the moment. Hopefully I will be able to start posting pics soon... still havent come across a good enough internet connection yet tho. oh well... will try again soon.

miss you all!
Kelly

Monday Monday Monday

Over the weekend made a trip to a coffee farm here in Guatemala. It was the hottest weather we have experienced here on the trip thus far. It was a tropical climate and the mosquitoes were out in full force. The first time I´ve had to pull out the bug spray all trip. It was a lot of fun. We took a 3 hour hike through the coffee farm and down to a river and climbed straight up a vertical cliff, using only roots of trees to scale the side. It was loads of fun... Until Cassie fell, but she didnt fall far and didnt get to hurt. We walked through a bamboo forest and forded a river haha. We had our best breakfast yet on the coffee farm... we finally got to drink REAL coffee not the instant crap they have been feeding to us all trip. The man who owned the farm was a Gringo like us but a very world traveled gringo... he inherited the farm through his wife who was Guatemalan. We had an armed guard to protect us the entire time, which was strange bc we havent needed protection at all this trip and no one had ever mentioned anything about impending doom. Anyway the story behind that was this man Marc the owner of the farm has a lot of land that he plants coffee on and this other guy he called him a Qihote (?) which basically means he does a lot of illegal things one of them being a transporter of illegals into the US. Anyway this bad guy has been coming onto Marcs property and cutting down coffee plants and planting his own crops... so marc and this guy have been fighting for some time both in and out of courts. So Marc proceeds to tell us that last week there was a gun battle between him and his ¨hitmen¨as he called them and the bad guy. He said it was 4 men vs. 11 (the 4 being the good guys) and some how the good guys were able to turn the bad ones back... so needless to say we had an armed guard with us incase the psycho tried to pull any other stunts. An interesting weekend to say the least.

We are back in Quiche today and tomorrow to finish work on the houses... then its off to the Lake aka the Energy Vortex (some call it the center of the world) idk why but they do.

Cant wait to come home. Miss everyone terribly... Miss American food oh any being able to communicate with people on a daily basis... I´m trying very hard to learn spanish but its very difficult. Keep you all updated... have taken over 800 pictures so far... have plenty more stories to tell everyone when i return!

Love,
Kelly

July 7, 2009

Second day of work on the houses... The first day kicked all of our asses. My muscles are still very sore, but I bet I will have many more after this experience is over.

So far everything is great.

Made a dog friend today... It was totally a Dances With Wolves kind of situation. Except this was a dog and not a wolf and he was much smaller. I named him Pepito or *No Socks* since in the movie the wolf was called *Two Socks* get it??? ha ha. Anyway the stray dog situation here really saddens me. I´m starting to think I would like to work for an animal rights organization. There really needs to be an effort made to spay and neuter here and I´m sure in many other Latin American countries. I have probably seen atleast 75 - 100 stray dogs on the streets so far on this trip so I`m sure there are hundreds of thousands more throughout the country. It deeply saddens me. They are all dirty and starving, living in filth, with no care available and no one who is even willing to care for them. Most probably have rabies or worse and I am not supposed to touch them so I usually do not. But I feed Pepito my sandwitch at lunch everyday well... he wont take it from me so I have to throw it to him bc he is afraid of us *gringos* ha ha. Maybe he will come closer by the end of the 2 weeks. I`m going to try to find some more food for him in the city something with more protein. I just feel so terrible for him and all the other dogs here. Hardly anyone actually keeps an animal as a pet here it`s very sad how unloved they are.

It makes me miss my dogs terribly... they are really living the good life compared to this fate of dogs here in Guate.

We are eating Guatemalan fast food tonite for dinner I am excited... It is called POLLO CAMPERO. its like Latin American KFC.

Well I miss everyone and hope everything is going well for you all back in the states.

Love,
Kelly

Dia Uno!

What a crazy day! Had a blast on day one!

Antigua is amazing... so is everything really.

Very exhausted from a long day of flights and trying to be a tourist. I am fortunate enough to have internet today but I doubt I will have it again until later on this week so I am trying to be quick to post my status here in Guatemala and some snapshots.

The food is really good here... the guacamole is to die for! SOOO GOOD!

The most amazing event of today... was that they DID NOT lose my luggage! YAY!

Had my first Guatemalan beer today called Gallo... pretty good I guess, still not a huge beer drinker really. Went to a craft market... saw some great things that I might buy as souvenirs.

I miss everyone already... But I am having a great time roughing it here on Day One... 12 more to go!

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TOMS - ONE FOR ONE