Thanks for tuning in, once again, to read about my adventures here in Guatemala! This week's post is stuffed full of activities and trips that I have taken in the past week. There's also a lot of pictures near the bottom! I'll get started...
This week was classes as normal. I also finished my internship on Tuesday. This was bittersweet, as I was sad to leave my newly made friends, but was glad for the free afternoons. This is not completely true, as they have been filled with activities every day since I got off work, the exact reason I sped up my hours. Wednesday, we went to a parade that was in celebration of the conception of the Virgin Mary, very important in Catholicism. One of the recurring costumes was a devil. Later that night, we went to the "quema," or "burning," of the devil in Antigua. This is a custom that is believed to keep evil spirits away.
Los Pitufos - The Smurfs!
A television station interviewed a few of the students in our group!
The kids on the floats were strapped in for safety. This girl was literally perched!
Blanca Nieve - Snow White
This is Barack Obama and Michelle Obama and also Barack Obama and Michelle Obama and Barack Ob...
Before...
After.
On Thursday, we had a Christmas party at Paul and Bev's house. It was a good opportunity to hang with the group and get into the Christmas spirit, something that is relatively hard in such warm weather! We made cookies, played Wii, smashed a Santa shaped piñata, and recorded a video for our friends at SAU.
On Friday, we left for an area of Guatemala known as Cemuc Champey. This area is known for lush forestry, great natural pools for swimming, and caves. We organized a trip through a travel agency in town, as it was not an SAU sponsored trip. On the trip, we were able to do tubing, cliff jumping (my favorite), caving, swimming, and some hiking. The downside to the trip was that the drive there was around nine hours and the trip back was eight! In addition, a good hour and a half of the trip was on a road that kind of felt like we were driving across train tracks perpetually. However, it was totally worth it!
We stayed in a small hostel in the pueblo of Cemuc Champey before heading up to the attractions on Saturday. All of Saturday was spent hiking and adventuring. First, we visited a natural bridge. In CC, there is a river going through a tunnel, and we were able to see both sides. Around the water falls and rivers in CC, there are natural pools that seem like they are fake! You look around and feel like you are in a photo-shopped picture or a commercial. The water was refreshing and blue. Soon after, came the cliff jumps! There were three jumps in all, but one comes later. The first two were together, one being twelve meters and the other ten. It was quite a thrill! We tubed down part of a river, and then broke for lunch! After lunch, we went caving with only a candle to light the dark. Our group consisted of about sixteen people, so the cave was pretty well-lit. In the cave, there were pools deep enough that we had to swim through! Deep in the cave, there was another cliff! Completely enclosed, we came upon an area where our guide encouraged us to climb up some rocks and jump into a deep part of the pools! Only three or so of us made the jump. It was lower than the others, but a little scarier, as the pool we jumped into was much smaller. After the cave, we went back to the hostel and turned in. The next day was just the return journey.
Unfortunately, many of the areas we went were too wet to take my camera phone! (Click to enlarge!)
We had to help a truck ahead of us get unstuck...
Areal view of the river.
Our group for the trip!
Our guides for much of the trip. Believe it or not, they had already given back two thirds of the cameras at this point!
This is the opening of a tunnel with a river going into it.
These are the cliffs we jumped off of!
It hardly seems as though I've been here for three and a half months, but I find myself with less than a week left! Although I'm beyond sad to leave, I'm really excited to see family and friends. Believe it or not, I will be more busy when I get back than I am here! I am going to a show on the 17th, the day after I get back, and I fly to Florida to spend some time with my family (Grandpa's) on the 19th. After that, we will be heading up to Illinois to spend Christmas day with my brother's family. Soon after, I'll be heading back to school to start my final class of college! It is odd to think that I'll be done with school soon. My plans are still not certain, but I'll be job-hunting over j-term. A lot of work in the near future, but I'm very excited to meet it full force!
This is my last official post, as I will be in the States next Sunday! I may do a follow-up post, so keep a look out for that. I encourage you to email me with any questions that you may have about my time here or how you may prepare for your trip abroad. Also, if you have questions about the Gilman scholarship, don't hesitate to ask!
This is our go-to group! Kayla's teacher and mine are good friends, so we hang out quite regularly! This was taken on Kayla's last day of Spanish. :-(
Awesome!
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