Monterrico

After a bit of a hectic week, including a bout of food poisoning for Gen, we set off to Monterrico for the past weekend. Monterrico is a beach about 2.5hours from Antigua, on Guatemala's Pacific coast. We took a shuttle from Antigua early Saturday morning, arriving in Monterrico at 10 am. We spent Saturday swimming in the bath-water-warm sea and lazing about in hammocks. After dinner at a beachfront restaurant, we went down to the beach where we lay on the warm sand and looked at the clear starry sky. We saw the most amazing shooting star - very very large and bright. Incredible!

We went to bed very early (about 8.30) after a full day of sea and sun.

The next morning, we woke early at 5.15 am to take a tour on the canals of a nature reserve to see the sunrise. We were punted along the river by our guide, who pointed out various species of egret and heron - and the famous four eyed fish which jumps along the surface of the water.

The sunrise was very beautiful - the sun was huge and very red as we saw it creep up from behind the trees.


Gen befriended one particular white egret, who she named Bernard, and felt she had a special connection with as he followed us along the river for the entire tour.
Here he is in all his glory!
Her eis our hotel - right on the beach.
The black sand (ex-volcanic rock) was super super hot, and you had to be ver yquick running from the sea to the safety of the hammocks.
Speaking of hammocks, we made good use of them over the weekend, for reading, or, more accurately, snoozing in the shade - it was very hot!

Another successful trip, and we felt ready and refreshed for another big week at school. We are looking forward in particular to the school birthday celebrations on Friday - doughnuts, piñatas, dancing and presents - expect an update on that soon!

Love to you all,
Lib and Gen
xxx

Lake Atitlan

Last weekend we went on an adventure weekend trip to Lake Atitlan, about 2 hours from Antigua. We went with a few other volunteers from GVI: Anne - an Irish opera singer, Robyn - an Australian school teacher, Joelle - a British school-leaver, Andrew - a med student from New York and Jane, an alumni from the illustrious Cambridge University (she has promised to take us punting on the river there someday!).
It began with a three hour down-hill bike ride, from the top of a mountain range down to Lake Atitlan itself. The bike ride was both scary and exhilirating, and we both rather hooned down toward the end (daredevils that we are).
During the bike ride we were treated to some pretty neat views of the lake. This one was taken where we stopped for a delicious picnic lunch en route.

Here is the group: Lib, Gen, Robyn, Wilber - our guide, Anne, Joelle, Andrew and Jane.
Wilber was great fun - and very very small.
After the bike ride, we arrived in the town of Panajachel, which is home to many expat hippies and a great artesinal market. From Pana, we took a boat to our hotel in San Pedro. The ride was a little wild - we were in a smallish fibreglass boat driven by a bit of a maniac, and as our bottoms were already a little tender from the bike ride, it was a rather uncomfortable but nonetheless fun experience.
The hotel we stayed at was wonderful. Since we`d paid before we arrived in Guatemala, it was a lovely stress-free treat to stay somewhere with plush double beds, and beautiful showers - both hot and with pressure AT ONCE!!!! A real rarity in Guatemala, at least in our experience so far. The hotel was set in lovely lush gardens, with hummingbirds and squirrels - we even saw a scorpion! We enjoyed a wonderful meal cooked by the Danish owner of the establishment too.
The next day, we went for a kayak on the lake.
This is us, pre-kayak.

The kayaking was great; the lake was very still and tranquil - and very beautiful.
We shared a double kayak which was neat.
We stopped toward the end of the kayak, to scale a 5 metre rock face and jump off a small cliff. It is hard to make out in the above photo, but you can see Libby on the left and Gen slightly lower down on the right. (P.S. Gen's grandparents - Gen made sure the depth of the water was safe before jumping).
After the kayak, we hiked back to the hotel (about two hours in the middle of the day - a hard, hot endeavour). We had lunch at the hotel before re-embarking on the little boat and heading home.

All and all, it was a splendid though exhausting weekend at the lake.

More soon!
Besos,
Gen and Lib
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Day 15 - Quick School Update

We thought we would take a moment to post some photos we took today on our second day at the school in Santa Maria de Jesus.

We have at least fifty new friends! While we teach specific classes, in the break times we get to meet all the children in the school. This week it is only the little ones, the grades 4-6 don't come back until next week.

Gen with the only niña to cry today - as you can see even that didn't last long!

Three amigas de Libby's third grade afternoon class.

Chiquitas bonitas!

Our monos locos (Crazy monkeys!)

Gen's five and six year old first graders at work.

Sonia, wearing the traditional embroidered pattern of Santa Maria.

We hope you enjoy the pictures, and we will update you in more detail later in the week.

Abrazos,

Gen y Lib

Day 14 - There and Back Again: Dos Hobbits´ Tale

¡ Hola Amigos !



What an eventful week we have had! Today was our 8th day in Guatemala, and our first day at the escuela in Santa Maria. We have been super super busy, so we are sorry it has taken so long to update the blog.

Here are some more snaps of us and life in Antigua taken over the last week. This is our walk home everyday, along the cobbled street of Calle de Candelaria. You can see the slope of Volcan Agua, which is where the Santa Maria community is, in the background.

Here is Gen by an intriguing gate with a medusa carving that we see everyday also. Nos gusta mucho. (P.S. our Spanish is improving!)

Another curious sight on our way home.

The Chicken buses are crazy painted old American school buses that roar through Antigua going to neighbouring villages (pueblas) and the bigger cities. This one is actually very tame, some are bedazzled with lights and chrome and very bright colours, and they all have names. One is called Norma, for example.

Gen is proud of this picture (Julia) - it is of Agua behind ruins of a church.

This is the Catedral on the main square. It has been restored many times after being near destroyed in earthquakes.

This is the Palacio de los Capitanes, which borders one side of the square. A similar building borders the opposite side. Gen asks that you notice and appreciate her capturing of the bird in flight. Very skillful.

This is a photo of Libby and our new British friend Jane up on a terrace of a cafe near to our Spanish school. The Palacio is in the background, and though you cannot see it, Volcan Fuego ("Fire") is in front of us.

Thar she blows! This was the view from the terrace. Fuego has been particularly active for the past few weeks, and these eruptions are very frequent.

In this picture, Fuego is on the left, and Volcan Acatenango is the larger on the right.

Yesterday (Sunday) we set off to climb Volcan Pacaya. This is an active volcano, about an hour´s drive from Antigua. We went with our friends Jane and Andrew. We didn´t really know what to expect, and I think it is fair to say that had we known what we were in for we may have reconsidered the trip. That said, it was probably one of the most amazing experiences either of us have ever had, and we are very glad (now, home safe) that we did it.

This is the view from Pacaya, about 1/3 of the way up, of the surrounding landscape.

This is when we rounded a corner, and Gen, having thought we had reached the summit, nearly cried.

Libby and Jane at the bottom of the main ascent. We climbed almost to the very top.

Acatenango and Fuego (erupting) from Pacaya.

We opted for the evening climb, which made for pretty spectacular sunset views.

The climb up was initially like climbing a giant black sand dune, because of all the ash, but as we got nearer the top, we started to climb up what had been a molten lava flow only two or three days ago. The rocks became very warm under foot. You can see bits of lava-ish rock in this photo.

View from the top! Fuego and Acatenango in the background. The apparent serenity of Gen is a total illusion, in reality she was a mess - she says it was the scariest day of her life and Libby came unsafely close to being punched in the face for roping Gen into climbing the Volcano. Gen is scared of everything. But she is now forcing Libby to partake in Open Mike night at Rainbow cafe to make up for it, which Libby thinks is a cruel and unusual punishment not just for her but for the innocent people of Antigua. But every time Libby raises this objection, Gen reminds Libby of the very real risk of death by fall into molten lava that she suffered on Pacaya and Libby has to admit defeat.

While Gen was petrified, Libby was having the time of her life, and was thus rather unsympathetic - Gen resented being asked to take photos while she felt she was struggling for her life. She was not too frightened to partake in a bit of Lord of the Rings roleplay however - the quotes came rather thick and fast in fact. We made Jane be Gollum and Andrew, Sauron.

DESTROY IT, ISILDOR!

Here is Libby roasting marshmallows - and we can vouch for the fact that marshmallows roasted over lava at the top of a volcano are rather tasty indeed. This cheered Gen up - a little bit. ( Plus, he said, ¨Don´t you leave her, Genevieve Ferrier¨, and she didn´t mean to, Mister Frodo, she didn´t mean to. )

Sunset - just before we started our descent down the volcano in near total darkness. If Gen had been scared before, she was TERRIFIED now.

However, the incredible views were some comfort.

After basically skiing down the loose and razor sharp volcanic rock and ash in the dark, we walked through the forest where we were met by our ´guide´. To properly comprehend Gen´s fear up the Volcano, she was not even concerned by the prospect of snakes in the pitch-black Guatemalan forest - something those who know her well would have once thought inconcievable!
Today was another exhilirating and exhausting day, though quite different in character as it was our first day teaching los niños de Santa Maria. However, since it is just about our bedtime, that story will have to wait till another day.

My friends, we bow to no one.

Besos,

Seño Geni y Seño Libi

xxx