Do all things with Love.

Antigua, Guatemala.

These are rented tombs in the cemetary for the low class Guatemalans who cannot afford a place in the ground and a proper headstone. This particular section is reserved for children, however there are larger portions for adults. People rent them for a certain period of time and if they do not update their payment in time the body is removed to make space for other people.
My favorite Church. 

 An egret flying over the mangroves in Monterrico on the Pacific Coast.
These beautiful kids are paddling all over Rio Dulce, they came up to our boat selling water flowers and crabs from the river. 

4:30 am lancha tour of the mangroves in Monterrico.
Livingston, Guatemala - on the Caribbean coast - the culture here is completely different...it's like being in a different country. Livingston was formed by the black slaves that didn't go all the way up to Belize. They have their own language - sort of an english/spanish mix, they also dress really differently, completely opposite of the extremely conservative way people dress in the rest of the country...it's more like being in Jamaica then Guatemala. 

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This is sort of a random assortment of my favorite photos of some of the places I have been so far.

So sorry!

I'm sorry I haven't updated for so long! My computer has been, and still is:(, broken. So i've had really limited access to the internet. I promise a long photo-filled entry as soon as it's up and running again.

I have been traveling a lot on the weekends. Last weekend I went to the coast to Monterrico with a couple of friends for some r&r. It was absolutely gorgeous. The beach is enormous and black sand from the volcanoes, and the waves are enormous (and highly dangerous) so there is a huge white spray way up onto the beach. Monterrico is also famous for it's nature reserve, and we participated in a giant baby turtle release on Saturday night- totally cool to see.

I am still working with my roommate teaching english and art (or whatever else they want, depending on the day) at a daycare for the kids of policemen. We have just cut that placement to 3 days a week, so Tuesdays and Thursdays we go to a different placement called Marina Guirola. It's an orphanage for severely disabled kids. We started today - it was pretty intense. It's a huge contrast to the other placement.

Other than that, with volunteers coming in and out depending on the week, things have just been pretty hectic. I can't even remember what I did with myself for a month in solitude, it seems like a million years ago.

I was thinking of everyone this weekend on Sunday during McCabes memorial, sad not to be home. I am thinking of him every day as I teach art with my kids, he will always be an incredible role model and someone I will continue to measure myself to my whole life. My heart goes out to everyone in the community who is missing him.

Dia de Los Muertes

November 1st is the Dia de Los Muertes, the Day of the Dead. To celebrate, the Guatemalan people fly kites to chase away the evil spirits. We went to a festival near Antigua, it was one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen in my life - I don't think I can do it justice trying to explain, hopefully the pictures speak for themselves. The kites are all handmade with tissue paper, tiny pieces collaged together to make these absolutely enormous and incredibly detailed and vibrant kites. We helped a man work on one earlier this week and we just glued it together, row by row of tiny little triangles of tissue paper. When the kite is finished the smaller ones are backed with big, flat peices of white tissue paper and then glued onto a bamboo frame. The giant ones were backed with what looked like big peices of black plastic bag. At the festival kites are just flying up all over the place, you see a little kid running with a monstrous ball of rope and then all of a sudden a giant kite is swooping toward your head. Lots of clothes-lined and dive-bombed disoriented bystanders. Hilarious people watching:) Hands down one of the coolest things i've seen yet.

Pacaya.

This weekend I hiked volcano numero dos. This one is only 4 hours. You can get RIGHT up to the lava. The picture below is about 40 minutes from the top. Kids are running around selling marshmallows at the bottom so that you can roast them over the lava at the top. Only in Guatemala would you be permitted to get this close. It was absolutely mindblowing...I had a total flashback of watching lava flowing and forming into rocks on National Geographic when I was little and being in complete awe...I never imagined I would be able to see it happen 4 feet from my face.

Cilla, Sula, Kristy, y Janelle

About 15 minutes from this point the rocks all get really hot and you can hear the lava crinkling underneath, it sounds like glass breaking. And hot air shoots up through the cracks.