Central American Adventures: Day Six: August 27th, 2011

Today was an adventure. This adventure started at 4:30am in the morning as we woke up then to prepare for our day trip to Santa Maria, one of Guatemala's many inactive volcanoes. We gathered together as a group in the hotel and then walked to the street corner to wait for the bus from the Spanish school. The wait was a little longer than we had anticipated as the bus was a half hour late, but we got to watch the trash being picked up.

The trash being picked up off a street corner may seem quite insignificant, however, the process is not the same as in the United States. In order to get the trash into the truck, it has to be swept up off the ground from the pile that had been tossed there and rummaged through by the stray dogs we see all over the city. The process involves two men to sweep the garbage into a pile and then onto a tarp. From that point, they have to lift up the tarp and throw it into the truck. Repeating that process until all the trash has been collected. Once they are all done collecting trash in the city, they drive it to the municipal dump where it is recycled by hand by those who can find no other work than that. Anyway, it started out the morning with an interesting perspective.

We got on the bus and headed to the base of the volcano that we were going to climb. I have to admit I had some extreme nerves looking at the height and steepness of the volcano. The first few meters were really hard, especially with the difference in altitude that I was not used to after only a few days here in Guatemala. There were two other people in the group who were also desiring to go at a slower pace without the pressure of going super fast up. We ended up sticking together and taking our time.

Even though we only made it half way up by the end we'd gotten to know each other a lot better. We also had the chance to talk to our guide about Guatemala, both during the war and the current situation in the country. They both are, of course, very interrelated. We also had some interesting philosophical conversations about views of the world, life styles, education, and Lady Gaga. Along the way we met two Mormon missionaries who were on month fourteen of their two year service in Guatemala, three Guatemalan children on their way up the mountain to get their family's cows who were grazing up at the top where there is better grass, and a couple groups of North American's trekking up the mountain. We also had plenty of time to take in the scenery and get some neat pictures too!

When we got back to the bottom of the volcano, we were told that the bus was not going to return for us. We had two choices walk a very long way back to where we were staying or pile into a pickup truck. The latter was the one we choose, was was quite an adventure. They drove really slowly and we all survived! When we all got back to the hotel, most of us took a nap. I was out for about three hours. Then a few of us went back to one of the restaurants where we'd been previously and had a delicious lunch/dinner. Just as a side note, we are being really spoiled with the fresh fruits we are served here because they are so amazingly yummy. The food in general here is very tasty. I don't think I ever want to leave!!

Tomorrow morning we get to have brunch at the hotel. Then we are all going to walk to the Spanish school to meet our host families. The day will basically be moving in and getting to know our host family that we will stay with for the next three weeks. I'm very excited!!

Now for the pictures....