To Antigua We Go

The students began the morning going to a Catholic Mass. The music was most of our favorite part of the entire service as they were upbeat and more modernized than regular church hymns. It was an amazing cultural experience as today was the last big celebration for Corpus Christi here in Guatemala. The streets were covered in beautifully designed alfombras which are made of colored saw dust, parts of plants, and many flowers. After church the students had a nice breakfast at the hotel, thanked Fidel and Gloria from the Center of Global Education, and had a little celebration for Megan's 21st birthday! With cake at 10:00 am in Guatemala, she couldn't have had a bad day :)

The therapists then met the students at the hotel to do a quick transition into our second week here in Guatemala. The entire group then took three boats over to the other side of the lake. We were able to take a quick look at some of the shops right off the lake. We then took pick up trucks to an area outside of Santiago Atitlan. There was a mudslide here as a result of a hurricane about 10 years ago.  It is still considered to be a sad area because so many people were displaced or killed by this major disaster. We then headed over to see the Peace Park. This was the site of the civil war massacre of 13 innocent people. There are memorials and many crosses found within here to remember these individuals. We then went to see a church where a Corpus Christi mass was finishing up. The central square was beautiful and we then went to see the decorations inside. Many local flowers and plants are used for decorations all around the church as well as statues dressed in traditional clothing.

We all then headed to Antigua on a three hour bus ride. The groups for the week split up into different cars or vans to be able to discuss an overview of the new week before beginning our service tomorrow. After an orientation, we made final preparations for our first day of service tomorrow at our three sites.


Allison (student)