Time to Go Home

 We had such a wonderful time but it was time to head for home.  So we took off by 9 in the morning and enjoyed the scenery on our trip home. 

 Our last look at the beautiful lake

 They are working on the road and we spent some time stopped at the construction site

 We are almost home and here is Dad's favorite sign.  Can you imagine filling a waffle cone with 2-3 scoops of ice cream, then putting a hot doughnut on top, then topping that off with whipped cream and a cherry?  Increible!

 We made it home safely and with some wonderful memories.  It was so fun to be with the temple missionaries. 

The men in the white hats, 'cause they're all good guys.

Guatemala Trip - Day Seven - Sunday

 We attend church in the branch in Panajachel.  We rode over in tuc tucs and enjoyed our meetings there.  They planned their Relief Society Birthday Celebration and invited us to join them but we were not staying that long.  

The rest of the day Dad and I spent together doing as little as possible.  Believe it or not, a day of rest was very welcome from being constantly on the go the rest of the week.  We read and enjoyed sitting out on our balcony and enjoying the cool weather.  We even had our meals out on the balcony.  It was a very restful and enjoyable day.  We went for a walk along the lake in the late afternoon.

We live in such a beautiful world.

Guatemala Trip - Saturday -Day Six

The three volcanos around Lake Atlitlan were San Pedro, Atlitlan and Toliman.  We got up very early to take pictures.  It was a beautiful cool morning and Dad got some beautiful shots of the area.

 Here we are all ready for our trip across Lake Atlitlan.  It was about a 45 minute ride across the lake and we visited three different villages, San Juan del Lago which is famous for their weaving using all natural dyes and fibers, then to San Pedro and then to Santiago Atlitlan. 

 Here are some views of the area from the boat

 Laundry day down at the lake.

 When we would get to the villages we would all climb in to a "tuc tuc", which is this 3 wheeled vehicle powered by something less than a lawn mower engine, and ride to the top of the village and then we would walk down through the villages seeing the different shops and buildings

 This church was in the village of San Pedro.

San Pedro (Saint Peter) with his keys in front of the church.  It is very interesting that all of the statues of San Pedro we have seen (and we have seen a lot), he always has keys.

This is a painting we got at Santiago Atlitlan. It was very interesting that, counting the village we stayed at, we went to 4 villages, and in all of them people were selling paintings of the lake and the volcanoes . . . and almost all of them were exactly alike!  Same view, same colors, etc.  We bought this one because it was different.  Lake Atlitlan really is a beautiful place though, and worth the visit.

Guatemala Trip - Friday - Day Five

We started the day with a trip to the newly dedicated Quetzaltenango Temple. The weather was just beautiful, much cooler than El Salvador.

A view of the city of Quetzaltenango

Our group at the temple.

We were invited to the home of one of the people that Elder Wall, one of the temple missionaries, baptized when he was on a mission 47 years ago. We joined this family for lunch and it was a very nice reunion for Elder Wall and the family.

After lunch we headed for Lake Atitlan. This is a view of the lake from the road down into Panajachel from the main highway. That is one of the three picturesque volcanoes that surround the lake in the background.

And there's that guy in the hat again, in front of the lake, the volcano, and the picturesque clouds . . . . but where is his tie????

(It is missing as he was threatened with serious bodily harm by the other missionaries if he didn't quit wearing it. =D)

Guatemala Trip - Thursday - Day Four

Thursday was spent mostly travelling. We went from Guatemala City up to Quezeltenango. We did stop in Chichicastenango for a couple of hours. Chichicastenango is just one big market place. The tiny streets are lined with merchants and they are very aggressive. I was very glad when it was time to go. We spent most of the time in the van eating lunch from our little stock of food, granola bars, crackers and water and reading.
The scenry was beautful though on our way.

They have a fruit checking station like going into CA.

And they have horses and people carrying firewood. Here is a guy with 2 horses. There was another guy we saw later with a horse and a wife. He was leading the horse and the wife was hauling more wood behind them. They do things differently here.

This is how most of the women carry wood, and everything else.

Here is the hotel where we stayed in Quetzaltenango. It was quite new and very nice. They had a restaurant there with pretty much the most wonderful food we have had down here.

Rich with his one purchase from Chichicastenango, a new hat.