Every Saturday, join me as I CELEBRATE This Week
with Ruth Ayres from Discover. Play. Build.
I'm so excited to be celebrating this week! I've been in Guatemala for the last two weeks having a completely blast and soaking up my Guatemalan heritage. It was amazing to finally be able to visit the country where my mom and her side of the family is from and to see where my mom grew up and all that she has told me about Guatemala first-hand.
Here are a few pictures from our trip when we stayed in Antigua, Guatemala. We visited ruins that were left after big earthquakes destroyed many of the buildings there in 1751 and 1773. Antigua was the capital of Guatemala before they moved the capital to Guatemala City in 1776.
These men are playing the marimba which is the national instrument of Guatemala. My mom remembers marimbas being played at major events like weddings and my oldest son thought the musicians did a great job. It's pretty amazing how well they play and how they all coordinate with each other.
This next picture pretty much sums up most of the trip. After Antigua, we went to the Pacific Ocean and stayed in a resort on the beach. We played in the waves and loved the black sand. Then we went to a resort that had an amusement park and a waterpark and amazing pools. And after that we went to Lake Amatitlan and stayed at Santa Teresita that had thermals pools heated from the volcano. It was like swimming in a bath and it was lovely.
At the end of our trip, we stayed in Guatemala City where we experienced some of the city life there. We walked to their big mall which was huge and gorgeous and had a Starbucks! I did miss my Starbucks while I was in Guatemala so I was excited to get to enjoy a Frappuccino there. They actually have a Churros Frappucino which was excellent.
I'm sure I'll be sharing more pictures and stories from our trip but I'm so filled up with even more love in my heart for Guatemala than ever before and was so excited to at least share some of the highlights. I already can't wait to go back!
Do you have a favorite vacation or traveling memory?
Where did you go? What did you do?
I would love to hear about it!
A group of 60, mostly teens, from my church, head for Guatemala tomorrow. They are building houses for two families, working with the group CasasPor Cristo.This is their second trip. They loved the country and the people they got to know.
ReplyDeleteThat's awesome! What a great opportunity. I'm hoping to go back soon!
DeleteA group of 60, mostly teens, from my church, head for Guatemala tomorrow. They are building houses for two families, working with the group CasasPor Cristo.This is their second trip. They loved the country and the people they got to know.
ReplyDeleteOh, Jen, I enlarged each picture & loved them all. What a fabulous trip. I'm glad you had such a good time, and hope you do share more! Happy times!
ReplyDeleteHi Linda! It was such a fun time! I'm sure I'll be sharing more once I've recovered. Still trying to get back into the swing of things but it was so wonderful to be there.
DeleteHow thrilling to be able to visit the country of your heritage. It seems like you were able to soak up so much - the volcanoes, the countryside, music, time with family, and the resorts. Thanks for sharing your pics.
ReplyDeleteHi Ramona! Yes, it was amazing. I've waited a long time to be able to go and most of my family hadn't been in a long time. It's just full of so much culture, I loved it.
DeleteLooks like a blast!
ReplyDeleteAnd, what an amazing writing material gathering experience!
Yes! I was definitely paying attention to everything and jotted down tons of ideas while I was there. There were a lot of really poor parts that made me sad but also so much culture and energy at the same time. I realized that one way I might be able to help is by sharing stories of Guatemala and helping people know more about it.
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