Friday Night in Antigua
Hello to all following the Cats in Guatemala. This is Bill McGahan blogging at about 6:30 on Friday night.
Today started with yet another excellent meal. Scrambled eggs, toast, pancakes, orange juice, coffee, fresh fruit, jams awaited us as we woke up at about 8 am. We then gathered in the lobby of our hotel and headed off in our 3 luxury pickups (ha!) at about 9am.
Today we built 5 rows of concrete blocks. Hard work, but not as hard as the first day, which included much digging. The weather was cool, in the mid 70s with a breeze, and it was overcast for most of the day, but no rain, so just perfect for home building.
A great lunch broke up the day.
Our close knit group taking a power nap after lunch
The students and the families are getting along incredibly well. Every day the Guatemalan kids await our arrival in the pickups and then take our hands and escort us to the work site. We have given them many used clothes, and they enjoy wearing them very much.
The photography project seems to be a big hit. We have given the Guatemalan kids digital camers (this is all the work of Julia Myrick) and they are spending the days not only helping us build and playing with us (and spying on us and then laughing), but also running around taking pictures of us, their families, their homes, and their various animals. It is going to be interesting to see their photos and what they reveal about how they view the world.
Our Westminster group is having a blast. The spirit that they have is tremendous. They are enthusiastically working on the homes all day, and its just tremendous (and gratifying) to be a part of.
After working on the homes we rushed back to the hotel at about 4pm, and then quickly took showers and ran to Spanish School. The school seemed to be a lot of fun. The Wildcats paired in twos up and then sat with each teacher, so each group of three (2 Westminster students and a Spanish teacher) went to a seperate sitting area to talk in Spanish. Lots of laughter filled the air. Great to hear.
As I write this blog, our group is sitting in a Italian restaurant waiting on pizza, pasta and salads, while Carter Thomas is leading a seperate sub-group with dietary needs in securing suitable grub.
Then tonight, starting at 7:30, we are off to SALSA DANCING! Daniel has secured a private dance studio and we will all be learing how to dance like the locals. No doubt there will be much more laughter.
Here I am visualizing my next move while a confused Daniel looks on
Tomorrow being Saturday, there is no work scheduled on building, but Daniel, Carter, Julia and I have a few things planned to take up the day. More on that tomorrow.
Lastly, I want to give a special shout out to Guat ´09, the trailblazers of this Guatemala experience. They had the courage to take the plunge on the Guatemala trip when it had absoulutely no track record. Guat ´09 set this program off in a great direction. In addition, several of them, including Hannah Woodward, have raised money for THIS YEAR AS WELL!! How awesome is that!!
So, all is good here in Guatemala. The students are just terrific and I am proud to be associated with them.
Bill McGahan
Sounds like a great experience!!! More pictures please….
Hello team Guat from Atlanta on a Saturday night. While you have been playing today, it has been another hot day here with highs in the upper 90′s.
A tropical storm, Bonnie, has plowed into the gulf crossing the southern tip of Florida and scattering all of the relief efforts in the gulf until it passes. The storm will make landfall somewhere near New Orleans and many are anxious to see what will happen with the oil spill in the gulf. The storm will not effect us here, no rain in sight for big A.
Your daily blog is great! Tell us about the town and the surrounding area as well as the country you are experiencing. Sounds like the food has been pretty good so far. When I was in Honduras last summer it was mostly rice and beans!
Keep all the pictures and news coming.