Vacation

I am really enjoying the benefits of vacation – a rest, a break.  As I hope you have figured out from my blog posts, I love my work with Common Hope.  I am so glad I have the position that I have and am excited about everything I am doing….BUT that doesn’t mean that it isn’t tiring and draining at times and that I am not fully enjoying a little time off to rejuvenate. :)  To start off my vacation I headed to Costa Rica for a week to see a new place, do new things, see a good friend, and RELAX.  It was quite an adventure that included motorcycle riding around a volcano, immersing myself in a hot river which is naturally heated by the volcano, boat riding and horseback riding to get to our next hostel in the rain forest, salsa dancing and last (but NOT least) zip-lining in the rain forest.  It was all a blast!!  There was also plenty of time to just relax in the sun while reading or chatting.  It was a very great way to start out my vacation.

I returned to Guatemala on the 23^rd.  On Christmas Eve I went to mass with my friend Karen in the evening and then we went to her parents’ house where all her family and the family of her soon to be sister-in-law from Belgium were there to celebrate Christmas.  It was quite an international Christmas as we had 4 languages present: Spanish, English, Belgium and French (Karen’s sister is married to a Canadian man).  Somehow everyone was more or less able to communicate, though those of us who knew two languages were sometimes used to translate for others. :)  The tradition in Guatemala is to eat very late (usually not until midnight), but since there were guests from other countries we ate earlier…10:30pm! Haha!  The traditional food to have on Christmas is tamales and punche (a hot fruit drink).  Though, we also had a very nice grilled meat (Karen’s father’s specialty), avocados, salad, mashed potatoes, bread and fruit.  At midnight, we all went up to the roof as many fireworks were being let off all over town.  They definitely love their fireworks here in Guatemala…they set them off for EVERY celebration (and sometimes just because they can…haha!)  I returned home around 1:30am, pretty exhausted, but happy I was able to share Christmas with a family.

Christmas day was very chill…as it usually is here in Guatemala as everyone is recovering from the night before.  I was able to connect with my family via Skype which was a blessing – such wonderful technology.

In my free time now I am trying to connect with friends for coffee or walks around Antigua.  I met a couple of people who are visiting Antigua on my way back from Costa Rica when we shared the shuttle from the airport to Antigua.  One of them (Michael) ended up getting a guitar playing gig at a place here in Antigua last night so I stopped by there and met some of his friends and three older men who Michael was opening more.  It was quite fun as I ended up sitting at the table with these three musicians as they waited for their turn to play…they have been playing together for 20 years, about 8 years at this café (since the café opened).  One is from California, one from Guatemala, and I didn’t hear where the other was from.  They were quite young in spirit and a lot of fun.  Well, when Michael played “Brown Eyed Girl” I told them that this was my song.  Willie’s response (the Guatemalan of the band) was to tell me that this song was overdone and that they would sing me a new Brown Eyed Girl song…that they would make up on the spot! Haha!  They kept their word and a few songs into their gig “my song” came on…Brown Eyed Woman.  Well, I may just have to go back there some night and request it again.  It was actually VERY good…especially for being made on the spot.

I am also really breaking into the salsa scene here in Antigua – and LOVING IT!  I cannot even explain to you the beauty of this dance here…it is truly art.  I am excited to keep learning more every time I go out and meet new dancers.  Good times, good times.

I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas and are still celebrating in this Christmas Season.  How incredibly special that our God loves us so much that He chose to become one of us…to live with us…to sacrifice for us.  A child is born and his name is JESUS!  Merry Christmas!