Day 2 (Sunday) came early.
We awoke at the crack of dawn from our fluffy hotel bed and boarded the bus to Xela.
Actually, the town name is "Quetzaltenango." The locals have kindly shortened the town name to Xela (pronounced Shay-la) as Xela is a ancient Mayan word meaning"beneath the mountains." The town is nestled high in the mountains at almost 8,000 feet above sea level.
The road trip from Guatemala City was long and scary. About 5 hours total. Tiny mountain road, under construction, with a bus driver that isn't afraid to pass in a no passing zone. We were reminded of our bus ride in Honduras... and I was glad that we didn't have seats with a view out the front window!
We stopped for lunch at a road-side restaurant. Typical tourist stop, with a store and many "bargains." I quickly found a brightly woven purse that I couldn't live without!
At lunch, we learned about black beans. They are a staple in the Guatemalan diet, and appeared at almost every meal. On this day, we experienced "bean broth" as an appetizer! The beans that were missing from the broth appeared next to our steak in a pureed mound. Yum :)
Homemade blue-corn tortillas were my favorite part of the meal, as they were cooked on a fire heated stone underneath the staircase.
We rolled into Xela around 3pm and went straight to the orphanage. Below is a picture of the front. The black wall is a sliding wall that locks. To enter or exit, you have to ask for someone with a key to open the door. Later on in the week, you'll hear about our being held up at gunpoint in front of those black doors.
On this day, our goal was to meet and greet the 107 children. We spent 2 hours with them playing outside (on the playground Red Dot built last January .) They were incredibly sweet and excited, climbing all over us, running, playing, hugging.
In the picture below, I'm sliding with Jaquilin. We bonded quickly. For the first 2 days, everywhere I went, Jaquilin went. She'd sit in my lap and hug on me all day long. So it was with mixed emotions that I learned later in the week that she had left to go live with relatives. I hope it is a safe and loving environment.
We had 4 translators from Buckner that were with us at all times. This helped in communicating with the children. There's only so much you can do by motioning and acting! With the help of the translators, we were able to talk to the kids and really begin to learn about them and form a relationship.
In this picture, Rick is with his three girls. Sylvia, Lupe and Kaitlin attached quickly, and rarely left his side. You can see that one of their barrettes has already found it's way into Rick's hair. The girls LOVED playing with him. Over the week, they all became extremely special to us. On the last day, we learned that Sylvia and Lupe were sisters. They have a baby sister at home with their mom. Why then, are they not with their mom? We don't know, but it probably has to do with abuse, alcohol, or abandonment. Our hearts broke for these little girls, who very clearly craved affection from a male source.
Here, we are playing a hand-slapping game while singing Christmas Carols. It was all we could think of to sing! The kids sang in Spanish and we sang in English... Rudolph, Jingle Bells, etc. It was hilarious!
As we were playing with the children, some of the men on the team were beginning to lay the foundation for the artificial grass in the front area. (Just beyond the black gate at the front.) We were quickly aware that the play area in the back was geared towards older kids, and the 20-ish toddlers needed their own play area.
We finished the day with dinner at the hotel and a devotion/wrap-up session with the team. Tod reminded us why we were there: to serve the children and offer as much love as we could. We planned out the next day's activities and crashed into bed. Completely worn out.
Hi's of the day: Playing with the children & being completely accepted and loved by them.
Low's of the day: I don't think there was one. Maybe the bus ride? or the Bean Broth!
At lunch, we learned about black beans. They are a staple in the Guatemalan diet, and appeared at almost every meal. On this day, we experienced "bean broth" as an appetizer! The beans that were missing from the broth appeared next to our steak in a pureed mound. Yum :)
Homemade blue-corn tortillas were my favorite part of the meal, as they were cooked on a fire heated stone underneath the staircase.
We rolled into Xela around 3pm and went straight to the orphanage. Below is a picture of the front. The black wall is a sliding wall that locks. To enter or exit, you have to ask for someone with a key to open the door. Later on in the week, you'll hear about our being held up at gunpoint in front of those black doors.
On this day, our goal was to meet and greet the 107 children. We spent 2 hours with them playing outside (on the playground Red Dot built last January .) They were incredibly sweet and excited, climbing all over us, running, playing, hugging.
In the picture below, I'm sliding with Jaquilin. We bonded quickly. For the first 2 days, everywhere I went, Jaquilin went. She'd sit in my lap and hug on me all day long. So it was with mixed emotions that I learned later in the week that she had left to go live with relatives. I hope it is a safe and loving environment.
We had 4 translators from Buckner that were with us at all times. This helped in communicating with the children. There's only so much you can do by motioning and acting! With the help of the translators, we were able to talk to the kids and really begin to learn about them and form a relationship.
In this picture, Rick is with his three girls. Sylvia, Lupe and Kaitlin attached quickly, and rarely left his side. You can see that one of their barrettes has already found it's way into Rick's hair. The girls LOVED playing with him. Over the week, they all became extremely special to us. On the last day, we learned that Sylvia and Lupe were sisters. They have a baby sister at home with their mom. Why then, are they not with their mom? We don't know, but it probably has to do with abuse, alcohol, or abandonment. Our hearts broke for these little girls, who very clearly craved affection from a male source.
Here, we are playing a hand-slapping game while singing Christmas Carols. It was all we could think of to sing! The kids sang in Spanish and we sang in English... Rudolph, Jingle Bells, etc. It was hilarious!
As we were playing with the children, some of the men on the team were beginning to lay the foundation for the artificial grass in the front area. (Just beyond the black gate at the front.) We were quickly aware that the play area in the back was geared towards older kids, and the 20-ish toddlers needed their own play area.
We finished the day with dinner at the hotel and a devotion/wrap-up session with the team. Tod reminded us why we were there: to serve the children and offer as much love as we could. We planned out the next day's activities and crashed into bed. Completely worn out.
Hi's of the day: Playing with the children & being completely accepted and loved by them.
Low's of the day: I don't think there was one. Maybe the bus ride? or the Bean Broth!
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