Totonicapan to Lake Atitlan

We woke to a beautiful sunny morning in Totonicapan. Here is Hotel Maya Quiche as it looks from the outside. Isn't it charming?The boys wet socks (still wet from our zoo excursion) are hanging out to dry in the open second story window on the left. When I awoke and saw all the hotel neighbors out hanging their newly washed laundry, it seemed like a good plan! I thought I'd join them and do the morning "Totonicapan style..." :-)After breakfast, we went back to Project San Miguel where we got to see Carlos and his mother, Benita, again.

The project has been present for over 20 years here. The women that we spoke with do lots of education with the children, and go out to the homes in the community to see the kids and help the families. This area is where the office and main meeting places of the project are located. The big meeting room is upstairs where the balcony is- this is where they presented their program yesterday and where we went today to see some of the work they are doing. They showed us some of the toys they have made with the children, and also presented to us some of the product that the older youth are making. The teenagers are preparing and canning pepian sauce, strawberry jam, and rosa de jamaica (hibiscus) jam. The pepian sauce, made with garlic, green tomatoes, peppers, "hodgepodge," etc, is one of the first dishes I had here in Guatemala. We were eating at Kacao's, and I wanted to try a dish from the region of the country that Kyler was born in. Pepian chicken was the selection from the western highlands, and it was delicious. This is the very sauce that they are preparing and canning, making preparation of the dish much simpler. They are working toward beginning to market their product in the next year to start a business with the youth. They also prepared some pepian chicken and rice for us to sample- it was even better than I remembered. Here are a few of the youth working on this project:
Before we left, they gave us gifts of their product to take back with us: 12 jars of pepian sauce and jamaica jam! Mmmmm... I can't wait for that when we get home! It should help a bit with the withdrawals I know we'll be feeling.
Totonicapan as seen from the balcony:

Our friends at Project San Miguel send their thanks on behalf of the children they serve for all of your kind and generous donations! (side note: the woman on the left is Leticia, she works with the preschool children. You can barely glimpse her shirt under her sweater, but you will see similar shirts with the colorful and intricate embroidery on most Mayan women. She made the shirt herself, and it took four months to embroider it. She says that the women are all very creative and come up with their own designs. The mothers start teaching the girls to design and sew them when they are 5-6 years old, and they also learn it in school. She will start teaching her daughters in a few more years.)We left Project San Miguel to travel to another project higher up the mountain, Cuxlikel. This was where the "teenagers making bread" was to happen. The women here are teaching the youth baking skills. They meet weekly on Tuesdays (except today, when the met again just for us) to bake pastries, which they sell at a shop. Today was encanelados: cinnamon rolls!
Unfortunately, the project staff schedule dictated that we leave before they were out of the oven, but not before we could smell that delicious smell of them baking! :-) The youth were so sweet, I really wish we had had more time to talk and visit with them, and get to know them a bit more.This sweet girl really wanted her photo taken with Alex. He made her day by obliging (even though he was tired and didn't want to) and he even offered her a hug and his biggest smile!
On the way back down the hill we had a great view of the hospital in Totonicapan. Of course, I had to get a photo of it... I just wish we could have gone and visited, too!At the bottom of that hill was our hotel, and we gathered our bags and checked out. We're traveling a bit lighter now that we've delivered the 7 totes and emptied the rest of the donations and gifts from our bags, but we seem to be collecting things to take home that are filling that space right back up! And of course, we're lugging around those car seats everywhere! :-) I don't know if Max will ever be able to confine himself to a seatbelt again- this is like a dream for him!
Our translator's name was Kevin. He was with us these two days and is a very pelasant young man who is currently a civil engineer but wants to be a chef. His family is from Quetzaltenango, near Totonicapan, and we stopped by there on our way to Lake Atitlan. Quetzaltenango is the second largest city in Guatemala, behind Guatemala City. We visited the town square and walked around for a brief bit.

A church

Thankfully, everyone got their Dramamine down and it stayed down this time! :-) All happy faces this windy mountain ride!

The rain turned into a deluge on our trip down to the Lake, and it was incredible to watch the waterfalls by the side of the road pouring across the road in several places. We were thankful for the "cautious" vehicles ahead of us winding down the hill that kept our driver's pace in check on those last slippery turns. :-)
We arrived in one piece at Hotel Atitlan, and via the road, not tumbling down the side of the mountain, so all in all, a good trip. Our rooms are on the second floor, with a view of the main garden area and lake from our balconies. Hopefully tomorrow I'll get some better photos of the lake when we can actually see it instead of all the rain!
Looking at one of the side gardens from the walkway outside our rooms:
The gardens here at Hotel Atitlan are beautiful. I remember taking hundreds of photos here before, but I am still overwhelmed with the beauty of this place. There is so much to see around every corner and bend... I could literally spend hours walking and enjoying all the visual treasures!

The kids and Aaron went swimming, while I sat up on that patio sipping my tea ("Enchanted Forest" green tea today) and drinking in the experience of just being here.

I am so amazed that we have this opportunity. We have learned and experienced so very much in this last week, and it is such a joy to be able to meet new people and glimpse different cultures and lifestyles. I have loved the chance to spend more time in the smaller towns and residential areas, to watch people living their lives and try to put together in my mind a more accurate picture of what life is really like for these different groups of people. We have met some of the dearest and kindest people on our trip, and they have so graciously shared their lives with us. What a great blessing we have been given in their friendship!