Sunday, June 24, 2012

antigua.

Yesterday was possibly the best day of my life thus far. ;)

It started out at 5am, which wasn't exciting. I probably didn't get out of bed until 5:15, but I took a shower and got ready. We all loaded on to the bus at 6am, our team and a few others from Houston who were here for the week.



that yellow. 



The 1.5 hour bus ride to Antigua was pretty quiet - everyone slept. We pulled into the bus terminal and the first thing I noticed was all of the color. The stores are all painted in bright colors and the market was filled with colorful fruit, garments, hammocks, you name it! It was so wonderful for this color loving girl. :) We split up in the square and want to different breakfast places. The one that my group was originally going to go to wasn't open yet, so we ventured to Luna de Miel, a French crepe place. Oh my stars. I got a Nutella and strawberry and it was possibly the best thing I have ever put in my mouth. We ate our crepes, drank our smoothies, and laughed about how Tori was totally going to drink at least five cups of coffee that day.



The upstairs of the building was open so the boys went up there to check it out. Tori, Heather and I soon followed. The view was amazing. The volcanos all around and the breeze blowing - yeah it was really cool. And of course we took pictures.





photobomb. 

profile pic. 

After breakfast, we headed around town. We visited churches, ruins, and walked a TON. Such good exercise haha. Again, the colors and architecture never ceased to impress me. They did good.











So after I got left behind (hehe inside joke) we had SALSA. I wasn't feeling well so I didn't participate in the first part, but I jumped in later and boy was it fun! Can I just say that I am so proud of the three guys on our team who danced? They didn't want to at first, but we convinced them otherwise. They did awesome. ;) The teacher was so fun and really got into it. We all want to keep salsa-ing now. :)





We stopped by the choco museum and some of the team got the makeyourown Mayan hot chocolate. They brought cayenne pepper, hot milk, chocolate, and honey to the table and you stirred it up. The guys didn't think they were putting enough cayenne pepper in so they kept dropping in more and more pinches. Then... they got to the bottom of the cup. Not all of it had dissolved. ;)


yum.



We grabbed a few loaves of bread from the amazingly wonderful smelling panaderia and headed towards where the shuttle would pick us up for the volcano hike. Yes, you did hear me right. We hiked a volcano.

It took another hour and a half and lots of car sickness (for me) to get to the base of the volcano. There is a small town right underneath it that was absolutely beautiful. When we got out of the shuttle, children came up to us asking if we wanted to buy walking sticks. We took a quick trip to the bathroom and started the trek. Out front was Ben, Chris, Tori, Aaron and I. It was a good hike - like seriously beautiful and definitely just a bit tiring ;) We took the wrong path for a little bit (Chris said he told us he thought we were not on the right path - I didn't hear him) but we made it back on the right one in no time. We started pulling away from the dirt trail and green bushes, and into the lava masses. There was sharp lava rock all around us and ash underneath our feet. The stillness was haunting. We came upon a lava jewelry store ( a tiny shack really) and bought some stuff. Definitely a cool souvenir ;)

When we got even further up, it began to get hot under our feet. Of course, the jokes about how the volcano could erupt any second or explode and blow us all to smithereens and how we would roll down the hill as fast as we could, abounded. That's why I love my team. Haha. We played hot potato with the extremely warm rocks, roasted marshmallows over the hot air rising from the cracks, and climbed. Oh how we climbed. We were like monkeys with no fear, scrambling over the rocks. Yes, we fell a couple of times. But I think it was worth it.



heather :D 


boom. 

 toriii!!


  


awww. 




taylor smiled. hehe. 


Over and over again I couldn't believe that I was on top of a volcano, with some of my favorite people, enjoying God's creation, and laughing and having a wonderful time. It's like one of those things you don't even imagine doing. All of us kept saying, "How was this not on our bucket list?" I am so grateful for that opportunity.

The hike down was fun, trying not to slip on the ash and dirt on the super steep parts, taking the shortcuts the little boys found, and thinking about food. When we finally made it down, some of us changed out of our sweaty clothes (tmi hehe) and piled back into the bus. The driver turned up the music loud and we danced for half an hour haha. So epic. Then, people went to sleep. We are such a sleep oriented group. Back in Antigua, we headed to McDonalds for dinner where I had a chai tea latte and a yogurt parfait. Um, that latte was literally the best thing I have ever had. I was kind of skeptical of McDonalds... and lattes. But I was more than happy with it and enjoyed every sip. It took us forever to find the bus but once we did, we settled in and waited for the ride home to start.

Chris, Tori and I were in the back (where the naughty kids sit... apparently). Chris started telling scary stories and Tori and I were freaking out. The dark bus, outside being dark, and a tired mind do not go well together. ;)

Once we got home, we all settled into bed. It was a wonderful and amazing day. All of it. So grateful for the time to get away and explore Antigua with awesome people. :)


8 comments:

  1. Because of this blog, I am hoping to go to guatemala maybe next year! Thanks for telling me about your adventure! :D

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  2. so, um, this post is the best. i like it a TON. what an awesome day! :)

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  3. wait. you had a latte? so did that have coffee in it??? or not...?

    now i want to go on a hike in a volcano! it sounds amazing! and i think you should invite tori to come over to our house sometime so we can all meet her. :) your whole team sounds like an incredible group! :)

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  4. this literally looks like something from another world. unreal. and so insanely beautiful. take me here sometime? ;)

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  5. aaaaah!!! I stinkin' love every picture in this post!! and I'm just not quite over the fact that you stood on top of a volcano. and Salsa danced. I'm officially jealous. ;)

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  6. WOWOWOW!!!!!!!!!!! Mucho love the pictures. Miss you so much. Your team is the most awesomest group. Wanna hike a volcano. Enough said. ;)

    - Eliza <3

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  7. I love the pics!!! I love the one you put "boom" under. :D I am simply GREEN with envy. Standing on top of a volcano, eating crepes (literally what I have been wanting to try for like 3 YEARS), dancing, mayan hot chocolate, hanging out with awesome people, GIVE ME A BREAK. :) Totes want to do that. :) I did NOT know that a volcano would be SO beautiful! That pic of you and tori is so awesome! (with the volcano backround, LOVE IT) Seriously that volcano looks like (as carlotta said) another world!!!! Crazy awesome. When you come off that plane we are hopping right back on because you are going to give me a VIP tour of Guatemala!!! :) (1/2 jk) ;) (that too was a joke)

    -Emily

    P.S. Whats the thing that's floating about tori's hand?

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  8. love love love these. you are so.... you. ;) <3 and miss you

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