Right now, I am in the "courtyard" of Casa Bernabe, listening to the children upstairs playing loud games of musical chairs or whatever is similar. Their laughter is ringing throughout the house. What a joyous sound.
If you were to talk to any of us when we first woke up, we probably wouldn't have responded. It was 2:45am. And, yeah. We groggily took showers and ate granola bars. Slowly, we said our goodbyes to the staff and loaded up the car. The ride to the airport was quiet - people were sleeping and staring into space. Security went by quickly, and we found our gate. The first flight to Atlanta was only 40 minutes. We all slept... some more than others. ;)
Long layover at Atlanta. We found a Starbucks and I got a Chai Tea Latte. Tori and I watched a Psych episode, Heather took a nap, and Ben watched his own TV show. Pretty chill. We boarded the plane early and I fell asleep as soon as we got on the plane. We were all so. tired. today.
Let me just stop and say here that I wasn't prepared for the view that awaited us in Guatemala. The mountains are stunning. The houses are full of color and it is such a beautiful contrast to the green and lush trees. Customs went by really quickly which was a blessing. We were picked up by the sweetest people from Casa Bernabe, and we drove through Guatemala City and up into the mountains. On the car ride over, there was a seven year old girl with us. She mentioned a camera so I brought out mine. For the rest of the trip, she was fascinated with my camera. She took pictures as I said, "aqui (here) and que bueno (that's good!)" It was a fun little connection we shared despite the language barrier. ;)
The afternoon was filled with meeting some of the children, getting a tour of the beautiful campus (pictures coming!) and lots and lots of downtime. Heather gives really good back massages so she helped to work some of the knots out of my back from all of the carrying of the backpack. :)
After dinner, Tori, Heather, Ben and I went down the infamous 108 stairs to search out the garden. Apparently, Ben hadn't seen fireflies before. The conversation went something like this.
Ellie: Oh look fireflies!!
Ben: I haven't seen fireflies before.
Ellie: What in the world Ben!!
Tori: Oh look! There is a butterfly! I mean firefly!!
Ben: Whaat...? Oh my GOSH.
It was epic.
We have been spending our evening doing devotions and blogging. Our room has 14 bunks, so we can't wait for the rest of the team to show up and fill them! Right now it's 10pm, in Maryland it's midnight. So I'm slacking a bit. Off to bed I suppose.
Much love!
If you were to talk to any of us when we first woke up, we probably wouldn't have responded. It was 2:45am. And, yeah. We groggily took showers and ate granola bars. Slowly, we said our goodbyes to the staff and loaded up the car. The ride to the airport was quiet - people were sleeping and staring into space. Security went by quickly, and we found our gate. The first flight to Atlanta was only 40 minutes. We all slept... some more than others. ;)
Long layover at Atlanta. We found a Starbucks and I got a Chai Tea Latte. Tori and I watched a Psych episode, Heather took a nap, and Ben watched his own TV show. Pretty chill. We boarded the plane early and I fell asleep as soon as we got on the plane. We were all so. tired. today.
Let me just stop and say here that I wasn't prepared for the view that awaited us in Guatemala. The mountains are stunning. The houses are full of color and it is such a beautiful contrast to the green and lush trees. Customs went by really quickly which was a blessing. We were picked up by the sweetest people from Casa Bernabe, and we drove through Guatemala City and up into the mountains. On the car ride over, there was a seven year old girl with us. She mentioned a camera so I brought out mine. For the rest of the trip, she was fascinated with my camera. She took pictures as I said, "aqui (here) and que bueno (that's good!)" It was a fun little connection we shared despite the language barrier. ;)
The afternoon was filled with meeting some of the children, getting a tour of the beautiful campus (pictures coming!) and lots and lots of downtime. Heather gives really good back massages so she helped to work some of the knots out of my back from all of the carrying of the backpack. :)
After dinner, Tori, Heather, Ben and I went down the infamous 108 stairs to search out the garden. Apparently, Ben hadn't seen fireflies before. The conversation went something like this.
Ellie: Oh look fireflies!!
Ben: I haven't seen fireflies before.
Ellie: What in the world Ben!!
Tori: Oh look! There is a butterfly! I mean firefly!!
Ben: Whaat...? Oh my GOSH.
It was epic.
We have been spending our evening doing devotions and blogging. Our room has 14 bunks, so we can't wait for the rest of the team to show up and fill them! Right now it's 10pm, in Maryland it's midnight. So I'm slacking a bit. Off to bed I suppose.
Much love!
Love the story about the little girl and the camera!!!!!! :) And the firefly story... LOL. :) Sounds like fun and can't wait to hear more!
ReplyDeleteEllie!!!!! Love you so much!!! And miss you TONS!!!!!! 57 more days till you get home!!!!! :D Love you and love the post! Hope your having fuunnn!!! <3 <3 <3
ReplyDeleteMucho hugs -- Eliza XD