The Journey There...

Just getting to Guatemala was quite a journey all in itself. We came from our various homes all over the world and reconnected at CMU in the Peg. From there we took a bus to Minneapolis, where we made ourselves at home for the night, sprawling ourselves across the floor of the freezing cold airport, where we shivered ourselves to sleep for an hour or two. Before dawn had cracked, we stumbled our way through the terminal and departed for Miami, Florida. There we peeled off our winter clothing in exchange for something a little more climate appropriate and boarded our next plane. Before long, we found ourselves peering out the windows of the plane as we descended into this unknown land, this place of hills and volcanos, of all things green and growing..."The Land of the Eternal Spring" as it is referred to in our Spanish lesson worksheets. After getting our bags and ourselves all organized, the first thing that became evident about Guatemala was that you can not flush the toilet paper down the toilets. That is right, you put it in the garbage. The second thing that became evident was that the people speak Spanish. Which of course we had all been told but the whole thing was really just a cute idea until we got here. I mean, we actually couldn't understand these people. And we didn't know how to tell them things either. And so the games of charades began. We loaded up onto our bus with our driver Dario and headed to our first location, Camp Adulum.

Shanoa resting her eyes on the bus to Minneapolis

Heidi and half of Casey ready to call it a night at the airport in Minneapolis

Kristen and Steph snuggle up in a decorative boat and the airport.

Shanoa, Rachel , Jenette, and other various bodies on the floor of the airport

Lia, Tamille, and Kristen waiting to get on the plane way too early in the morning.

Casey and Adam with their tickets ready to go for their first time flying.

Jordon waiting on our stopover in Miami

Finally on the last lag of our journey...Rachel, Tamille, and Kenny...a little pasty before our exposure to the Guatemalan sun