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supertek78 - Trey Johnston

I'm 29 years old, male, from Texas in the U.S. annd looking for adventure and opportunities to help others out. Ready and willing to travel the world.

I first decided to do volunteer work in 2007 but was unable to make it happen because of my career. Today however I'm at a place where I can afford to take 3 months off to volunteer my services in Central America. It's going to be tough there, no hot water, bunk style living without air-conditioning and I'll have to wash my clothes by hand. A shocking change for someone coming from America, but this is the way these children live everyday. The place: Casa Guatemala is an orphanage with 250+ orphaned children who live in the jungle environment near the Rio Dulce.
This website is what I will use to chronicle my trip to Guatemala, from the first day I leave until I return. Currently I am awaiting my passport renewal so I can schedule a flight out during the month of March. At which point I will fly into Guatemala City, take a taxi to Letigua and grab a bus to the Rio Dulce. For the first two weeks of stay I will be living and working at "HotelBackpackers" as seen below, but let's be honest; It appears to be more of a water-shack then a hotel we're used to. This will help me get acclimated to the culture and change in environment before I go to the orphanage. So, why do I want to do this and what do I hope to accomplish you may be asking? I think we tend to get so caught up in ourselves, our self fullfilling goals, money, career and the material things we work towards obtaining and forget about the things that matter most. I don't want to continue taking for granted all the simple things I am afforded as I continue to feed myself all the things I want. I wanted to take some time to see what it's like to live in sub-standard environment but I also wanted to do "something with meaning", something that "matters" and what better than to volunteer to help those less fortunate :) If I can make a different in just one persons life, then I will have accomplished what it is I'm working towards. I'll be the first to admit I haven't always given to good causes or volunteered my time, but I want to change that and this seems like a good first step to me :)

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Joined on: February 24th 2008
Last Login: October 11th 2008

Blog Entries: 15
Photos: 182
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Blogs & Travel Journals

by supertek78, order by Date newest first.

By supertek78
July 2nd 2008

Florida, Texas and Virginia

North America » United States » Florida » Tampa

Jilly and Morgan

So I made it to Florida safe and sound in the great city of Miami on June 12th, 2008. I don't have any pictures because I became extremely ill on the flight over. Very ironic considering that I never once became sick in Guatemala or Honduras and yet I catch a fever and a stomach flew on the flight back. So I traveled around Miami at 9pm at night wandering the streets to see if I could find the Miami International Hostel which I could not, but I did stumble across this other Hostel which had a Mexican restaurant right below [View Full Entry]

By supertek78
June 18th 2008

How we lived at Casa Guatemala

Central America Caribbean » Guatemala » Rio Dulce

My Bunk Bed
Here's where I slept part of the time I was at the Casa. Mesquito nets keep out the rats, roaches and spiders if your lucky.

Hola, After looking through some pictures and videos from my trip I realized I never really posted anything about our living conditions. So, here are some pictures and a video of our surroundings at Casa Guatemala. The run down... Every morning we woke up to the sounds of the pigfarm next door. If you've ever heard pigs being fed you'll know it sound just about the same as them being slowly slaughtered, it's terribly loud and annoying. Additionally, before that takes place we here the sounds of roosters and howler monkeys at 3am and 5am. (I thought roosters crowed at daybreak [View Full Entry]

By supertek78
June 9th 2008

Utila Farewell

Central America Caribbean » Honduras » Bay Islands

Crazy Texas Man
His name is Bobby Dan..nuff said

Well, I am an official Rescue Diver!!! Utila is a great place to dive, the people are really cool at Cross Creek and I would recommend it to anyone. Diving is one of those things I'm proud of doing because it's very different from anything I've ever done. This is one of the reasons I came on this trip, experience new things, different people and find out what it's like to live life by doing the things I want to do, by taking sensible risks, facing my fears by attempting things I wouldn't normally do. I think I've done that here... [View Full Entry]

By supertek78
June 7th 2008

Casa Guatemala - Our trip to Rio Frio

Central America Caribbean » Guatemala » Rio Dulce

The girls...
Young one who attend school at Casa...

So the Rio Dulce is by no means a cold water river, so it really wasn't that refreshing when we went swimming. However, about 1.5 hours through the jungle you come to Rio Frio which is very cool and so refreshing. Sometimes we take the kids there on special occasions and this was indeed special. We walked through many pastures until we came to one in which there were a few hundred cattle. I think they were Brahman cattle which can be a little wild and crazy at times, and this was no exception. We were almost in a stampede, it [View Full Entry]

By supertek78
June 5th 2008

Utila Honduras-I´m a diver!

Central America Caribbean » Honduras » Roatan

Equipment rooms

Well, I am now an Advanced Open Water Diver and am working on my Rescue Diver certification now! It is AMAZING here, diving is like discovering a new world rich with alien life. It´s like a work of art, the water, the coral and the marine life! Ivé seen all sorts of fish, a sea turtle, barracudas, caves, mountains of life rich with color. I have a few pics but will get more up soon- [View Full Entry]

By supertek78
May 28th 2008

My going away party / Rio Dulce / Casa Guatemala

Central America Caribbean » Guatemala » Rio Dulce

Hotel Backpackers
Me and the two girls at reception. Delym and Ciceli

Well the journey is winding down now and I'm on to new adventures! I had an awesome experience volunteering with the orphanage. The volunteers and the kids made this one of the best, most eye opening experiences of my life. I learned a few things about myself, gained a better understanding of other parts of the world and met some really great people along the way. Guatemala is a wonderful place, the people are trusting and friendly and ·Casa Guatemala is well worth your time. But now I'm taking some time for myself these last two weeks for some diving in [View Full Entry]

By supertek78
May 18th 2008

Semuc Champey, Coban, Flores and Belize (Hitchhiking 101)

Central America Caribbean » Guatemala » Rio Dulce

Semuc Champey
Here we are at the bridge you can jump from in Semuc to the river down below... Neither of us opted for it as it was just as fun on the giant swing you jump from over the river.

So Henry and I went to Lanquin, just an hour or so away from Semuc Champey, which is a MUST for anyone traveling in Guate! There is this awesome place in Lanquin called El Retiro, although the staff can be asses at times, the benifits outway that aspect. In lanquin you can see the local caves or take an innertube down this FREEZING river. We did neither, but there are no regrets because we enjoyed everything else there. After visiting the Semuc caves, which was the most exciting thing Ive done in a long time, we went to the waterfalls and [View Full Entry]

By supertek78
May 15th 2008

Family Day at the Orphanage

Central America Caribbean » Guatemala » Rio Dulce

Pintura
Just some of the kids who had their faces painted.... Aint they cute?

Hi Everyone, Sorry it took so long for me to get back to you but here I am... So yesterday we had family day at the orphanage which was odd because only the children from the local village had parents there and the rest of the children (orphans) had the volunteers there for them. It was a great little fiesta none the less and we had a great time! The kids played games with their volunteers and the families in attendance, we had some fried chicken, which is a rarity here and painted some faces... Here are some pictures for you [View Full Entry]

By supertek78
April 7th 2008

Ahhh My 8 Days Off is HERE!

Central America Caribbean » Guatemala » Rio Dulce

Volunteers
Here are all of us during our going away BBQ...I cooked the BBQ and it was great!

Vale...Okay So I left the orphanage yesterday and was going to take the bus to Poptun, where I would stay at Finca Ixobel, but after seeing the bus and how full it is, I decided to hitchhike.... But no one was going that far on a Sunday so I took the bus today. It was hot, full and fast but it wasnt to bad. It took about 2 hours, and for anyone reading this blog you'll want the bus to drop you off on the outside of Poptun, not inside the city itself, otherwise you'll have to pay for a ride [View Full Entry]

By supertek78
March 30th 2008

Really tired---

Central America Caribbean » Guatemala » Rio Dulce

Casa Guat

Hi... Life is good here in Guat. Im restoring computers and helping the kids with their homework... Sorry to cut it so short but the internet is about to close,,, I would write a good entry very soon when I am off for 8 days! [View Full Entry]

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