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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