Final Weekend in Guatemala with a 45km hike to the lake.

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So the time has come and I only have a few days remaining in this beautiful country. Cannot believe I have been here for nearly 8 weeks already. Time has gone so quick!

Before we get on to the weekend will just say about finishing my volunteering with the kids from Alotenango. Thursday was our last day as I was leaving for Quetzaltenango (Xela) and Aron for Semuc Champey on the Friday morning for the weekend. We combined the two classes and just had a little fiesta for the last afternoon. Was good fun, but sad at the same time. Lots of photos were taken by us and the kids, Alotenango is one of the more fortunate towns in Guatemala being that its still poor but some consumer items we take for granted in the West have been saved up for a long time and bought i.e. the cameras. It was a particularly sad last day as I have grown quite attached to these kids over the last 7 weeks and know that they'll go on to achieve great things if they keep at it (and if Guatemala can continue to develop). This week is my final week teaching and Aron and I will be teaching Indigenous kids on Volcan de Agua who English will be their 3rd language as their native tongue is one of the many Indigenous languages of Guatemala and Spanish second.

So to my weekend. Well what a weekend it was. The perfect way to end my time in Guatemala. I decided before I came I was going to do the Xela-Lago de Atitlan trek before I came here and I finally fit it in on my last weekend. Basically it was a 45km pretty challenging hike from a town just outside of Xela to San Juan La Laguna. Really words cannot describe how good the hike was so I'm just going to link you to the pictures and let you see for yourself. Surprisingly I'm not even that sore afterwards, a few blisters and cuts but I feel great, bring Thursday basketball game on!

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150587021191639.436165.509711638&type=3&l=7d16c9345d

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150587070971639.436172.509711638&type=3&l=6f9826fc95

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150587115836639.436182.509711638&type=3&l=e8d1930a62

In other news my Spanish is getting much better, learning the differences in past tense which is hard. Looking forward to 4 hours a day of lessons in Nicaragua, speaking of which I leave for at 4am on Saturday morning for a 17 hour bus ride.

Anyways I'll do one more blog before I leave Guatemala just to wrap everything up. Hasta luego amigos and amigas!

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Photos

The Kids I Taught
On our last day.

Mayan Children
In traditional dress and all.

Villages in the Valley
Scattered Mayan villages.

Atitlan at Sunrise
The rise between the volcanoes.

Daybreak
And day has begun.

Comments

[Daniel]

"Hasta luego amigos and amigas!" Oh dude, so close! Try using "y" next time :-P Looks like you're still having a great time. Excellent photos. Keep on blogging!