Another wonderful day in Guatemala. Today we were able to sleep in until 7:15 am, where we then ate breakfast with the other groups. We got the options of oatmeal, bread, bananas, and mini tortillas (with no Nutella). Our second group had dish duty in the morning making our team break up a bit. Soon afterwards we all got together in front of the church to get into a van and a truck to head out to a small village just outside of San Lucas. To get to the village, we all had to cross a swing bridge (my favorite part of the day). Once in the village, we walked to the local church and had mass, with Father Tony preaching. We were even blessed enough to have the chance to listen to one of the local Guatemalans play music on his guitar. After 45 minutes, we took a break to explore the village. We walked up a hill to see more parts of the village and we saw a mango tree, a first many, including myself. After walking around for a while and having a few conversations with the locals, we started to head back to the church to finish the retreat. This time we had Mike talk about morals and the difference between our lives and the Guatemalans. Once that concluded, we started to head back to our van and truck. Heading back over the swing bridge again, Father Tony dropped some of his Quetzals on the bridge! Thankfully Lauren found the money before it was lost forever. When everyone got onto the van and truck, we started to head back to our hotel in San Lucas. We then ate Lunch at 12:00 and had chilis rellenos, bread, and a few other side options. We then were able to relax for 30 minutes before heading back to the church and getting on the vans to go up a mountain. There we then went to church there which lasted for over an hour and was all in Spanish. We then headed back down the mountain and back to the church. Then we had our last meat of the day, which happened to be tacos, bread, mini tortillas, and spaghetti. Later, in the evening a few of us then went to get ice cream. From there we then went to one of the mission buildings to watch a documentary about Father Stan, who was killed in the Guatemalan war. By then it was roughly 7:30 and some of us heading back to the hotel and some went to get more ice cream. Chester then wanted to go see the city for a bit. So, a group of us went to the city square for an hour and then headed back to the hotel at 9:00. Overall today was productive and yet another great day in Guatemala.
God Bless,
Griffin