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Showing posts from August, 2019

!Adios Guate!

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!Hola! We started off the day with breakfast at our hotel in Panajachel and then packed up and traveled back to Antigua. It was a quick 3 hour bus ride playing cards, chatting, and looking at the scenery. We made it to Antigua and returned to our favorite place Tacorazon for lunch. We spent the rest of the day shopping at the markets and other street vendors. We then had a nice supper and karaoke at Pappy's. We are getting ready to leave at 3:15 tomorrow morning to return back to MN. We miss you all and we are excited to see you!! - Faith and Lauren Just a little added note... These students are amazing!  They worked hard, connected, made new friendships, learned about themselves and a new culture.  Take some time to listen to their stories.  They've got a lot to share.

Our Last Work Day

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¡ Hola!  Today was an amazing day. We started off the day by waking up at 6:20 and having breakfast at 7. We had fruit, beans and an omelet. We then grabbed our bags and hopped on the bus for our last work day. We were both working at the house along with about half of our group, the other half spent the day building one stove and one latrine. Our drive to the site was very beautiful, even though we had a little traffic jam. There was a parade going on in Panajachel today, so the city was very busy. When we arrived at the house we got introduced to the family and got to see what we would be working on. There was also a little dog named Perry, we were obsessed because he was so cute and loved everyone. There were two main tasks to do at the house today. Half of the group went to go tie rebar and the other half was moving sand and rocks up to the construction area. I (Maeve) ended up twisting and tying rebar all day. It was actually really fun because I got

Fun in the Sun - Six Were Done

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Breakfast at 7, strolled in for some waffles.  During morning devotion we separated into 3 groups to help 3 different homes.  The ride was 30min long, but 2 busses got lost.  Eventually we made it to the village high up in the mountain.  From one of the work sites you could look over and see the mountains, volcanos, and Lake Atitlan. Josie's Perspective: My group had a slow start.  We think the waffles slowed us down.  But eventually we started our day.  Some worked on the Latrine and some on the stove.  Today I got to work on my first stove. My first job of the day was to operate the machete, and cut the blocks to different sizes.  We had to carry 40 blocks to the location where we worked.  While I was cutting blocks a few people from my group started to mix mud to "glue" the blocks together.  As I chopped the blocks Caroline and Lyndsey would check it and talk with me here and there. Once we started to build the stove our mason asked us to fill in the cracks wi

Tuesday Afternoon Post

Good Afternoon from Panajachel, Guatemala! Jackie asked me to blog quickly so parents and others could get an update on our day before the kids blog tonight. First, I just want you all to know how amazing this group representing Cathedral High School is. I am sure you all knew that but I feel the need to tell you! They are kind, caring, compassionate, and hard working. They are also all filled with so much joy and we don't go very long without laughing. I have learned so much from them this week and will forever be grateful to have spent this time with each of them. Today we split in to three groups to build latrines/stoves....I will let the kids tell you the details! Jackie, Nancy, and a group of students are heading out to do some shopping before dinner and then we will have pizza for dinner. I am so excited for each of you to hear their stories from this beautiful country. Kelly (Larkin's Mom)
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Monday, 5th of August Lyndsey's Perspective: Our morning started at 6:10 with Maeve's watch going off so she could then call the rest of the girls and wake them up.  We all got dressed in our work clothes for the day and headed down for breakfast at 7:00.  This morning we had fruit, eggs, bacon and home made hash browns.  We then grabbed our bags, got in our groups and got on the vans.  On our way up to the worksite, all of the vans met at an overlook to take a stretch and take photos of the beautiful lake and mountain ranges on the clear day.  I sat in the front of the van with our driver Leonardo and Nancy to avoid getting car sick but also getting a pretty cool view.  We played music and had a good time.  It was a beautiful and entertaining drive to the site. When we arrived at the homes we all introduced ourselves then got right to work. I was working with Ava and Nancy on the latrine.  We had a great time struggling with pound