Saturday and Sunday Update

On Saturday our group had the opportunity to tour Antigua with our great friend Alejandro as a tour guide.  The group visited the cross on the hill and tour our traditional group picture their before we headed into Antigua for the touring.  One of the major stops along the way was the Santa Domingo Motel which used to be an old Monastery which was converted into a fancy upscale motel.  There were also several other stops along the way, but they are slipping my mind at this very moment. 

After the group was done touring, we got the opportunity to shop in the local market for souvenirs and goodies to take home.  After a long day of walking, touring, and shopping, we were greeted by George's amazing cooking.  Saturday was an early morning and late night so, therefore, there was no updates that night due to the exhaustion.

Yesterday our group got to travel to Lake Atitlan.  This is the largest lake in Guatemala and has many villages surrounding the lake.  After our 2 and a half hour bus ride to the lake, we were all very pleased to be able to stand and stretch.  We got onto a boat that took us to our first touring destination.  The trip across the lake took about 1.5 hours, which will give you an idea of just how big this lake really is.  Even though they don't know the exact depth of the lake, they guess that it is over 1,000 feet deep in spots.

After our touring, we got to eat in a very nice restaurant.  Most of our group had cheeseburgers and fries, but some got adventurous and had black bass, shrimp, and even steak.  After lunch we got a tour of peace park, which is the location of the death of 13 innocent people during the civil war in Guatemala.  On our way back to the boat, we were mobbed by venders on the street who eventually followed us into the boat and wouldn't leave until we started the boat and began to move.

We got back to the motel around 9:30 last night and had supper.  After that most people turned in for the night.  I will hopefully be putting up pictures tonight.  We just had a little bit go miscommunication this morning about the bus arrival time and I figure I would at least get some updates out to you guys before we headed to the orphanage this morning.

Stay tuned for more updates.