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We finally got our first visitors to Guatemala! Yeah! Nathan's parents came to visit us for 11 days and we had a great time. We came to Guatemala City the night before and stayed with Monkey so we wouldn't take any chances of being late. Monkey went with us to the airport so we wouldn't get lost. We still can't find our way around this city. We were so happy to see them.
We took them to a really good restaurant on the way to Quatzaltenango. I didn't take photos but Betty did. They bring out the meat on little mini grills and it is sooooo delicious. When we got home we had a mini Christmas party. Grandma and Granpa brought Christmas with them since we won't be able to come home for the Holidays and the shipping is unpredictable. Speaking of which. We have been in Guatemala City since leaving them at the airport, get our brakes fixed on the suburban, so I don't have our new address with me. But as soon as we return home I will post it. It should be safe to send letters but no money or packages until we get a PO Box.
The next day we took them to Panajachel to see Lake Atitlan. Scholars believe this to be the Waters of Mormon. It is such a beautiful lake. I never tire of going there. The pictures of us on the launcha are taken here. We took the launcha to towns on the lake to shop. Then we walked around Panajachel and shopped and went to the fair. We found a chocolate shop that makes gormet chocolate. The chocolate was soooo delicious. They sell chocao fruit and the nibs also. We would have bought some to send home but we weren't sure if they would let the nibs pass customs, but I think Betty bought some gifts from the chocolate store. I think we all crashed early this night.
The following day, Friday, we went to Huehuetnango to the ruins there. I took lots of photos here for you. I wish we would have had a guide but from what I could tell this city was still inhabited until the Spanish came. Indignius guides led them here and the people of this settlement were masacred. So sad.
Saturday we packed up and hit the Fuentas Georgina's (hotspring pools) on our way to the resort in the coast. I didn't take pictures here but I think Betty did. I have posted pictures from here in past posts. The rest of the pictures are from the resort.
We had a great time. Our days consisted of waking up, eating breakfast and then heading to the beach where Nathan, and the 3 older kids would play in the waves. The waves were way to big for the kids but they had a blast in the white water. Grandma, Grandpa, and I rode a few of those also. Nathan was the brave one that ventured out to the big waves. Ammon got really good at body surfing. I wish I could've got a good picture of him doing this.
Gabby had so much fun playing on the beach with her Grandma. They would sit and let the waves wash up on them and Grandma drew a treasure chest in the sand for the lava rocks they found. The last day Grandma trained her to jump the shallow shore break. The sand was super sticky. It would get ground into our suits and we couldn't get it out. Then we would hit the showers before hitting the pool and swim for a few hours and our suits would still be full of sand when we got to the room. It was crazy.
We went to Antigua one day which was fun . I wish I had had my camera with us because we climbed to the roof of our restaurant and had a beautiful view of the city and surrounding volcanos. The buildings all have beautiful flowers growing over the concrete fences. Betty took photos though so I'm sure you will see them on facebook. We did a lot of shopping here also. I was so proud of Betty and George for speaking spanish and being brave enough to negotiate and purchase stuff themselves. It took me forever to be that brave. I guess all those cruises prepared them. Guatemala is a beautiful country with beautiful people but you can't really travel the country without knowing spanish or having a translator accompany you. Which would be us if you come to visit.
We played with the idea of climbing Pacaya, an active volcano, but chickened out in the end. Nathan and I will probably do it one day with the kids, but we need more details first.
The last couple of days our surburban had bad breaks so we couldn't travel far from the resort.
The last night we found a fantastic restaurant near the resort. I am totally craving the chicken right now just thinking about it. Grandma and Grandpa treated us and it was delicious! Thank you!
I would just like to thank Mama and Papa for coming. We enjoyed their visit so much and really appreciate them treating us to a week at the resort. It was super fun and a time we will never forget. Oh and I forgot to mention that they didn't get sick at all! Yeah!
They also brought us a video Kim made of her kids and Dana and Hannah's family. We loved watching every minute of it. Thank you Kimbo!
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