Our Trip to Guatemala

I don't know where to begin in describing our trip to Guatemala. Words and pictures can never explain the things I saw in this amazing country. All the costumes you see in the pictures are not really costumes, this is the way the Mayan people dress every day of their lives. The things you see in my pictures are not for show, this is the way these people live on a daily basis. Some cities we visited in Gautemala were populated by about 99% Mayan Indian people. We went to so many Catholic and Mayan Cathedrals and saw them offering up sacrifices to their God's; bringing flowers, candles, incence, liquer, etc. and lying it on alters and praying to their Gods. There were crowds or people and you could smell the incence from yards away. Again, this was not for show, this is the way they live their lives on a daily basis. I wasn't allowed to take pictures inside many of the cathedrals, but it was just amazing to see the things we saw. Sometimes I think back and it still doesn't seem real. I don't know how to explain everything we saw, but I am forever grateful for this opportunity to experience true Gautemalan and Mayan culture.

This was 3 volcanoes, one of them is still active. You could see smoke rising from one of them, that is not clouds. If we would have had more time, we could have hiked up Volcano Pakaya, an active volcano. Gautemala has over 30 volcanoes and I think 4 of them are still active.

This is corn. The Mayan people plant corn EVERYWHERE!!! It is an extremely important part of their diet. They make corn meal and use it to make tortillas and lots of other things. The mountains were VERY steep and they had corn planted everywhere. They farm it all by hand. I wish I had a picture to show you how steep they plant their corn.

These 4 pictures are at a town called Chicicastenango. It was their market day and we got to do a lot of shopping. It was very crowded but the people were nice and welcomed us. There was a Catholic Church which is the only Catholic Church in the world that is approved to worships both the Christian God and Mayan Gods. Thier services are only to the Christian God, but they have alters all over the inside floors to offer sacrifices to the Mayan Gods.

I wanted to post more pictures but this site isn't allowing it right now. I'll post more later.

As for Dominick, he seems to be just about over his virus. He allowed his Dada (Jonathan) to hold him and play with him for about 3-4 hours tonight. I could acutally walk out the room without him hollering, it was AWESOME! We are enjoying him more and more each day, and falling in love more deeply each hour.