i’m writing this while sitting in a hammock on our balcony, over looking the lake and two volcanoes. today is our first official day in guatemala. yesterday was crazy busy. dad and i woke up at 3am to catch our 5 o’clock flight to fort lauderdale. all i remember from the airport is the man attempting to bring a chainsaw on the plane. since it was so early, i slept through the entire flight. we arrived in florida around 9am and waited for our 10:30 flight. once on the second plane, dad opened his yogurt parfait and spilled all of his granola on the ground. safe to say we behaved extra well for the remainder of the flight. our plane landed in guatemala city around 11am (with the time change). once we got through customs, which was a breeze, we met up with sergio, our driver. the van ride was pretty long. since we were driving over many mountains, it was mostly made up of twists and turns. we made it to lago de atitlan at 2:30pm. from there, all that was left was a boat ride. the water was really choppy, so the hard, plastic benches, were not enough to comfort our behinds. dad and i arrived at the hotel at about 3:20. we got settled in our room before heading out to meet up with nicole, luca, and michele. we found them down the beach at a woman’s house where aunt michele was getting a massage. after that we hung around the hotel for a few hours while we waited for dinner. dinner was a delicious barbecue. we ate and ate until our stomachs were stuffed, and played cards well into the night. after that, luca and i played a game of pool before heading up to bed. i woke up to the sound of birds chirping and the waves splashing, which is an awesome way to wake up. now we are just hanging out before heading up to breakfast. i can’t wait to see what today holds.