Luca writes…..I slept until 7:15am. We woke up and took a tuk tuk to breakfast. Then I did word puzzles.  Then we took a tuk tuk back to our hostel and packed up our bags and took a boat ride. The boat driver was so crazy that the boat flew in the air.  Tía, me and Maggie went on the front of the boat.  We took the boat to San Marcos where there was a 40ft jump into the volcanic lake that was made 84,000 years by the volcanoes around it. We went on the path until we got to a big rock.  I first jumped off a lower rock then I jumped off the big rock.  It was cold in the lake and in the air when I got out of the lake.  I was excited and a little bit nervous before I jumped.  It felt like “I believe I can fly” when I was in the air.  It was so fun.  I felt brave. After we jumped we swam to the other side,  but we had to take 2 or 3 breaks because our arms were tired.  We swam over to meet mommy and Tia who didn’t jump because they thought it was scary so they just slid on their butts into the cold lake. After we dried off, I was so dry I didn’t get one single drop on me.  Then we walked to the boat and took it back to Santa Cruz because we had to get our stuff from in the hostel. The ride back was super rough and people were brave.   We ate lunch and then I was waiting to play pool before we left but other people took two turns and I didn’t get to play before we had to leave to go meet Mr. Sergio. We took another boat to Pana. Mr. Sergio picked us up at 3:51pm and then we took a 2 hour drive.  Then when we got there we had the largest house I could ever think of.  Even there were stairs that goes to the roof.  Tia asked me if this was a cool house, but i said “it was the best house I could ever think of.” But a grown up has to be with me for sure when I go on the roof.  I can see the beautiful view of the volcanos and people’s yard from the roof.  There are 3 gardens.  There is even a Spanish school I go to. 

Today was my first day at Spanish school.  It was fun. I made mistakes all the time and I tried again.  My teacher’s name is Lucia. Her name is almost the same name as me.  She is nice, she doesn’t even know how to say bacon.  I picked out the best words in my notebook that was the same letter in English.  Like blocks and bacon. We wrote in my notebook things I like in Spanish and my notebook is almost full up to the 3rd page. Michael-John picked us up and we walked home and we can finally relax.  But I didn’t because I went bug hunting.  I have a special cauldron that I put my bugs in.  I have two grubs and lots of rolly pollies. After that I watched Netflix under the bed until mommy called me for lunch.  I had the best fried chicken and french fries with ketchup.  I hate all of the chicken that Tia gave me and all the french fries. After lunch we went to salsa place.  That means we get to dance but I only danced a tiny bit because I didn’t want to get tired.  After we went to dinner.  We took pictures and saw the volcanoe with the clouds sitting on it.  We walked back and we almost got lost because Tias map on her phone wasn’t working until 7:50pm. Then we finally got home and then we went to our room, took a shower,  and then we wrote our blog.  The end. 

Nicole writes…We climbed up a treacherous mountain/volcano/rock thing today so that MJ, Maggie and Luca could jump off and I could silently play out all the ways in which we could become maimed, handicapped, or fall to our deaths. I did this as silently as possible so as not to disuade my child from experiencing this once in a lifetime opportunity to plunge into the depths of a volcanic lake. He was so brave and I was so proud. Michele and I got into the water in a more senior citizen fashion; sliding down the rocks on our bottoms until we hit water. We then traveled to Antigua and entered our magical new home. It is old and gorgeous, has a beautiful open air garden courtyard in the center (which thrilled Luca whose first words were “I can’t wait to see how many bugs are in here”), and may just be haunted. The thumping heard on the wall between Michele and I’s bedrooms is, um, confusing and a bit disturbing. We will explore more and get back to you on the origin. Other than that bit of potential paranormal activity, I am in love with this home and am so excited to see what the week has in store for us.

Tonight I dictate this blog through crack in the door from the toilet to Michele. Gotta get the thoughts of the day out when they come to you, right? It is here, with the sound of nature, in the dark (so that I don’t traumatize any more neighbors) that I have been able to reminisce on all of the good. Breakfast was lovely. Coffee feeds my soul. I still don’t like the men at the launcha (boat launch). The man at the kayak stand was lovely though, as are all of the people here (aside from those boat men) and reminds me how hard it must be to have to hustle to feed your family. I truly am blessed. Lunch was delicious especially the frozen watermelon and Zacapa. We decided to stay put and spend the day on the dock jumping into the lake. I am sure Luca will have a more to share about that in the morning. I always thought that I wanted to experience a healing retreat where you go into a smoke filled hut with a shaman doing peyote, but alas, no. Why you ask? I got smoke inhalation. How you ask? From the wood burning oven in the kitchen below our room. This my friends may be what takes me out.

Yesterday I woke up at 5:30am and I snuggled with mommy and couldn’t fall back asleep.  We took a tuk tuk up the hill to breakfast. I ate eggs and bacon and I tried everything that mommy gave me. I have a deal with mommy that if I try a taste of everything she gives me, I get to go to the trampoline park in Florida.  Did I like what I tried? Yes and no! I liked the eggs the most.  They were so good that I wanted more. Mommy and I talked about the roofs of the houses that are made of tin foil… no, no, tin metal or something.  They are not like regular houses because our houses are made of bricks and theirs are made of metal. We talked about the different ways people live. After breakfast we walked to the lake so we could take a boat ride.  But the boat took so long we couldn’t even go.  After that we walked on a secret path to the freezing cold lake and I jumped in. I felt like I was freezing and gonna freeze.  Then Tia and Mommy jumped in.  Then Chula (a dog) came in with us. She even stayed with us for awhile when the man that was with her left and she even walked to lunch with us! She loved for me to throw rocks and she would dive into the water to get them. She only liked big rocks. She would bark at me to come play and throw big rocks.  She only liked to catch rocks in the air. Her tail would wag when she dove under the water and her booty would float to the top.  Chula only understands Spanish. We walked and we saw a beautiful blue flower and I took lots of pictures.  Then we ate lunch late at 2pm. I had spaghetti and meatballs but it tasted Spanishy and I didn’t like it.  I tried hummus and guacamole on bread and I kinda liked it.  Then we walked 20 minutes to the massage place and Tia took a ten hour massage,  actually it was 2 hours.  We were so bored, we threw rocks and dug for rolly pollies. Rolly pollies are the best in Guatemala. And then Maggie and Michael- John arrived at the massage place and we showed them around.  Then we walked back to dinner.  For dinner you could wear costumes and I wore an orange big shirt with a giant hole in it.  I learned how to spin a quetezal and I spun it 100 times. I was on Mommy’s team when she played cards with the grown ups. Then I played pool with Maggie.  Then we came to our room and took a rinse off and went to sleep.  That’s our storrrrrryyyyyyy!!!!

Today didn’t quite go as planned as we were going to head over to San Juan, but we didn’t get along so well with the boat men, again. So we decided to deviate and stay in Santa Cruz for the day.  After breakfast we wandered around the lake, jumped off the dock,  swam in the volcanic lake created over 84,000 years ago, and ran into an old friend; Chula. Chula is a dog that lives at La Iguana and spent a bunch of time with us the last time we were here.  She’s this incredible golden retriever who does exactly what you with think a retriever would do… only she does it a little differently. I’ll let Luca share more about that.  After the dock I took Luca and Nicole to Isla Verde, the hotel the duo and I ended up at by my error last we came to the lake. We had an incredible lunch with a view that is priceless.  After lunch we headed back around the lake to meet a lady at her house (that totally doesn’t sound sketchy at all, I know). Nicole and I were both scheduled to have a massage, one after the other.  Welp, after Nicole saw my face as I walked out of the massage, she quickly changed her mind. My experience was, well, how do I say this…interesting…memorable, yes, memorable. It began with her 30 minute grounding session, aka she prepared her lunch; banana, avocado, and honey. She said she needed some healthy fats to prepare for the session. She then proceded to tell me about her life in the states and how she went from being a corporate executive to finding her true calling; a healer of the lake. There was much discussion about generational trauma, women’s suffrage, and how important it is to release the trauma of our ancestors (mind you, this all took place in the kitchen before the massage even began). Once she felt grounded, aka full, it was time to get naked (don’t worry, I’m Patti’s daughter, I kept my panties on). The massage started out seemingly normal as I listened to the waves crashing upon the shore. It quickly took a turn when I felt her hop on all fours on top of my back. Envision a human tree frog, and I was the tree. It was then, as she stood in frog pose, (or crouching tiger, whichever gives you a better visual) on top of my back,  that I knew this was not going to be any ordinary massage. She proceeded on to the right side of my body as she cleansed “my paternal grandmother’s spirits from the last 7 generations”. I would come to find out later that this was the exact moment that Nicole peered in because the hour massage was coming up on an hour and a half and she was checking for proof of life. My mothers spirits were still to come. As she crossed over to my left side she then addressed my maternal grandmother’s spirits as she told me to release my masculinity that has been carried and passed on for generations due to the womens need to be independent and self sufficient. She then told me to breathe in and embrace my feminitiy. At some point during this process, she took my arms and stretched them back towards the lake as she whispered into my ear “breathe in the spirit of the lady of the lake and release your trauma to her”. Numerous other things transpired; such as the massaging of my intestines, the swinging of my feet and the supposed healing of my left (dont forget, thats the maternal side) torn shoulder. I was finally released after 2 hours and was greeted by my brother and Maggie.  Card games, Cuba libres, and BBQ community dinner preceded and bedtime was a welcomed event, though it sounded much like a night club from the community gathering below.

Michele writes…I have returned to the mother land were I am once again amongst my people lol (all the women look just like me, 5ft tall and round 😆) My blog title best describes my day yesterday. “Let it flow.” All the planning in the world… and life still happened… and we went with the flow. Some of us better than others lol. You know that saying “the apple doesn’t fall from the tree”, well I have seen that play out in real life. Last night Luca said to me “I wanted a place with a fan”, to which I replied “there are no fans or air conditioning anywhere we are going ” (because the temperature is 65 at night and highs of 74 during the day), to which he replied “this was a bad idea I wanted a place with air conditioning”. Apple- tree theory in full effect here. Nicole and I have been traveling for years together so we do it pretty well… like I know she can’t have feaher pillows in her bed and she knows that she’s responsible for communicating and exchanging money. Throw Luca into this international travel mix and now we (Nicole and I both) are learning his traveling quirks. Like I mentioned, things didn’t necessarily go as planned but that is ok, we regrouped and adjusted our plans and ended last night on a high note with some tastey Flor de Cana, Zacapa and playing pool with my Luca in the hostel. This morning began with laying in the hammock and having Luca dictate his blog to me, which was my favorite part of the trip so far. Hearing the story through his eyes and helping him learn how to be descriptive enough to include you all in our journey. This followed by my cold shower, and me standing topless in front of the sink vigorously brushing my teeth in front of our open bathroom window (use your imagination here on what else was moving vigorously 😆) At which point I heard a rustle in the bushes… that I assumed was one of the many loud birds around us. But to my surprise I quickly learned it was a teenage boy as we locked eyes through the bushes. jury is still out on whether it was more traumatizing or exciting for him, I’m sure when I see him at tonight’s bbq things will become more clear lol. This trip it seems we shall be one with both nature and our neighbors. We took our first ride in a tuk tuk and headed up to Sabor de Cruceno for breakfast. It’s this incredible NGO for the culinary students in this village. The food and view and food are outstanding.

Nicole writes….I survived. But God knows I was tested. Note to self; don’t give up when trying to get money from an ATM before going to Lago. No, they do not accept American dollars or credit cards as one would think. No, 3 ATMs and one bank stop were not enough. Thank God for Mr. Sergio’s patience. Second note to self; before you order, and eat your food make sure that they will accept the form of payment you have on your person. Third note to self; ensure your American dollars are crisp, not wrinkled, and unblemished for they will be inspected with a careful eye and rejected at the slightest imperfection. My non homicidal critique is; the landscape is lush, the weather is perfection, and the backpackers are not as smelly as I thought they would be. The indigenous women in their traditional garb and their shoes without supportive arches, who while chunky and shaped like Michele, carry 100lbs potato sacks and 5 year old children on their backs have me in awe. I am pretty sure Michele descended from the Guatemalan people… we have seen her doppelganger around every corner.

Luca writes….. We got on a plane. I felt good on the plane even though it took 2 hours and 18 minutes. On the plane we saw a helicopter and volcanoes. We arrived at guatemala city and then we took a 3 hour drive ride with Mr. Sergio. We saw a lot of corn, cows, and horses. The cities don’t have regular cars they have tuk tuks. They are tiny cars with one wheel in front and two wheels in back. The houses look like cabins and are really close together. The woman here have African American clothes on. (Tia told me they are called Ropa Tipico, central American traditional clothing) Then we took a boat ride that we had to wait a long time for because there wasn’t enough people on the boat. Mommy almost threw up waiting on log to get on the boat. The boat was really fast and really bumpy because of the waves and mommy bumped her butt. Tía and I sat at the front of the boat. We saw all the volcanoes while we had the boat ride. We got to our hostel La Iguana. Our room was nice and clean like all hotels. It’s on the second floor with a balcony. I ate a hamburger and French fries for dinner but they tasted Spanishy. So I ate all Tias food. After dinner we took a long journey walk on a secret passage way. Then we played pool and I hit the ball in 3x in a row but Tia won everything. Then we went to bed. That our story. The end.