Me and mom woke up at 6:45 am and I ate eggs this time for breakfast 🍳. We walked to school and we were all preparing for the big day. 2 hours later… it was break time and I played ping pong with Kayla and Elissa. I beat Kayla 12 to 10 and Elissa demolished me by winning 2 games, that’s crazy! But either way everyone had fun playing ping pong 🏓. Here’s Tia studying.

And here’s me studying 📖.

We had to go to the market because we had to cook it so we took a long walk to the market to get the stuff for Friday. We some stuff at the market and walked back to school. 3 hours later… and I were are done with school and walked to lunch with 4 other people and I we had lunch. I had a hamburger with some French fries 🍟 and I forgot what everyone had so we had lunch and we walked back home. When we got home, we took everyone on a tour of our house and everyone loved our house so then me and Kayla and Abby, our new guest played cards and Abby was so good at cards. Then all of us went to dinner and I had steak, chicken, potatoes, and sausage. I had 4 different kinds of meat today, that’s a lot of meat😂. After dinner the girls went to salsa lessons and they went to sleep at midnight. Meanwhile…me and mommy went on a journey together by trying to find the ice pop place but unfortunately it was closed.

Me and mom took a picture when we were walking 🚶.

When I got home, me and mom took showers and went to bed.

I had a dream about it was my friend’s birthday and we played a new game called Basketball Soccer and Kobe Bryant and he was dribbling the ball and I stole it from him and I threw the ball on the ground and dribbled it soccer version⚽️and I kicked it to my teammate and he kicked it back and I was relieved by the play.

That’s the end

I woke up like any other person and I ate cereal and almond milk for breakfast and it was delicious. You might be wondering, why is it the big Friday? It’s because that is the presentation day for fruit/ vegetables and I chose Tomatoes!! 🍅!! So me and my teacher will go to the market tomorrow with the group to get the tomatoes for the presentation on Friday. At 9:00 in the morning and that’s pretty early for the old folks😂.

Talking about today now, in school and 2 hours later… it’s not an ordinary break, it’s a snack break! The group ate tortillas that we made by hand and I liked it a little bit. I put black beans crushed up and tomatoes salsa on mine. Here’s a picture of me eating tortillas.

My favorite teacher is going to graduate if she passes her test to become a nurse but I’m glad that she’s been my teacher for the past two years and this is our third year of school. Three hours later… and I’m back at house. I ate homemade chipotle for lunch, AGAIN! Then I sat inside the chest at the window and I watched the cars and people go by. I FaceTimed Ady, Emi, Aunt Laura, Aunt Susie, Uncle cliff, and Granny and showed them the house. I even showed them how I went on the roof.

When I ate dinner I had granny on the phone and she watched me eat spaghetti and shrimp this time. When I was done eating that, I exercised with the girls and played jump rope and Elissa was the best at it.

Then I took a shower and went to bed.

That’s the end.

Me and mommy woke up and I was not happy to get up at 7:00 o clock in the morning but I did. So I ate cereal and almond milk for breakfast and I liked it again. I did my normal routine and we walked to school. Mom took a picture of me walking.

When I got to school I worked in español escuela.2 hours later… it was time for pausa and I played ping pong with Kianna and I won 12 to 10. I got a chocolate chip cookie after ping pong 🏓 and the chocolate chip cookie was so delicious and yummy! We returned to walking back to school. 3 hours later… we finished school and Kayla and Elissa were sick 🤢 and vomiting last night so they definitely stayed home while me, mom and Kianna went to lunch and I had a hamburger with French fries 🍟 and it was so good! Me and Kianna took a picture next to a 🐈

And we took a picture walking arm in arm.

And we also took a picture with me and mom holding a four leaf clover 🍀

After lunch, the girls were still feeling yucky 🤢 but the rest of us were fine. Then we watched a movie called Wonder and it was pretty good and funny and nice and it was a good lesson for kids… bullying is not nice to anyone.

After the movie, we ate dinner and I had homemade chipotle!!!!!!!!! Again 😆. We watched a show called Grace and Frankie and it has 7 seasons 7 SEASONS!!! I got in the shower and took a bath 🧼 and then I went to bed early.

That’s the end

Today I woke up and I was so tired that I wanted to go to sleep again. I tried something new it was… cereal with almond milk and I liked it. I did my normal routine and we walked to escuela español.

When we got there, we took a picture in front of the school.

When we walked in, I reunited with my favorite teacher Lucia ❤️. 2 hours later… it was pausa that means break time for 30 minutes, we went to a cafe and I got a chocolate chip cookie and Kayla and Kianna got a ham and cheese croissant and Elissa I forgot what she had but she had something. Then we walked back to school. 3 hours later… me and Lucia had to say goodbye 👋🏼 and all of us walked back to our mansion house and me and Elissa and Kianna were playing stickball and that is baseball but the bat is a stick with a ball and I won 2 to 1 because both of them were tired from just 1 inning 🤯. Then I played stickball by myself by just swinging the stick. I lifted rocks and guess what I found? 3 blind snakes but I only caught 1 and Elissa and Kianna touched the snake.

I snuggled mom in the bed.

Guess what I think we’re having for dinner… Chipotle!!!!!!!!! Mi favorito!! So we’re probably going to have that and it’s gonna be the best food ive ever eaten in Guatemala! 🇬🇹.

That’s the end

“Are you sitting down? I have bad news” -Michele

The farthest thing from my mind when she uttered those words was… a dryer.

“The owner let me know that she bought a dryer the last time she was there. Are you going to be ok? You can still hang clothes on the line” -Michele

“But what kind of psychopath hangs clothes when there’s a dryer! “ -Me

😂😂😂😂

Anyone who has heard me talk about trips to Guatemala knows that one of my favorite things about being here is the simplicity. Walking the kids to school, drinking coffee in the park, grocery shopping, playing cards by the fire, and my favorite…hanging the laundry on the line.

It’s a form of meditation for me, rotating the clothes into the light as the sun charts its course in the sky.

So to hear that we now have a dryer in the home was, to say the least, devastating.

I’ve done my best to cope, have put things into perspective, and realize that no, it does not make me a psychopath if I choose to hang the clothes whilst the dryer sits idly by watching me slip back in time, refusing to utilize modern technology 😆

We are surrounded by modern advances, but being here allows me to take pleasure in the little things.

So, if you’re looking for me girls…I’ll be in the garden, finding my peace.

“Luca how are you feeling? Are your allergies bothering you ?” -Me

“ I have a little boogies but I’m okay” -Luca

“ Anything else you’re feeling?” (Me forever triaging if he’s getting sick 😆)

“ A lot of excitement !” -Luca

❤️❤️❤️

Luca…

Me and mom went on a breakfast date at the restaurant in our walk way to our house. We went on another road-trip to Antigua which was 2hrs and 15 minutes. When we got here to our mansion house, we unloaded the car and brought our luggage to our house. Tia and Mommy went grocery shopping and the girls and I were staying home. Elissa taught all of us how to play songs on the piano and she was very good at piano, so good in fact I thought it was a piano video but nope😆. When mom and tia came back with a Uber car ride, there was so many things from the grocery store and all of us needed to carry something for my mom and tia. When we were done with unloading the car, we just had our own business but me, I was just playing with bugs all around the house and I was also focusing on baseball so I cut down bamboo and made it into a sort of shape of a baseball bat and I tried it and I was actually amazed of how good it was😲. Then the best part is coming soon but first we need to go to dinner 🍽️ so we went and there was hamburgers so I got a hamburger for dinner. Best part… that it was the copa mundial cup. It was Argentina vs Colombia but I didn’t finish it because it was too late. But at halftime show it was… Shakira!!!!!!!!😆😆 the music artist and she played the song called Hips don’t lie and 2 other amazing songs that I loved!!!

The end

Michele and I are not the only Scorpions here….aside from our astrological signs, we had the real deal crawling on our wall!

Thanks to her ninja moves, the intruder was thrown off the balcony, all the while stabbing at the glass she captured him in.

Turns out Dora isn’t just good at exploring 😆

Luca…

Today me and Kayla jumped off the dock and it was freezing like it was water snow.

But other than that, we have a new guest named Elissa and she is Kianna’s roommate so I’m getting along with her.

All of us went on the bumpiest boat ride ever because we almost flew in the roof of the boat and we went to a weaving tour and we got to try weaving and everyone did amazing 🤩 and then we went to a bee tour/ farm and we saw different kinds of bees and some of them are tiny and that was interesting. Did you know that Mayan bees don’t have stingers?

We went on a tuk tuk to our boat ride and our captain was named Pedro. It was super bumpy but we survived the ride.

We had lunch and guess what I had? Spaghetti and meatballs! My favorite 😍.

Yesterday I tried something new and I liked it… broccoli soup!

After we ate lunch, me and Kayla jumped off the dock into the freezing lake🥶! And then we were so cold that we went in the hot tub and the sauna. Then we went to dinner with everyone and there was a bbq at la iguana and Chula, the dog that I met the first year I came was there. The BBQ had the best chicken Ive ever tasted! After dinner, we had dessert which was drum roll please 🛢️🛢️🛢️🛢️🛢️ brownies!! So we ate all of them and we walked back in our house in the dark so we had to Tia’s phone flashlight to get back to the house and we walked with three lake dogs that followed us the whole time we were walking but then we had to say goodbye to the dogs.

Tia saved our lives by a catching a scorpion that was in the house!!

That’s the end

If you are not familiar with my favorite book, it is centered around the red tent. The place where women went in biblical times during their cycle; to share their stories and impart wisdom. Children were welcome to come and go as well.

It was an honor being in the Red Tent with you ladies. I couldn’t have chosen a better bunch ❤️.