“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 ❤️.

Luca…

We woke up, did our morning routine then we got in the car for an hour to drive to where you get on the horses. I would like to mention this is my second time riding a horse ever in my life! Then we got on the horse, my horse is 5 years old and his name was Marshmallow. We rode the horses for an hour up the volcano. Some of the horses pooped and mine farted a lot!!! So when we got there, there was a lot of horses. There was also a lotttt of lava rocks, after we got off the horses we took a 10 minute walk to this red tent where they make the pizza and use a little mini volcano oven, meaning a hole in the volcano where it’s hot and they used that as an oven for the pizza. Then we ate the delicious pizza. After we ate the pizza we took some pictures next to the Guatemalan flag, we then walked back to the horses to start heading back down. I do hope we do it again next year! Once we got back down to the bottom we got back in the van and took the hour car ride back home. When we got back home we chilled and starting packing our things since we leave tomorrow, (I’m sad although I’m happy to go home and see my cousins, also would just like to let you guys know that I just farted). Then the girls (kianna and kayla) went to the market, me my mommy and my tia stayed home and ate dinner. Also I forgot to mention I ate a yummy lunch when we got home, but anyways I had a good dinner pasta and chicken my favorite. Then I did my night routine and I went into kianna and kayla’s room because they were vibing to some music and we started dancing and singing and it was so much fun!! Now I’m going to bed, I had a spectacular Saturday!!! That’s my blog:)

Thank you for snuggling, playing, engaging, including, and being so loving to him. He enjoyed every minute of the time he had with you both. You are amazing young ladies ❤️

Luca writes…

On Thursday we woke up and did our morning routine then we walked to school. Then when we got to school, I learned some new words then it was pausa (break). Then we stayed at school and ate some snacks and a sandwich for lunch. Then I studied some more Spanish, after that me and my teacher went upstairs to ask Kayla and her teacher if they wanted to play the game Blitz.
So we played that game and then we walked home. Then we ate lunch, I had this really good pasta that my Tía made me. Then we chilled for the rest of the day and did my night routine!
Today was our last day of school, so today was pretty fun I learned a little then we playing Blitz again it was so fun.

If you don’t know what blitz is it is a game where you have your own stack of cards, all of them are color categorized, and you can either play with a team of 2 or by yourself. You flip over 9 cards and the 10th card you face up all the other cards are faced down. And then you put down 3 cards also faced up to the side and the rest of the deck either is for you partner or if your playing by yourself they’re yours. This game is muy rápido (very fast), you have to match the cards to the same color like 1,2,3,4 and so on. And once you get to 9 the 10th card faces down and that stack is over. The point of this game is the get rid of the other stack of cards and only have the three cards in front of you left.

And that’s my blog:)

Luca writes…

On Martes (Tuesday) we woke up and did our morning routine and walked to school. We got to school and I estudié con mi maestra (studied with my teacher). Then we escuchamos música (listened to music). After school we came home for a little bit and then we took not a bus, but a truck with seats in the back and we rode half an hour ride to Hobbitenango. It was fun in the truck and bumpy and then smooth. Hobbitenango is on a mountain, it is a fun. Then we took another truck to the top and I sat in the front with mommy and the driver. It was a really high mountain. It felt cool and weird kind of up there. I took a picture on a floating hand with all of the group. I played giant Jenga with Kayla and then we went up to a little nice balcony and I got flowers for everyone. Then we went down back down the hill and we made some friends on the drive. Then I was in the front with the driver and mommy. Then I took another ride in the same truck in the back, back to Antigua. We went to eat and I had steak, chicken, shrimp, papas fritas and I tried a tortilla chip with pico de Gallo but didn’t like it. After dinner we went home and did our night routine and we got our power back🥳🥳! It was raining, not as hard as the other one. The lights almost went out again but thankfully it didn’t.

On Wednesday, we woke up and did our morning routine then we had to go school early because Mommy and Tia went to help some people at the clinic. Meanwhile me, Kianna and Kayla were in school estudiando (studying). Then for pausa (break) we stayed at the school and ate snacks because Mommy and Tia were still at the clinic. Then I think we learned some more. We played games with cards.

Then we went to eat lunch at a restaurant and I got a hamburger and French fries. It was delicious.

Next we went to the crazy ruins from an earthquake in the 1700s. I climbed up the crazy rock. Mommy had to help me get down.

I had chicken wings and French fries for dinner on the roof. Then Mommy and I went to get an ice pop for me and coffee for her. The girls went walking and Mommy and me went home. Now I’m in bed. That’s my blog