Today was really fun. What can I say, I woke up and had coffee and a beautiful courtyard garden. Then, Michele and Nicole lovingly went to the market to buy all the ingredients for an amazing super lunch that we prepared for her niece Magie and all of the high school students on their Spanish school trip to Guatemala with their teacher. Luca and I watched an absolutely fantastic movie called “Leo”.

I also got a mini adventure of getting to go to two local markets to pick up sodas for the kids. The streets of Antigua were filled today as the lights of Antigua festival is still going on. After an amazing lunch, we went to the soccer game at the Antigua Stadium. What a great game! Antigua won of course …3–0. I forgot how much fun it was to go to a soccer game with front row stadium seats! Almost forgot our trip in the “tuk tuk” to get to the game. I still can’t believe we all fit in this tiny little truck, it looked like we were getting out of a clown car when we got there, lol. 

And it is…a beautiful day to remember in Antigua. For my second day of Spanish school, I never would have thought that I would present a dish of potatoes with rosemary and garlic, and complete a presentation on how I prepared a meal in a small kitchen in Antigua with my Spanish teacher, Naoemi. My presentation was totally in español!! 😃 Chefs, I prepared for you today…Papas en Romero E Aho (potatoes with rosemary and garlic).

Luca made a homemade fire grilled tomatoes salsa, and Michele made a delicious cucumber salad called Pepinoes. Everything was delicious, and now I have a new recipe for a radish salsa, which was so tasty that Nicole brought home all the ingredients from the market and Michele prepared a giant bowl for a mud-afternoon snack!!

Our chefery was then followed by amazing conversations in Español about mi familia and Naoemi’s familia. We shared photos and stories about our families. It truly is amazing that when immersed in language, how easily one can pick up on it. The people in Guatemala are super friendly and welcoming. They speak Spanish slowly and are all around kind hearted.

Other highlights… We took a Bachata and salsa lesson, had an amazing margarita, and then followed up with a delicious steak dinner at a very bougie, yet inexpensive steakhouse called Escobar. Also watched the light show for the Lightsof Antigua Festival…. Front row seats with the windows open and the breeze blowing. We took a stroll through Central Park to watch the Mayan Antigua lights Festival and headed back to our beautiful historic Spanish mansion built in the 1500s!

I’m still in awe… This is my second day! 😍

I am truly grateful to experience this amazing trip with the two wonderful amigas, Michele and Nicole, not to mention the extraordinary super kid… Luca. My heart is full. ❤️❤️❤️

Today was my first day at La Union Spanish School. Five hours of 1:1 Español. Pardon my Español . My teacher’s name is Naomi. She is 40 years old, lives in Guatemala and during the year she is a teacher for kids age 6 through 12. She teaches grammar, culture, Guatemala, social studies, science, math, and languages, including Japanese, Portuguese, Italian, And English. I don’t think I’ve ever learned so much of a language in five hours. We even played a game of goldfish with opposite cards with Luca and his teacher Kenya. Of course, Luca won with 7 siete pairs, while me, Naomi and Kenya had six pairs. The phrase is “no tengo. Pesce.”

During our “pausa”, (30 minutos break) we had an amazing Cubano cordito, which is different than a regular cordito. Cordito has milk, no sugar and Cubano cordito has sucre plus Leche. For lunch, Michele whipped up these Incredible, when I say incredible…., I mean Incredible tortillas with steak, cheese, beans, and rice, avocado, and delicious spicy salsa. For a snack, she then cooked up these sugar dipped plantains fried in olive oil. And for dinner, chipotle bowls. And of course, the venito (the vino rosso). Salute, I mean, salud.

Carla writes…..
Traveling to Guatemala was such an awesome experience, but taking my girls on their first international trip? That was next-level magical. And a little chaotic. But mostly magical. Watching them take it all in — from the moment we landed to their 100th “Wait… they do what here?” — was like seeing the world for the first time, all over again.
Let’s just say, Guatemala didn’t know what was coming… and neither did we.

The Cousin Bond & the Auntie Squad
One of the absolute highlights? The girls finally got to spend quality time with their cousin, Luca — aka their personal tour guide, giggle partner, and chaos coordinator. They adore him. Like, “can we pack him in our suitcase” adore him.
And then there were the real MVPs of this trip: Auntie Nicole and Michelle. These two amazing women didn’t just guide us — they elevated the whole experience. Think: adventure coordinators, snack suppliers, Spanish class cheerleaders, and loving aunties all rolled into one. With them, the girls thrived. Seriously — it was like having the Wonder Women of Guatemala travel at our side.

Spanish School & the Surprise Win
Now, I’ll admit — when we first told the girls they’d be going to school on vacation, I braced for the “Are you kidding me?” stares. But surprise! The Spanish school ended up being one of their favorite parts. They loved learning the language and getting to know their fun teachers. It was part classroom, part cultural exchange, and part me wondering if they’d come home correcting my Spanish.

Adjustments, Curiosity, and Growth
Living in Guatemala meant doing things a little differently than we do back home. The WiFi wasn’t always strong, showers were… creative, and we are now professional walkers. But what amazed me most was how open the girls were — even when things felt strange or challenging. They stayed curious. They asked questions. They tried new things. Sometimes reluctantly, sometimes fearlessly, and always with open hearts.
They noticed everything — how people got around, how they lived day to day, how they hustled everyday . And let’s just say they think some things are more fun here 🤣

Leaving With Full Hearts
The girls came back from Guatemala with more than souvenirs and mosquito bites. They came back with new words, new bonds, and a new sense of the world around them. And I came back with even more pride (and maybe a slightly new coffee and chocolate addiction…thanks Nicole 🤣).
Guatemala gave us adventure, but more importantly, it gave us connection — to each other and to a place we’ll always carry with us.
Till next time Antigua!

The most unexpected thing that happened today was that I had found a paper towel brand called Encanto! So we went to the store called Dollarcity and another unexpected thing that happened that the store had air conditioning 🌬️. Usually, Guatemala stores have no air conditioning but this store has air conditioning. Then, we walked around the store and then I found it. The Encanto paper towels! If you don’t know what I’m talking about Encanto, we call our mansion/ big house Encanto because in the movie Encanto, our house kind of looks like the movie Encanto’s house. That was the most unexpected day of the Guatemala trip so far.

The End.

Here is the picture

Me and Michele we usually cook together but when we were making our chipotle bowl we made like a little dance but we never got to do it but when we wake up when we go to the airport I think we can do our dance. It goes like this. Cooking an egg and shaking the leg and cooking and shaking and cooking an egg. But we didn’t get to do it it was only for the chipotle bowl. We can do it any meal we want. It’s a cooking song and we were cooking.

When your city has no water and your cisterna runs dry you call in the bomberos.

Sooo here I sit on the porch while the moms put their babies to bed, awaiting the arrival of the fire fighters to fill our 300 gallon cistern and save the day. 

Our house mom arrived to manage the situation for us. It took her trying 3 fire departments before she was able to get one who could send someone. 

While we were waiting she said to me,  each year something is wrong when you come I am so sorry.  I said back to her what my language school teacher my very first year said to me over and over again “Es la Vida.” Inconveniences make for great stories in the years to come (if it’s yellow let it mellow, if it’s brown… go to the fountain and fill a bucket and flush it down).

Prior to the announcement that we had no water the best part of the trip for me was taking place.  All of the little were blogging. One of my greatest joys is to hear, in their own words, their stories of their time here.  Thru the eyes and mouths of the littles the greatest of stories get told. 

Luca has grown so much since his very first trip to Guatemala. Sitting in school I have a direct view into the new kids classroom, and more specifically on Luca.  Although my ADD struggles with this being my vantage point I love watching him learn and seeing how excited he is.  I get 👍🏼 from him all day long, or the kids run out to show me something that is just to great to not share it right away.  Luca has grown into a great leader for his cousin and an excellent example of being a great traveler/learner.

Luca’s cousins Brianna and Bianca have added so much to our little crew. The two of them are full of sweetness and enough sass to keep you on your toes. They are for sure my kind of girls.  They know what they want,  and are excited about everything. Luca has been in Guatemala 3 times with older girls in the house with this being his first time with younger ones around. There dynamic, while different for sure, was just as fun. 

I am gonna miss having my kitchen helpers. I also am for sure gonna miss having someone around who ask just as many “why” questions as I do.  Though it may have only been 5 days it feels like we had so many memories packed into such a short time.  Grateful for them all. 

Update…our water didn’t get fixed we broke the bump by allowing the cisterna to get to low….hopefully tomorrow we get have it fixed.

Luca is the funniest cousin the world. I love him so much and we usually call him 🍀 Lucky. He is funny, kind, and sometimes Bianca bothers him and he doesn’t like it. Luca loves hanging out with me and Bianca. Bianca likes making funny jokes around with Luca. She likes doing the same things as Luca even though she’s a girl. My mommy is so strong so she can do fun stuff like all of us. Sometimes she is scared and she doesn’t want to do it. One time when we were going on the silks she thought she was strong enough and she was. Luca was having fun just like me. The end.

We took a shower 🚿 and then we sat doing this silly blog. . I had a cold shower 🚿 but Brianna had a hot shower 🚿 . Then I was doing my regular blog and then Brianna interrupted and she did emojis which I liked. Then, Bianca did her blog with Mommy/Nicole on her phone 📱. EMOJI ALERT!!!! 🫑🥙🥯🥘🍨🫙🥙🧆🍨🍦🍞🍧🍦🫑🍧🫙🥘🍨🍱🫜🌽🍝🍚🥕🍟🍚🍞🍧🥔🍝🍱🍦🥔🍨🗻⛲️🚢⛺️🏯✈️🚢🏯⛲️🗻⛽️🚖🏜️🚢🚞🗿✈️🚢🎢🎡🚂🏜️🚧🚉🚈🚢🏜️🚃🏝️⛴️🪝🚃🪝🏕️🛶🚃🛳️🏔️🛥️💺🏚️🚅🗻💈⚱️📿💎💣💈📡💣💎⚰️⏲️🪚🧱⚰️🪜🪏📡🏺⚔️⏳⚒️⏱️🗡️💎⚱️⏱️💸💷⏱️🏺💸🪏🪦💎💵💈⚰️💰🔧🧱📡🏺💰🧱⚰️⏲️🪙🔧📿⚱️⏲️🎟️🎗️🎿🤽🏽🤽🏽🤽🏽🚵‍♂️🤽🏽🎽🧘🏼‍♀️🎽🤺🙈🫎.That was the end of the emoji alert ‼️ so get used to it and read every emoji on this blog. 😃😊🙂‍↕️😝 this is about to be the end of our blog so we hope you liked it and we are about to put some pictures on the blog.😇😊. Bianca writes….. ☺️😉😌😍

Bianca writes…

On day one when me and Luca saw the water fountain outside we were so excited. The lady came and we saw the fountain and it was so beautiful and I loved it. Luca and Brianna and Nicole got on the roof. I loved it because I could see the whole volcano. When we got down I got to play with my toys and use my iPad.

On the second day we went to Hobbitenango. I love the parks but mostly I love the circle swing. You go very far and there’s a little bean bag and you can push yourself off if you are almost going to hit something but if not you can hit the bean bag. There wasn’t very much to do where the sticks playground was. My mom went on the first swing ride and when they let go she was laughing so much. I thought she was going to get hurt but I knew they would save her. Michele was second to make sure Luca was not scared and she did super cool poses like she was a superhero. When Luca was doing it he had tears but when he was done I gave him a high five.

On the third day Sunday my daddy went home and I didn’t like it and I gave stuff to my dad so we wouldn’t have so much in our backpacks and so he could change my bed and my sheets and organize my room. And then we went on the silks which are like rubber bands and it was super cool because we got to like pretend we are caterpillars and went in a cocoon and we changed into a butterfly but we didn’t do the butterfly pose we were just in a cocoon. We had lunch and then we came home.

On the fourth day this was our first day to our Spanish school to learn in Spanish. I was nervous but we were going there Michele made a little song and it was like this “this is the way we walk to school, walk to school, walk to school, this is the way we walk to school all day long” and that made me a little better. And my teacher was named Noemi. It was fun. We got to write and made paper airplanes. We went really high on stairs and then we went tippy top of the roof and also we got to fly it on the garden and then we got to go down and pick up our airplanes and then do it over and over. And then we walked home and then we ate lunch and then we did salsa lessons but I liked it a little bit but then we went home and ate dinner. And then we went to bed.

Then on the fifth day we went to school again and I was so excited but I was sad that I was leaving my teacher but it was more important to not leave Jesus behind. We played games like you have to pick a chalk and the teacher says it in Spanish and then if you know the word first you would get a point. So pretend you are a teacher and you say a word in Spanish and like if you know the word in Spanish and you get a chalk and then if you start to draw it first you get a point. And I got a certificate. On the sixth day we are going to the airport because we are leaving Guatemala because we are going on an airplane to fly all the way back to America. I’m happy and sad because I’m leaving my teacher and I’m a little happy because I’m going to see my dad👱🏻‍♂️

My favorite thing we did while we were here it was today. We got to go on a tuk tuk so we can go to a rock area where there was a festival but it is only open on the weekend. But today wasn’t the weekend but today is Tuesday so we just got to like hide in rocks and take pictures and climb but mostly of all I loved going to secret passages. And going in them. But my most most favorite ❤️ taking pictures with the whole family. And everybody else that are now on the trip. I saw a lot.