Michele writes:

I’ve only known since the last day of our last trip last year to Guatemala that we would be leaving tomorrow to return.. but as it goes I will always be a last minute kind of girl. 

Funny thing is packing this year, while I may have put it off to the very last minute, was a breeze.  I texted Nicole asking what was missing because with only a carry on backpack, and a personal bag, I have far too much extra space. Antigua has taught me a lot,  including that we actually require very little in life when the focus of life is on experiences not what we looked like while we were living them.

Also as always, you can plan and prep and then… life happens. Depending on what report,  or what local group chat I am in the estimation varies on the number of earthquakes Guatemala has had in the last 3 days ( I am talking numbers like 150) with two significant ones being 5.4 and 5.7 ratings. The 5.7 was in a town 25 minutes from us. Thankfully Antigua is fine with minimal damage and the roads are all reopened.  Santa Maria hasn’t been as lucky. I’ve learned a lot about earthquakes in the last few days.  Mainly I’ve learned that there are far more happening around us than anyone realizes.  Unless it’s a 4 or higher no one gives it much notice. Sooo are we crazy to be going to an area that is so heavily active at the moment? Maybe,  but I truly feel like there is risk in life always.  Some risk are more calculated than others. There’s many times in life that fear of the unknown has stopped me from doing exactly what I knew I wanted to do. So I choose to stay informed and proceed on the be exactly where I wanna be.  I can’t wait to return.  #year5

Follow along if you’d like.  This year we have a few new additions to our Encanto house.  I’ll let Luca introduce our first set of guest.  T – 12 hours.

I woke up at seven o clock and me, mom and Tia walked to breakfast. Today I had a really special breakfast and I had bacon and ice cream!!!!! After breakfast I was thinking of something creative that I could do so I found a raft made out of wood and was filled with seaweed but I didn’t touch it and then I found a stick and I used it for like an oar and I swam out to sea. I tried to catch fish with my hands but it didn’t work out quite well. Here’s the first sad part of the day, I was trying to catch fish and I accidentally scraped my right foot on a piece of wood and I was bleeding 😔. But I was just fine and I got in the ocean 🌊. Did you know that saltwater is the best healing method for a boo-boos? Me and Kayla jumped off the dock into the water.

Here’s some videos and pictures

Then I saw fish on the shore water and I tried to catch them, but I touched 3 of the fish but I didn’t catch them. Then I saw stingrays and I petted them! Then someone else fed them but the leftovers the stingrays didn’t eat the food so I grabbed it and fed it to them again. Then me and mom took a picture in front of the The Split sign. Then I jumped off a ladder thing and it was so fun 🤩 And then me and Tia fed tarpons!

Then I ate lunch and this is the second bad part of the day, my stomach hurt and I had rice and beans and 2 legs of chicken. It was delicious but still my stomach was still hurting and I had to go to the bathroom 🚽. Mommy and Tia rented a golf cart because there is no cars on the island and I had dinner at the restaurant called Pelican Sunset and I had a hamburger and fries. I looked for fish and I saw needle fish and minnows. Then mom took us on an adventure around town on the golf cart. And then I went home to go to bed.

That’s the end.

Today I woke up at about six o clock and got ready for the biggest day on this trip. Snorkeling with sharks!! But first, we had to get there where the ocean is. We went on a fancy boat called a Catamaran and had 4 bathrooms and 4 bedrooms but they only use the bedrooms for tours but still that’s crazy! When we got there I was so excited but also a little nervous. We had to use a face mask and flippers. We saw different types of coral, barracuda, hogfish, a baby green sea turtle, jack fish, a stingray, and about 10 nurse sharks!! The captains of the boat are Carlos and Carlos Senior who made us all lunch and we had rice and beans with 1 leg of chicken. It was perfect for me and for my belly 😄. The girls said they loved everything they did today but there was 1 problem, our feet, our feet were hurting so bad that mom had to take me all the way to the boat that’s how much my feet were hurting and same as the girls. There was 4 different parts of what we got to see the fish! The main captain was sick yesterday and he had a fever so today he was feeling the same thing as yesterday so it was a sailboat so he had to use the wind. I was so tired because whenever I go in seawater, my eyes start to get really tired so I took 2 naps on the boat.

Here’s some pictures

When we got back to Caye Caulker, we had to walk to dinner it was called Happy Lobster and I had grilled shrimp and fries and I ate the whole thing. Me and mommy walked back to our house and I tried new toothpaste but it was minty but all I had to do. Then the rest of the crew came back home and me and mom went to bed.

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…And it’s definitely not reciprocated. Just wanted to put that out there. No matter how much bug spray or oils I use. It’s the mosquitoes, bees, all the flies every type of them. I’ve been thinking that maybe I should just accept it and become one with insects. What yall think?

Ants too how could I forgot those little guys. The fire ones actually covered my whole foot at one point when we were at the lake in Petén. Isn’t that so fun?!

Today I woke up at 5:30 and I got dressed in my bathing suit because we’re going caving in water. We went in the van and took a 2 and a half hours to get there. We had to walk to the cave and it was about 20 to 30 minute walk but when we got there it was spooky. It was so cool and a little bit scary because it was super dark. We had to climb up cave rocks and mom was struggling. There was also artifacts such as pottery pots and bowls that the Mayans used them for. There were also bones that came from humans. 2 of the skeleton people got hit by a person dropping a camera on and the other person got killed because someone took their heart out and died. So, we can’t bring cameras inside. Then, we climbed the rocks and we got in the freezing water but I didn’t mind but the girls did. When we got out of the cave, we walked back and it was raining so it was very muddy. All of us were so hungry but luckily there was a little lunch service and we had rice with chicken and everyone devoured it.

Here’s a picture before we went inside and some that mommy got from online

I finally got 700 days of Duolingo and 30 more days and it’s going to be 2 years of Duolingo! I also started over with about 200 to 300 days so I was so disappointed but with a lot of work and studying, I got it back.

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We just turned the corner and went from cobblestone roads to a smooth, paved highway.  There’s something so symbolic about those cobblestones for me.  You know you’ve arrived in Antigua when the cobblestone roads start, but sadly, you also know when you’ve crossed over back into reality.  I don’t think I’ve ever once in the 4 years I’ve been coming been ready to leave Antigua. We have quite a bit of adventure ahead of us still,  and while I am excited to watch everyone experience all that’s to come, but I would have loved another week in our house.  Hopefully, we will be back soon in some combination of people.  I’ve left half my wardrobe at the house, so I sure hope I’ll be back. Hasta la proxima vez “Encanto”

In an Uber today, with way to many of us crammed into the back seat so I went to “roll down the window” to let some air in.  Kayla quickly yelled out “wait let me do it” and it was in that very moment that I realized she’s never used a mechanical window in a car before.  Oh, how that shift in life is hard… when a whole generation of children have no idea what things are because they have simply never existed for them. Makes me now understand why nostalgia and longing for simpler times are so real for older people. Antigua represents simpliar times for me and i am grateful for the pause. It also makes me realize that regardless of progress, this will happen for every generation to come. 

We’re leavingggg nooooo, no but for real I’m so so so excited for this week we’re traveling almost everyday to do these cool excursions and go like snorkeling and going in caves and stuff. So I’m super duper excited

Short story time. basically our power went out again, it was yesterday, our last full day at the house. the lights in me and Kianna’s room just turned off and we were like no way not again… I go to plug in my phone just to make sure and yes it was for sure out.

Good news is they were about to leave to go to a close by coffee shop to charge all of our electronics before dark but we tried to turn like light on before they left and it turned back on thank the lordddddddd🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼

So it was only like 20/30 mins not four days this time!

Oh also I miss my brother and my dogs so so so so so so so so so much

Okay I don’t know what else to right about sooo byeeee #kaylasbloggsss

Everyone had to pack today because tomorrow we’re going to the city in Guatemala called Flores so we had to pack. Even I had to pack! We also packed a few extra things. I don’t think I have any empty notebooks in my house but luckily the girls had one so I packed 2 notebooks and an extra shirt that the girls didn’t fit in but it fit me perfectly so I packed that. And then we had to use our school bags to pack in, that’s how much things we have 😊.

That’s the end