We’ve just returned from el Volcán Pacaya, and my legs already feel bruised! My horse Pícaro was well behaved on the first half of our trip, but on the second half, he unleashed his inner beast🫎 (and by that I mean he galloped to catch up with Michelle’s horse) (everyone pray for Michelle’s lower body) (pray for mine too while you’re at it). But anywayyy all the pain is worth it, as I was able to see the volcano up close and personal. Thank you to everyone who indulged me in geological talk and investigation. We were even able to see the direction of the pyroclastic flow based on the shape of the grains seen below!

After returning home we went to the artesanal market and were graced by a scene that is better to see than to describe with words:

Happy Friday everyone!

Watching the kids be creative and put on a show for us after dinner made me feel like the days of old.

When our siblings, cousins and friends would goof around, create, imagine, play, and entertain ourselves without digital aides.

A world with limited use of technology.

Another simplicity of being here that I love.

This will be a short blog but I was riding down the volcano with a horse 🐎 and I saw a leaf on the corner of my eye and I grabbed it and when I saw it, I was amazed by the look of it so I kept it for the rest of the ride and when I was done I took a picture of it on my horse 🐎.

That’s the end

This will be a short blog, but what happened was that mommy felt something shaking and felt like a little earthquake! But it wasn’t a big earthquake, it was an earthquake that was in El Salvador 🇸🇻. I hope the people are ok in that area.

That was crazy!!

That’s the end

I woke up for the big day and I had eggs for breakfast 🍳. And we walked to school with the nerves for the big day. 2 hours later… and for break, it was the presentation about fruit and I chose tomatoes 🍅.

Here’s some pictures and videos of my presentation.

I was very proud of myself by doing the presentation on my own. I ate the fruits of the presentation and I had my own personal option, the tomato salsa and Lychee fruit and that was kind of like my lunch.

3 hours later… and we’re done for today and it’s the weekend yayyyy!!!! I looked for bugs but instead I found 2 blind snakes! And the craziest thing happened, I saved a bee from drowning and it couldn’t fly so I actually put him in my box thing and I made all my bugs a habitat in my box thing. I called Granny and she answered and I tried to show her some things that I can do on the phone but she couldn’t figure it out. I also showed her how to make her see my background and she didn’t know how so I did it and she was surprised that I could do it so I did a basketball game and I won 50 to 17 and she was surprised because how much points I won by. I also told granny about a snail that Tia caught on her papaya tree and I showed it to granny and she thought it was pretty cool.

I said goodbye and I had dinner and I had fried pork and guacamole and I kind of liked it.

I went in the shower and went to bed .

That’s the end

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

Lord knows that I can’t sit still,  or sit in silence,  or hold empty space (except when doing therapy sessions). I mean, I can barely get through a TV show most days.  I am in constant motion or constantly stimulated. I can’t make it thru a red light without scrolling tiktok, or cook without the background noise of the TV.  But here in Guatemala I crave the lack of social media,  the lack of constantly being updated by the news (I mean wow Trump), and the lack of constant email and text that I feel compelled to respond to instantly because we are all now accessible 24-7. Getting a dopamine hit from other things outside of social media feels so much better, and I don’t miss it one bit.  We’ve replaced human interaction with 30-second clips of other people’s lives.  So the question is, are we holding space for people and experiences in our lives, or are we simply filling space?

Hello all!!

We’ve been in Guatemala for 4 days now and I’m finallyy ready to write a lil sum sum. I have to start by saying that this country is BEAUTIFUL and I’m so grateful to the lovely Kianna for inviting me❣️I have been loving just taking in all the new sights, sounds, smells and tastes. Let me share some through photos: