Final week in Guate. No waterfalls, just some amazing people!

After a quick trip to Utah for Justin and Jenna’s wedding, we made it back to Guatemala.  The volcanoes above the clouds let us know we were in the right place. 

We made it to Sara’s to pick up the Montero.  It was a huge relief having the Montero somewhere we knew was safe, and sure enough, when she opened the garage, it was there waiting for us.  We had some lunch, loaded up and then drove around the block to the LDS Guatemala City Temple.  Central America has five dedicated temples with one more under construction and in the next 10 days we were going to have a chance to see three of them.  (For those of you who are unfamiliar with Mormon Temple worship check out this link.) 

The Guatemala City temple was the first in Central America.  It is set on a hillside on the edge of the city and although it is quite small in comparison to other LDS temples, it is very beautiful.  We spent the afternoon there, and afterwards walked to our new favorite restaurant, Saul.  Kaytie ordered the delicious Nutella, strawberry and sweetened condensed milk crepes again.  And I was jealous again.  It was a little late to be getting on the road so Sara offered to let us stay with her for another night.  She’s the best! 

Thursday we hit the road to Panajachel.  Our friends Greg and Rachel Denning, over at Discover Share Inspire had some stuff shipped to our house in the US so we went by there place to drop of their new goodies.  When we arrived, our other friends Greg and Lucy Jensen from Mayan Running Adventure were over there hanging out.  We had a fun night of fruit smoothies and telling stories.  Even after only knowing these great families for a month or so, we love ‘em and we were sad to leave Pana.  But there are so many other places to see and new people to meet, so Friday morning we headed to Quetzaltenango/Xela.   

Greg and Rachel Denning with their 5 awesome kids!

Greg and Lucy Jensen with 3 of their 4 boys.  And their rabbits that the boys raise to sell to the local butchers.  They also make and sell their own ice cream through out the town.  Coolest. kids. ever.

There is another LDS temple in Xela.  Of all the temples I’ve been to or even seen pictures of, this one is the most beautiful.  While most temples are predominately white, the Xela temple has much more color inside with many unique works of art that represent the Mayan people and their history.  The temple is just a year old and is also built up on a hill on the edge of the city.  You can see it from pretty much anywhere in the valley, so that’s where we headed first.  Many members of the LDS Church have to travel the better part of a day to attend here, so they built a building right next to the temple where people can stay for $7 per night.  We checked in to the Temple housing, changed our clothes and then crossed the parking lot into the temple.  

The Xela Temple

The view from our room next to the temple.

While we were inside, we spoke with some members of the Temple Presidency and they invited us to a big city-wide church party.  Partying with some old folks at a church event may not sound like a ton of fun but we thought, sure what the heck, at the very least it will be free dinner.  We pulled up and the parking lot was packed.  Like triple parked, cars on the lawn, packed.  As soon as we walked in we realized it was so much more than free dinner.  There was a live band that was actually really good.  It was a full band with 4 male singers who danced in unison.  Everyone was dressed to the nines and EVERYONE was dancing.  We got a ride with a couple who were probably in their mid-60’s.  They did the rounds, introducing us to about a million people and then they hit the dance floor, where they stayed for the next 3 hours.  The floor stayed packed all night long.  There were kids, youths, married couples and all the old retirees who wake up at 5:00am to work at the temple.  And they all danced ALL.  NIGHT.  LONG.  Kaytie and I thought, “Well, when in Quetzaltenango…” and we hit the dance floor too… where we lasted about 15 minutes.  It goes to show, it’s in their blood and it’s just not in ours.

Kaytie chilled with the band after the show.

We went to Xela with the intent of finding one person in particular.  When I served as a missionary in Houston, I met and became very close with Salvador and Patricia Ascensio.  They are some of my greatest friends from my time as a missionary and just before leaving on this little adventure, Patricia gave me the name and address of her brother, Jaime Sanchez.  I figured with such a cool sister, he couldn’t be half bad so while at the dance we asked around if anyone knew Jaime Sanchez.  Turns out everyone knows Jaime Sanchez and they found him out on the dance floor of course.  We couldn’t really chat much because the music was way too loud (or am I too old?) but we did promise to talk afterwards.  Later on in the evening, Kaytie and I were sitting down watching the fun when Jaime and his wife, Ingrid, came up to ask us to dance.  Kaytie had a great time and kept going on and on about how much fun it was to dance with someone who could lead… Whatever that means.  Ingrid and I had fun too.  Around midnight the band called it quits so some brave church-goers hopped up on stage and started an impromptu performance.  I’m not sure how long that went on, as the retiree couple that gave us a ride finally took mercy on the tired gringos and decided to call it an early night.

Saturday we spent shopping and getting ready for the next leg of our journey.  Greg Denning scared me about not being able to find 1lb propane tanks for our Coleman stove so that was the first order of business.  We did finally track some down and while I bought out the entire supply Kaytie was tasked with sitting in the car and waiting for the owner of a sweet Land Cruiser to come out.  He was a very interesting guy who came to Guatemala to help some of the remote villages with education.  His trip to Xela is less than 100 miles, takes about 8 hours and it includes some windshield high river crossings.  I thought we were hardcore.  (No I didn’t.  I know we’re not hardcore.)

The first serious overlander we've come across so far.

That night we called Jaime Sanchez to ask his advice about staying in a park that is set up on Baul hill above the town.  It seemed like a quiet place but we had a bit of an uneasy feeling about it.  He said it was probably not a safe place to stay so he suggested we come down to his home and park our car out front.  When we arrived he introduced us to his kids and invited us inside.  After a little while we decided we better hit the sack and got up to go out to the Montero.  That’s when the battle ensued.  Under no circumstances would they let us sleep in our car.  They said they made their bed up for us and they would sleep in their boy’s room.  We were honored and grateful but we just couldn’t kick them out of their bed when there was a perfectly good Ikea Scvojskjfukentod mattress in the back of the Montero.  It became clear that there was no way to win.  They would not relent.  They went so far as to send their boys to Ingrid’s sister’s house for the night.  We gave in and had a great night’s sleep.

It was hard to give up this view but we ended up going the safe and comfortable way this time.  We're glad we did because we got to know the Sanchez fam that much more!

Jaime and Ingrid Sanchez and the boys.  This is outside the Sherman Williams paint store that Jaime owns.  

Sunday we accompanied Jaime on a trip to Chinique.  He had some church meetings and offered to show us around some of the more remote towns and villages along the way.  The scenery was amazing… probably.  After spending countless hours driving through Guatemala on the worst roads imaginable, there was no way I could prepare myself for the challenge it was to ride in the back seat for this little trip.  Jaime drove like a maniac like I do, so I lasted all of 30 minutes before I wanted to hurl.  For me the trip was spent with my eyes straight ahead.  If I looked in either direction or even down to pick up a bottle of water, I risked forever spoiling a new Toyota Hilux.  The whole experience gave me sympathy for Kaytie.  Maybe I’ll drive a little more passenger-friendly from here on out.

The church meetings were great, although the cute kids were a little distracting.  Afterwards Kaytie and I sat on a bench outside and a group of girls kept giggling and pushing one another towards us.  Due to the fact that we were in a fairly remote village, I figured I knew what all the fuss was about when I asked them if they had ever seen hair like Kaytie’s before.  A few of them shook their heads, moved closer and even started to touch it and run their fingers through it.  After a little while, the older girl braided it, Guatemalan-style.  The boys wanted to get in on the fun as well, so we taught them a little game called Pato, Pato Ganso (That’s duck, duck, goose for our American friends.)

All in all, we had an amazing last week in Guatemala.  We didn’t jump off any waterfalls this week but we met some incredible people and made some memories that we will cherish forever.

Next up: Some beach time in El Zonte, El Salvador.