El viaje con mi familia

Yikes!  I cannot believe that one week from today I will be entering Mount St. Mary Seminary, never mind that my Guatemalan adventure (at least Part I...) is almost over!  And yet, I feel like I haven´t even gotten to tell half the story yet!  ¡Qué lástima!

Well, let me share a bit about the weekend right now.  My host family offered to take me to several local notable churches on Sunday, and I gladly accepted!  So for about three hours on Sunday, papá Hugo, hermano Carlos, hermana Anna, and I spent some time in various locales in-and-around Xela.

Our first stop was the parish of St. Bartholomeo inside Xela.  This church is located in the neighborhood where Hugo grew up.  We didn´t get to peak inside the church (it was closed), but I got a pretty good shot from the outside.

Attached to the church is a children´s hospital, where about 70 children with special needs live and are cared for.  It is a very impressive, modern facility.  I didn´t take any pictures, for privacy reasons, but it was such a warm and loving environment, that it was very impressive.  It is run by a group of nuns, who were incredibly warm and hospitable.  Additionally, there were many volunteers there, at the time, helping the kids eat their lunch.  This is obviously a community-wide effort, and something of which Xela can be very proud.

Although we didn´t go inside the parish, we did visit the chapel that is attached to the hospital.  It is quite magnificent as well.

Here is a picture of the family with a gift from Hugo´s family.  The icon was part of Hugo´s household for fifty years, before they generously offered it to the hospital for the chapel.  (Don´t let their faces fool you.. these guys are *always* laughing!)

Behind the hospital and chapel is perhaps the most beautiful place I have seen in Xela, a peaceful garden with the Stations of the Cross and a replica of the Grotto at Lourdes.  It is very new (about a year old), but it is open to the public at various times and is very peaceful.

Around the back of the Grotto is a replica of the tomb of Jesus.  Muy impresionante.

Bidding adieu to San Bartolomeo (whoops, wrong language!), we then headed to the nearby town of Salcajá, where we took a peek at La Ermita, which is the oldest church in Central America (which makes me wonder if there are actually any older churches in all of the Americas.. certainly there cannot be any on the continent, right?).  Wikipedia dates it at 1524.  It is closed right now for renovation, apparently, but it still looked pretty awesome from a fuera.

From the ancient to the modern... our next and final stop was to a local seminary and retreat center.  Run by the Benedictines, this seminary was atop a pretty steep hill/mountain.  Seems like they always put these types of things up high!

The seminary may be above the city, but it is not above the mountains!

And this shot is superfluous, but I love how the clouds appear both above the mountains, as well as below (the dark part in the middle is part of the mountains).

When we returned to the house, the family invited me to dine on Chinese food with them.  Being Sunday, we are supposed to eat out at local restaurants, as to give our host families a break from cooking.  But they generously offered to share yet another meal with me.  I am very blessed to have been housed with these guys!  (Patricia is seated next to Carlos.. the other woman is Patricia´s sister.)

What a great last weekend to share in Guatemala!

Just a few more quick thoughts.. since I'm running out of time.

First of all, I haven´t captured his likeness well, but does these images remind anyone in D.C. of anybody in particular?

His name is Josué, and he is the travel coordinator for CELAS Maya, as well as being a teacher.  And from the side, especially when he is smiling or intent on his computer, he is the spitting image of Vic.  He even sounds like him a bit.  Uncanny.  Oh, and he probably thinks that I´m stalking him, because I keep trying to get a photo of him when he looks like Vic!

And with regard to the dreaming thing.. I´m telling you, it´s crazy here.  And it´s not just me.. the other day I overheard another girl talking to a friend on Skype at the internet cafe about her dreams, that they were much more vivid and crazy than normal.  Not to bore you with tons more details, but here´s just another couple of examples.

• My family and the Straubs were re-roofing the house of E.J. and Betty (from St. Anthony´s).. it started to rain, and there was a leak.. when Gil got home (by this point, E.J. and Betty must have sold the house to Gil and Regina, because it was now theirs!) and saw the leak, he climbed up to the roof and found that someone has shingled over one of Grandma Ahern´s cups.. we all blamed Tori, although Mom admitted it might have been her.
• Adam and I decided to meet up for lunch.. five other people wanted to come with us, including Jamal, Mike Ferry, and my childhood classmate Matt King.. the restaurant that we wanted to go to had two entrances.. we chose to use the one located in Ethiopia.. we got in our go-carts to drive to Ethiopia.. when we got to the restaurant, they wouldn´t let us in yet.. it was 11:30 and the Price is Right was on, and they didn´t want to seat us, just in case any of us would be called to "come on down and be the next contestant on The Price is Right".  (Jon, I can only imagine that Doug´s experience here was playing a part in my dream, but since I woke up before we got seated or called to be a contestant, I´ll never know if I won.)
• And I´m not even going to mention what that vixen Amy was doing...

Anyway, gotta book.  My time is running out, fast!