Day 1 WE ARE HERE

Day 1: We’re here!
When the plane stopped we waited patiently to get off. It turned out, the door was broken to get out the front, so we exited President/private jet style! We walk toward the back of the plane, the door opens and the beautiful Guatemalan breeze consumes me. We walked down the stairs (as you will see in the picture) and into a gorgeous airport! That put O.I.A. to shame! It was of a modern architectural design worth billions… but with no air conditioning! You see, as I quickly found out, there is little to no need for air conditioning. It’s only sort of hot a few hours in the afternoon but after that…paradise. So, we meet our translator, Mario, and his chicken bus driver, Giovanni. It was a school bus from Virginia, U.S. tricked out Hippie style! She was named, ¡Super Niña!
The bus ride took 5 hours up and through the never ending mountains. It was bumpy. It was windy. It was… beautiful! Lush green mountain sides all around us (I quickly came to realize there are three things Guatemala doesn’t have: snow, ducks, and Chik-fil-a. SAD DAY! But they sure do love Burger King and Chuckie Cheese’s!). As we got higher up, the roads sort of died out. Eventually we were riding down a dirt road and could see nothing but dust in front of us. There were no rules of the road and I’m surprised we stayed on the right side of the road… most of the time. The chicken buses had a cute way of communicating on the road; however. As they passed us (fast and the furious Guatemala Drift) one honk meant “Hey!” And two meant “See ya later.” So that was cool, seeing multicolored tricked out buses zooming by. During my journey up and down the mountains, I quickly realized the depth of this poverty level. We passed by shacks with no roofs, run down, and looking completely abandoned in the middle of nowhere and I see a woman and her child peek out from behind the monstrosity. Men were standing in the middle of dust storms trying to get a ride to civilization an hour away. Children were digging in dried out sewers to find food. And no one stopped to help. This is their way of living. There is no one telling them it’s wrong. The government is so corrupt it wants to push the oppressed even lower so they can make a profit.
The further we drove, we saw spurts of civilization or families migrating to places where the soil is less steep and fertile. The physical features of the natives changed with location. Then, out of nowhere, a beautiful city emerges in the valley between mountains. Street and house lights are on and fireworks went off over the beautiful lake Atítlan. That is where we are staying for tonight. The streets are so narrow here and people walk, ride their cars, bikes, mopeds as they please. The hotel we are staying in is gorgeous! It is way more than I expected. Pool, hot tub, limited internet access at given times, spacious rooms (we each get a full size bed to ourselves) with a kitchenette and a little living area. Me, Leah and Amy are in one room. We love it! Vance (Pastor) says this is the nicest place we see all week…oh boy!
We went to dinner after we arrived where they served us vegetable soup, rice, beans, scrambled eggs, fried plantains, mild cheese, grilled chicken, bread, pudding and a very interesting rice-milk concoction. We got to walk around the city and get haggled by 4 year olds named John that will do anything to get you to buy his hair barrettes. Oh man haha! Later on we gathered on the roof to spend some alone time with our Creator and worship Him. Man, I wish I could BEGIN to describe the stars out here. It makes me cry merely thinking about it. God breathed something so enormously unique and yet he cares for us more. It blows my mind.
Well, we have a long day of rest tomorrow and I’m really excited! We’re headed to Chichicastenango to shop and worship with the natives!! It’s kind of hard to fall asleep, though, because there are more stray dogs than rats here howling and barking at all hours. That’s the second disheartening thing about this place. Owners can’t feed or neuter their dogs so they turn them loose and the next thing you know, we have an epidemic. It’s sad. But, I see how our Savior protects each and every one of his people. He loves them so dearly, and it’s time we do the same. I can’t wait for tomorrow!
Dear Lord,
Thank you for your dedication to those people. We know your hands are at work in every single life out there. Please bring us and your natives together tomorrow safely to worship our magnificent king. Your wonders are endless. Let us all learn from each other and help us grow in our faith. I love you. In Jesus’ name: Amen.
<3 Sabie Q.
¡Hasta Mañana!