Well today was our last day in Guatemala. We’re leaving in the morning with full
hearts, changed lives, and exhausted bodies.
It has been an amazing week and an emotional rollercoaster. We’ve seen and experienced so much and have
hardly scratched the surface of unpacking it all.
Today was an outing with the seventh grade class from Safe
Passage. Every class gets one outing to
a water park outside of Guatemala City with a support team each year. All week we’ve been riding around in vans. Our drivers have been fantastic at getting us
around and keeping us safe. Today we had
different transportation – a camioneta,
or “chicken bus.” Chicken busses
(something only Westerners call them for an unknown reason) are all over
Guatemala. They are privately owned
public transportation that travel on specific routes through the city. Chicken busses are retired school busses from
the United States that are, as kids say these days, “blinged out.” They are painted in bright colors with all
sorts of flashing lights and outrageous touches. Owners of chicken busses take great pride in
them. It turns out one of our drivers
for this week, Jorge, owns a chicken bus and we took it to the water park with
the students from Safe Passage today.
Our transportation for the day. We travel in style...
We got a great view of Pacaya, the volcano we hiked yesterday, on the drive to the water park
The water park was a lot of fun. Our youth had a great time swimming and
playing with students they had developed relationships with over the week. We were all asking each other how to say
things in the others’ language and there was a lot of laughing.
We ended our evening and time in Guatemala with a fabulous
dinner to celebrate our time here. Our
team has become a family. There has been
so much love, care, compassion, and grace among. It is difficult to leave, but we are excited
to bring what we have learned and the ways we have changed back home.
Prayers are most welcome for smooth travels tomorrow. We leave Guatemala at 11:50am and get back
into Seattle at 9:50.
Thank you for following our trip here and for your prayers
throughout the week. We are overwhelmed
with the support we have received from so many people.
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