Friday 9/11/09
Since there was no school today, I had to take all four kids with me to the market. It was pure chaos. It is hard enough to take the kids normally but when the market is packed, it is even harder to get around! The kids were great sports though and we got everything that we needed. We even found a guy selling macadamia nuts out of a wheelbarrow. They were pretty expensive....for the market, but they were sooo good!! We then ventured to the grocery store to eat lunch with Dad at Subway. The mall food court has all of our American staples.....Burger King, Subway, Dominoes, and Taco Bell. The workers at Subway probably know us by name by now!
When we got home, the kids got to watch a couple movies. It is amazing to me how much better they get along when they are glued to the t.v. and not fighting with each other!! Maybe there is a good side to t.v.!!
Saturday 9/12/09
This morning I got to talk to my sister and her family. I talked to my other sister the other day also. It is really making me excited for our trip to the states!! We are still trying to get approval from Chris' work for his time off so that we can get our tickets. We have so much that we need/want to do! It's fun trying to schedule doctors appointments and dentist appointments over the internet! Luckily I have a great sister in law in Vegas that took care of a lot of it for me!!
We spent the afternoon taking care of errands in town and trying to find the different celebrations. We pretty much ended up driving around aimlessly but it's fun to see things.
Tonight Cole finally broke down and let me cut his hair. It was the first time in about 6 months!! It took forever and I still didn't do a very good job. Now we just need to get Chris to cut his!!
Laina has become quite the ham. She thinks she is hilarious and loves to get reactions from people. Her latest comment was when she was talking to Dad and he did something. She looked at him and said, "Hey, you little missy!" Then today in the car the kids were arguing about how to pronounce the word "church". Morgan and Cole were pretty much teasing Alysa about saying it differently. They finally got to the point where they said, "Laina how do you say church". Her argument ending reply was, "Iglesia". (Spanish for church).
Sunday 9/13/09
Today was a decent day at church. The primary was supposed to sing a song that they have never practiced with me and I wasn't even sure if I was supposed to play or not. I was very happy when the obispo (bishop) told me that they weren't ready and if I could pick a different song.
I was asked to say the prayer again in Relief Society and also asked to read something but I didn't have the right books out. I was also asked by a sister missionary if I could help her start an English class for the ward. I told her that I would help but that I will be leaving in about 6 weeks and will be gone for two months.
Since Tuesday is the official holiday, there is no choir. Unfortunately, there is ward conference in two weeks and the choir has to sing 4 songs that they haven't practiced at all!! They decided to have a practice tonight instead. The choir director told me 4:00, the music coordinator told me 4:30, and somebody finally showed up with keys at 5:00!! The music coordinator said that her and I need to have a set of keys so we're not always waiting around for somebody to open the building!! We had a pretty decent practice and I finally got home about 6:45!
Oh, a little late, but last Saturday somebody tried to break into the temple site. The security guard fired 9 shots.....not to hit the people but to try to get the attention of the police because he didn't have a phone to call for backup!
Monday 9/14/09
Today was definitely an "experience". We decided to go on a quick trip to find a sacred lake. We were told it takes about an hour to drive there and 1/2 hour to hike in. Wishful thinking!!
We left the house about 8:30 with directions to go to San Martin/Chile Verde and look for the big sign. Unfortunately these places aren't on any of our maps and the signs are horrible!! We did several turn arounds trying to find the right road. We finally got going in the right direction only to be sent to the side of the road because a parade was coming through!! Slight change of plans. We opened the sunroof and Laina, Cole, and I popped out the top to watch the parade and take pictures. The attention of the parade was diverted a little when people started seeing the blonde/redheaded gringos!
(On top of the van)
Chris was sitting in the van laughing at everybody watching us. The parade went on forever with kids from all the outlying village schools, all the bands, the baton twirlers, etc. All of the groups were showing the national symbols including the tree, quetzal, marimba, etc.
(They start these girls early!! This girl couldn't have been more than 3 years old!)
(This little girl was probably 1 years old.)
Chris asked this lady if we could take a picture with her little girls. She was very nice and the girls loved when I showed them the picture on the camera!
The kids were pretty excited that we got sent to the side of the road right next to an ice cream place. The parade got a little warm so we let them each get an ice cream.
Once the parade was over, we headed down the road. We almost made it but got stopped by another parade. This one wasn't as big and we were able to drive around part of it. With only a couple more turn arounds, we found the sign to turn off for the lake. Ah, let the adventure begin! We followed the road, turned the wrong way, turned around again but were told that it was a one way road and to go back to the original road. The original road turned into a horrible road that we didn't have nearly enough clearance for. After a few big scrapes on the bottom, we opted to stop and go back. A couple of nice ladies came out and told Chris that the "one way" road was the correct road to go on to the lake. Chris backed out with a few more scrapes and me trying to direct the way with a bunch of cows mooing at me. So, back to the real road and guess what...yup, another parade!! This one just happened to be on a huge hill made of two strips of road to drive on. Chris has new faith in the Honda Odyssey!! We made it up the hill and continued past the parade. We were told to drive to the park entrance where we could park the van and walk. Once again, wishful thinking!! We got to a point where there were two full size vans parked on the side of the road right before the road went straight up and looked pretty scary. We continued part way up before we started slipping and decided it wasn't worth it. Chris put it in reverse and slowly started back down the curving road. The brakes locked up though and we started going faster and faster with drop offs on both sides and two big vans blocking part of the road. That was a definite instance where we were praying really hard. I thought for sure we were going to go off the side of the mountain. We were watched over and Chris was able to safely maneuver the van backwards while putting on the emergency brake. We finally came to a stop next to one of the vans. I was shaking pretty bad! At that point we parked by the vans and checked to make sure everything was still o.k. on the van. (Background: Last night while watching Swiss Family Robinson, there was a scene where the family was able to get from their crashed ship to an island and the first thing the family did was say a prayer of thanks. That was my first thought when we finally got stopped. We were definitely watched over and we are extremely grateful for the Lord's hand in our lives!!)
So once we got our heart rates back to normal, we began the 1/2 hour hike to Chicabal Lake. It is actually a lake that formed in the top of a volcano. It is a sacred lake where the Mayans do a lot of ceremonies. You are not allowed to go in the water and you are supposed to be quiet here.
I have always thought that we were a relatively fit family. Reality set in about 3 minutes into the hike where we thought we were going to have our lungs explode. What were we thinking??? We hadn't even gotten to the park entrance, we had no idea how much further it was and we were huffing and puffing like the big bad wolf. We hiked for what seemed like forever going straight up. (Remember that we live at about 8000 ft above sea level and that was before we even started the drive up!!) A while later we heard a car coming so we moved to the side of the road. A couple of guys stopped and asked us if we'd like a ride in the back of their truck to the park entrance. The driver had lived in Michigan for 6 years and spoke some English. Cole was ecstatic that he finally got to ride in the back of a little Toyota! He wasn't too happy when I made him sit all the way down though. If the guy hadn't picked us up, I have a feeling that we would have turned around and gone back.
Once we got to the park entrance, we paid our fee and were told that it is about a 45 minute hike. (without kids!) Each person that we saw along the way added another 15 minutes until we had people telling us it as two hours!! I think we even surpassed that time frame!
(The park entrance)
The hike was beautiful. Chris carried the backpack and Laina half the time. Everybody was whining by the time we left the park entrance. I felt like a horrible mom for dragging my kids out on this adventure! People were passing us going the opposite direction. Everybody that we saw were the Mayans and most of them were speaking a different language. The women were all dressed in their traditional dress including sandals and high heels!! Some kids didn't have any shoes at all! Chris was so embarassed because we were being mocked by little old ladies running down the hill in their high heels and we could barely make it up.
(Let the real fun begin!)
(One of many breaks)
We had to stop about every 5 minutes for a break. I think it might have been a good thing that we had the kids so we could blame having to take breaks on them!! We had one bathroom break and Alysa peed in the woods for the first time!! I was so proud of her. She has refused to do that up until now! Not knowing how much further it was, was pretty tough. Every once in a while there was a sign that would show how many more kilometers it was but it didn't seem to be going down very fast. The terrain was up then down then up and up and up then down, down, down. It was crazy. I kept telling the kids that I felt like Dora the Explorer in the rain forest!
We finally made it to the lake sometime around 2:00 (I think....I lost track of time!). The lake was really pretty. We were there for about two minutes before the fog blew in and we couldn't see anything! We had a little picnic time to sit and relax before the rain started and we had to head back. The scenery was gorgeous though and I can't wait to take our visitors there..... without my kids!!
Here is a youtube link to a video that another person took of the lake.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8KmZ88Ngnk
(Lake Chicabal)
(The fog/clouds starting to roll in)
(Laina collecting flowers)
(Cole-always looking for a tree to climb)
(My most prized photo...without the kids)
(Up in the clouds)
(Break time for Daddy and the girls)
(The trees through the clouds)
(Who started bunny ears anyway?)
(Mom and Alysa)
The hike back was a little easier since most of it was downhill. We had to go slower with the kids so they wouldn't slide down but we didn't have to take so many breaks. All the Mayan guys were racing down the hills. I don't know how these people do this!! Everybody was beyond tired at this point and we had to use distractions to keep Laina going. She had to find as many different colors of flowers along the way. She started a leaf collection also that she wants to send to her Grandma Hunsaker!
(Yes, we were in the jungle!! Too bad I didn't have an ipod with Jungle Boogie on it!! We did play it when we got home and looked at the pictures though! Instead we got to listen to all of the birds singing.)
After a break at the park entrance, we got enough energy to walk back to the car. (Our friend with the truck had already left! ): ) The rain subsided so we didn't get too drenched. We were so worried that something would be wrong with the van when we got there!
We successfully made it back to the van. The van was safe and we all survived. It was definitely something that we'll remember for a while. Cole is pretty excited and hopes that he can sign off some scout stuff!
On the drive home (we only got stopped by one more parade!!) Chris asked me if that was enough adventure for me. I think that was enough.....at least for one day! What should we do tomorrow?....if we can roll out of bed that is!!
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