We were woken many times overnight by the local street dogs & rooster's. I always thought roosters crowed at sunrise, the ones in this village start at 3am!
In a weird way, hearing the animals is nice & there's no denying the feelings of knowing your in a rural village.
Once we officially woke up & left our rooms it was 7am & time for coffee with the family. Pedro told us the coffee is local & organic. He was very proud of this fact & said a few other things in Spanish, which make us believe they grew the coffee. They also grow corn, tomatoes, bananas, carrots, potato's & there's a big tree growing near their house that I'm sure would supply the local people with their avocados. It was full of fruit when we saw it!
Like dinner last night, the coffee was fresh & tasted amazing. You can actually taste the difference eating fresh, local & organic food.
Though I'm pretty sure the term 'organic' is western & a big deal to us as another side effect of mass farming & needing pesticides. In places like this, the people are very much in harmony with nature & only grow what they need & what they can sell.
- Alli
In a weird way, hearing the animals is nice & there's no denying the feelings of knowing your in a rural village.
Once we officially woke up & left our rooms it was 7am & time for coffee with the family. Pedro told us the coffee is local & organic. He was very proud of this fact & said a few other things in Spanish, which make us believe they grew the coffee. They also grow corn, tomatoes, bananas, carrots, potato's & there's a big tree growing near their house that I'm sure would supply the local people with their avocados. It was full of fruit when we saw it!
Like dinner last night, the coffee was fresh & tasted amazing. You can actually taste the difference eating fresh, local & organic food.
Though I'm pretty sure the term 'organic' is western & a big deal to us as another side effect of mass farming & needing pesticides. In places like this, the people are very much in harmony with nature & only grow what they need & what they can sell.
Saying goodbye to Pedro, Lourdes, Catalina & her pet turtle was actually very heart wrenching. The family was so genuine with their affection & grateful that we came. We tipped them 100 quetzal & Pedro looked like he would cry.
Marisol was taking advantage of a Saturday morning sleep in, so we missed saying goodbye to her. I've got their postal address to send them photos & a letter. We have also promised to visit, if we come back to Guatemala, which I'm very sure we will!
I love the village & tight knit community of San Juan. I could easily live here & be very happy with a more simpler & prosperous life.
I love the village & tight knit community of San Juan. I could easily live here & be very happy with a more simpler & prosperous life.
We all boarded the water taxi & headed back to Panajachel & the bus which would drive us all the way back to Antigua. It was a very solemn journey home, a lot of us just realised that today would be our last bus ride together, our last day together & tonight would be our last night together.
This group of people has been amazing & it will be very sad to leave Antigua without them.
Once back at Antigua, we all hang out in the common areas playing beer pong & pool. By 6.30pm everyone is ready for our final dinner. The lads look very nice in button up shirts & some of the girls are wearing dresses & even make up.
Suzie has booked us dinner at a secret, invite only, private restaurant. She's only taken 2 other groups here & we feel very special.
The food is amazing, drinks are flowing & as the goodbye speeches start, so do the tears.
Quite a few people were crying & everyone felt touched by the magnitude of our friendship & the deep bonds that were very quickly established while exploring this beautiful region.
Tom got up & did a speech on behalf of everyone thanking Suzie for her brilliant work as a guide. You can really tell that this is her passion, not just her job!
The food is amazing, drinks are flowing & as the goodbye speeches start, so do the tears.
Quite a few people were crying & everyone felt touched by the magnitude of our friendship & the deep bonds that were very quickly established while exploring this beautiful region.
Tom got up & did a speech on behalf of everyone thanking Suzie for her brilliant work as a guide. You can really tell that this is her passion, not just her job!
Following dinner, we all went to the local Irish pub to watch the Connor McGregor fight. This was the start of a very big & very rowdy night. It was one of the biggest nights out & even involved a heap of us getting into a Ute & going 30 minutes outside of Antigua to a private rave party inside a giant empty swimming pool. We're going to miss these amazing people an unbelievable amount!
- Alli
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