Guatemala

Continuing on from my last post, the day that my parents flew back from Texas was the day that the Smith side arrived for their Spring Break! All 9 of us stayed in our little apt with people sleeping everywhere! It was a lot of fun! The next day we went to church at our ward and then later that night we packed up and drove back to Mazatlan to stay for a few days. Tuesday, we drove back to Culiacan and then early Wednesday morning we (Justin, me, my inlaws, and our work friends, Gladyss and Eduardo) flew to Guatemala! We left Ethan with my brother and sister in- laws for 4 days and although we missed him terribly, it was really nice to have time away! We had a 4 hour lay over in Mexico City but thankfully my father-in-law has some sort of American Express deal that allowed us to stay in a posh waiting area complete with free food, movies, and internet which made our lay over very bearable.

We arrived that night in Guatemala City and ate out at a really neat outdoor Mayan restaurant. The next day, we left early for the beautiful (and very old) city of Antigua. While the boys worked at a huge agricultural conference, we did the wife thing and toured around the beautiful city. Another wife that was with us is a native and served as our tour guide. If you are into old architecture, this is the place to go! A lot of the buildings date back to the 1500's and are so incredibly beautiful!

Here we are in front of the cathedral (in the distant background). This city was even more beautified with gardens full of flowers of every kind, buildings with cascading green vines and Buganvilia everywhere! My mother in law and I were in picture taking heaven!

Here is a famous arch with a yellow church in the background and a little glimpse of one of the 4 or 5 volcanoes that surround this city

This was in the main cathedral and the rug you see on the floor is actually not a rug at all. They make this for what they call here Semana Santa or Holy Week (the week of Easter). They have a procession that goes all around the town where people are carrying statues of the Savior (mostly depicting his suffering) and they will eventually end the procession here in front of this piece of art. The "rug" you see is actually very fine wood shavings (almost like sand) that have been colored and placed together to make beautiful designs. Quite the talent, I think.

This is a huge kite that the Guatemalans fly on Dia de los Muertos (or Day of the Dead). They believe that with the kites in the sky, it brings them closer to the dead and serves as some sort of communication tool. Interesting.

The next day the whole group of us (boys included) drove to Lake Atitlan. This is what we were suppose to see..

But instead, we unfortunately caught this beautiful lake on a cloudy day...
Nevertheless, it was still a beautiful sight to see. It is surrounded by 3 huge volcanoes and the water is crystal clear with a beautiful shade of blue. Some of you might find interesting that this lake is where some speculate is the location of the Waters of Mormon from the Book of Mormon. One things is for sure is that we could definitely see how this lake could have been isolated back then :)


I'm guessing that it was shopping day in the little city near Lake Atitlan. There were SO many people crammed into their main street which was chuck full of little stands selling their goods.

The boy's were working at an agricultural conference located in this amazing hotel! It's called Hotel Santo Domingo and is actually built around an old monastery from the 1500s. There are ruins everywhere and even a crypt where you can see old bones.

The gardens were phenomenal and I loved this beautiful, original fountain seen in this picture...

Want to stay here? Dont worry, it only costs anywhere from $250 to $1000 dollars a night. And no, that is not in quetzal. Pocket change, right? Want to get married here or have any other event? Yeah, it's only about $80,000.... But don't worry, it's free to go around and explore the grounds so if you ever get the chance to go to Guatemala, mark it on your list of things to do.

In the same hotel, they had models that acted as statues portraying the Guatemalan people in everyday life. Here we have a lady making a piece of one of their very colorful and bright fabrics. There are multiple uses for these types of fabric. A side note about the Guatemalans, I absolutely loved seeing and speaking with these people. I loved how almost every native we saw was still wearing the traditional Guatemalan clothing. I also loved hearing them talk. They sing their words and I think it makes Spanish sound more beautiful than it already is when it's spoken in that way.

Im not sure what type of flowers these are but they are beautiful and I want something like this in my own yard someday.....

We ate out at the restaurant in this amazing hotel and were lucky enough to get to sit by the fire. It is actually cold at this time of year up in the mountains of Guatemala, so we were glad to get warm.

We had an absolutely amazing time in Guatemala and definitely have hopes of returning there again someday. We arrived home to a very clean house and a little boy who was very excited to see his mommy and daddy again. Thanks bro/sis in laws for taking care of our little boy so we could get away for a few days!

I sure do love our little family and am so grateful for my husband and the wonderful job that he has that has allowed us to travel all over the world! Thank you BioHumaNetics for taking good care of us!