Trip 2 Day 3

Let the adventure begin!

With the first few days of working on the houses complete, the weekend is here finally here, which meant a time for adventure and exploration! At the worksite on Friday, we learned of a place nearby Antigua where we could zipline and ride horses.

This morning after a good breakfast of cereal and milk five of us decided to set out at 9 to journey to the central square where we were told to meet the truck to take us to the location where the activities took place. Upon making it to the square we searched for the truck and with no luck, decided to use the language skills of our fluent group member, Ruby, to ask a local what and where we were to look for a our mode of transportation to the place where our adventure lay. As it turns out our journey to ziplining and horseback riding would not occur unless we used the mode of transportation God gave us to get there, our feet, since the truck stopped arriving at the central square a while back.

So the troupers we are decided to hit the pebbled streets of Antigua by foot to get to our destination. Following the directions of many random Guatemalans and police along the way using Ruby’s language skills, we managed to get an over amount of exercise by walking to the edge of the city and taking many left, straight, and right turns over and over again to arrive an hour and a half later after stopping at a local market at San Felipe Finca Filadelfia Hotel.

As the excitement of finally arriving setting in at the entrance gate, we rode to the information desk to collect our reward for our travels and another adventure not involving our feet and walking to begin. In our native language we learned of the activities we could fill our time with we decided as a group to enjoy a tour of the growing and processing of Guatemala’s finest export, coffee.

In a mere two hours the five of us became coffee experts, discussing the information we learned about the favored morning beverage over a free cup of the finest joe to end the tour. On a coffee high and the enjoyment of getting to rest our legs on the trip back with a ride in a Mercedes safari looking 12 seater, we headed back home to see what the rest of the crew had been up during the day.

Embracing the idea of a weekend, the rest of the group slept in and upon waking up made a gourmet breakfast followed by some early shopping. Lunch consisted of some delicious bagels at a restaurant on the square, then back to bargaining and bartering with the local vendors on the street, market, and where ever else the local Guatemalans could sell and bombard “non-natives” with their handmade goods.

After a full day of walking, bartering, and shopping, we all managed to come together to make and eat a delicious homemade meal of rice, chicken, guacamole, and fresh pineapple. With a great day of adventure complete, the day was finished with a movie and preparation for the fun filled Sunday to come.

-Laura Banik