Meeting our Compassion Child in Guatemala

July 31st, 2017

meeting-our-compassion-child-in-guatemala

The highlight of our trip to me was visiting our Compassion child in Guatemala. That’s saying a lot, because the nostalgia of seeing all the places where I grew up was wonderful and healing to my soul. The entire trip helped me to remember who I am, and that God has been good to me.

compassion-child-sister

We traveled from Cobán to Salamá, where our Compassion child lives with her sister, her mother, and her blind grandmother. They all live together in one small cinder block house, as you can see in the video:

We stuffed everyone into our van and went up a steep mountain. The dirt road was full of rocks and potholes. I was glad it wasn’t raining, as the van would have gotten stuck in the mud. When we arrived at the top of the mountain, we looked out over the city of Salamá. It was truly beautiful!

Salama-Guatemala

We visited the school where the Compassion child gets Christian instruction. It was fun to see the other children waving at our camera. You can see the poverty of that area even in the school.

compassion-school

Our Compassion child’s favorite food is fried chicken, so we went to Pollo Campero, as you can see in the video. This is a famous Guatemalan fast food place, and one of my favorite places to eat!

compassion-van

We also went to a nearby town so that we could take a ride on a tuc-tuc. I filmed the ride around San Juan, and the child with her sister were thrilled!

tuc-tuc

We gave the Compassion child a backpack full of goodies: a Spanish Bible, a dress, a basketball, a journal, some stickers, a bookmark, a sketch book, a hair brush, a toothbrush, hair clips, etc. Her mother was truly grateful and choked up with tears.

compassion-child-gifts

I had plenty of time to get to know the mother of the child, and I love her so much! She is a Christian who believes in answered prayer.

If you would like to support a child and make a difference in someone’s life, I highly recommend Compassion International.

Don’t miss any posts in my Guatemala Adventure series! Follow my Missionary Kid page to see more videos and pictures from my recent trip!

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Coffee Plantation Zipline Tour, Guatemala

July 27th, 2017

coffee-plantation-zipline-tour

Yes, you heard that right–my family went on a Coffee Plantation Zipline Tour in Guatemala! I had been wanting to go on a coffee plantation tour, and I had no idea that someone had thought to add a fun zipline to take in the natural beauty of the plantation itself! There were at least four ziplines that my entire family enjoyed. The final one took the passengers over a lagoon!

We found this tour when we googled activities in the Cobán area, since we had canceled our trip to Huehuetenango, and we didn’t know the sights of the area. This place is called Coffee Tour Chicoj, and it is found 10 minutes away from Cobán.

coffee-berry

Video of our Coffee Plantation Zipline Tour!

The coffee tour started with a guide who explained how coffee arrived in Guatemala and how it was grown from seed in the plantation. When seeds are grown, they get transplanted, as you can see in the video. Each stage has a special name in the process:

Yes, my husband actually filmed zipping along a couple of the ziplines! Ha! He could have easily dropped the video camera, but we decided to take the chance to film it, and I’m glad we did, because now we can relive the ride itself and give others a flavor for how beautiful it was!

zipline-through-coffee-field

As I zipped through the air over the coffee trees and tropical foliage, I felt the gentle breeze of the ride against my face. For me, ziplining is one of the most relaxing activities in nature, reminding me of when I was a child and flew as high as I could through the air on swings. I have always loved feeling like a bird, and this zipline tour was no exception.

zipline-coffee

A couple of my kids were a bit nervous about the first zipline, but when they realized that they were secure and didn’t need to hold up their weight but just enjoy the ride like a swing, they looked forward to the next ziplines. All of my kids loved it, even my daughter.

Guatemala-zipline-for-kids

The natural beauty of the area is typical of Guatemala, which is why I consider the country to be one of the most gorgeous countries of the world.

coffee-plantation-guatemala

After the zipline tour, we got to see the factory where they process the coffee. Only the best first-class coffee gets produced and shipped to the United States, while the coffee that isn’t good enough gets dried and put back into the soil. The tour guide told us that what they consider garbage is what is used for instant coffee.

coffee-tour

At the end of the tour we sat down, and they gave each of us the best cup of coffee I have ever had in my life! It was definitely the freshest cup I’ve ever had!

I highly recommend this Coffee Plantation Zipline Tour to anyone who is visiting Guatemala and is in the Cobán area. Stay tuned for out next installment of our Guatemala Adventure series, and like our MK page to not miss any posts!

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Tour of Cobán, Guatemala

July 24th, 2017

tour-of-coban-guatemala

My family went on a tour of Cobán, Guatemala by complete coincidence, since our original plan was to go to the location of my boarding school in Huehuetenango. There were mud slides blocking the roads, making the way dangerous, so we decided not to go to Huehue. Good thing, because the next day, there was a large earthquake there that killed at least a dozen people.

coban-market

On the way to our alternate destination of Cobán, we drove on a street that suddenly ended. If we had kept driving, we would have fallen off a cliff and into the river! A previous earthquake near the beginning of our trip had collapsed the bridge. We took a ferry across the river:

When we arrived in Cobán, we saw that it was a lively city with a busting market. People didn’t even bother getting out of the street for the traffic, as you can see in the video.

coban-farmacy

I had never been to Cobán, so we had to ask what the main sights were. The hotel people told us that the Spanish church with lots of steps overlooks the city and is a beautiful place to go. As I walked down normal streets, I was reminded of my childhood, since the Latin flavor of the surroundings is so nostalgic to me.

coban-street

There were a LOT of steps to the top of the hill where the Spanish-style church is located. It’s great for exercise after being in the car for many hours, since we had just driven from Peten.

steps-to-coban-church

And this is the view at the top of the steps!

view-of-coban

The video shows you a short tour of the medieval-style Spanish hotel where we stayed. For some reason we didn’t take any pictures of the hotel. It had a courtyard in the middle, reminding me of where I used to go on retreats with my Pioneer Girls group, growing up.

I hope you enjoyed our tour of Cobán, Guatemala. Stay tuned for our coffee plantation zipline tour, coming up next! If you don’t want to miss any posts in my Guatemala Adventure series, follow my Missionary Kid page!

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Tour of Flores, Guatemala

July 20th, 2017

tour-of-flores-guatemala

While we were in Petén near Tikal, my family went on a tour of Flores in Guatemala. It is a quaint town with cobbled streets and narrow passageways. The houses are brightly colored and make you feel like you are in a European town.

flores-street

A Spanish-style church is situated in the middle of the island. It rises up out of the town if you see it from a distance, like when we went on a boat to Petencito to see the animals at a small zoo. I don’t have many pictures in the video tour of Flores because there was a downpour of rain the moment we paid to get into the zoo. As soon as we started filming the rain, it slowed down considerably and no longer looked like a monsoon:

There must have been some sort of celebration because festive flags hung across one of the streets:

flores-flags

We went on a tuc-cuc ride around the beautiful town. I found out that the tuc-tuc driver was a member of a small church of 75 people. (The driver of the boat to Petencito was also a Christian, and we talked about God while standing in the rain at the zoo, trying to see the animals that were hiding.)

tuc-tuc-flores

Here is the best view of Flores, while approaching it from the boat coming back from Petencito:

flores-from-boat

If you don’t want to miss any posts in my Guatemala Adventure series, follow my Missionary Kid page!

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