I am sitting in the Houston airport finishing up that last of the blog entries for this trip to Guatemala.It has been a great trip and we always appreciate the way the people allow us to come along side and experience what they do during our time in Guatemala. The last few days have been a good wind down and getting ready to come back home. It has only been 3 weeks but in so many ways it seems way longer and at the same time way shorter. On Monday we had the opportunity to go with some of the gang from the base and head up to a school just up the mountain behind Chiquimulilla. It was a school they had never been to before so we took a picnic table up and some food as well. They are always trying expand their feeding program. Here are some pictures of our time there.
Table loaded up and ready to go.
Heading into the school
The view in that area is spectacular
Explaining to the staff the reason for our visit.
Inside the classroom
That view
Kids enjoying the table
This little girl was so excited because her name is Cathy as well.
The classroom
On our way out.
Some boys hitched a ride
After we were done at the school Anthony knew a trail that would take us to a nice waterfall.
But alas it is time to go home. We traveled up to Guatemala city on Wednesday and grabbed a hotel room because had to be at the airport early in the morning. We booked a very nice hotel and enjoyed our last night in Guatemala. I am sure we will be back soon.
The garden in the hotel.
Coffee time
Stay tuned for the next travel adventure. Ireland 2018
This is about the second week we have been here in Guatemala and we spent a few days this week on a little trip which we will get to shortly. I have a ton of pictures and video in this post so if you like that sort of thing you are in luck. But before we get to that this week started off with the legendary Waffle Sunday. Waffle Sunday is a time here in Guatemala when we all congregate at the home of Grant and Carol Lamb and they make us waffles. Does that sound like a good deal? Well it is.
Of course right after Waffle Sunday we have church. We go to the Iglesia El Shaddai Chiquimulilla. The church is usually really load and lots of action. They worship with much passion and it is always fun to be a part of that.
On Monday we got to be involved with the Friends of Jesus breakfast again.
On Tuesday we decided that it was time for a bit of a Guatemalan adventure. We went on a road trip to Rio Dulce. Rio Dulce is a town across Guatemala and it is also a river that leads out to the Ocean. So about a week ago we were playing in the Pacific Ocean now we will be going across the country and ending up at the Atlantic Ocean. More specifically the Caribbean Sea part of the Atlantic. Here is a map of our route.
Now it says on the map 6 hours and 44 minutes but it is highly unlikely that you will make it in that time. We left at about 7:00 AM and got there at about 4:30. So about 9.5 hours.
We did stop for breakfast which took about 40 minutes or so but the big delays were a couple of complete traffic jams. The first one was on a hill where 2 trucks with huge loads were trying to climb. They did not make it and needed to get extra trucks to help them to the top.
This traffic problem lasted about 45 minutes which was pretty good. For a while there it looked like we would need to backtrack and go way around up by the city. We did not want to do that. The scenery along the way very beautiful and it was enjoyable to watch the countryside go by.
The next traffic jam looked like a traffic accident. All traffic stops and we had no choice but to just sit and wait not knowing how long it would take. Thankfully this one was only about 45 minutes as well.
By the time we got to our destination it was raining and we had no idea where to go. We called the guy and he met us in town and jumped in the van and took us to the house we had rented for 3 days. Little did we know we would have take a boat to get to the house. At first this seemed extreme because we had been travelling all day, had all our food and stuff to get across the water, it was raining, we were tired, and it was muddy. All in all though it was not that big a deal we just hauled everything into the boat and away we went.
The house was nice once we got everything loaded and we were able to relax a little.
We made supper and enjoyed a nice evening meal outside on the deck.
Here are a few pictures of the area.
Our House
On our first day we went for a drive through town. We wanted to go to some hot springs nearby but found out the all the rain has caused them to be flooded and not very good. We decided to go to a castle nearby instead. It is Castillo de San Felipe and is a Spanish colonial fort at the entrance to Lake Izabal in eastern Guatemala. Lake Izabal is connected with the Caribbean Sea via the Dulce River and El Golfete lake. The fort was strategically situated at the narrowest point on the river. The Castillo de San Felipe was used by the Spanish for several centuries, during which time it was destroyed and looted several times by pirates.
I am guessing this is where the colonial Spanish charged their electronics.
The next day it had stopped raining and I was able to get a little video out on the deck.
We were very glad it had stopped raining because wanted to take a boat tour from Rio Dulce to Livingston.
We were able to hire a boat and away we went with just the 5 of us. They came and picked us up right at the house.
There were many excellent sights along the way, a most excellent way to travel.
The Misty Mountains
Many people live along the river and they make their living mostly fishing.
Some make their living selling with the mobile canoe store.
Lilly Pads galore
The river narrows.
Livingston is a very different place than the rest of Guatemala. The skin color of the people is much darker and their music and culture is much more Caribbean
As we traveled back there were many beautiful sites.
Stopped for dinner on the way home.
At least some people look like they are having fun.
A view of the Castle from the water.
The next day we packed up and headed home. Not to many pictures but I did get this one. I took it because I thought it was a pretty good representation of what it means to ride shotgun. The guy on the back is actually holding a shotgun.
The next day after we got home we thought a good way to end the week would be a trip to the local pool. So that’s what we did.
The last few days have had us doing all sorts of things. We have taught Heroes in the high school, gone to the pool, visited the Hijos De Dios (Children of God) site, had a bat come into our house, had Guatemalan friends over for dinner, and helped out with some Elijah House training. Mostly we take each day as it comes and different opportunities present itself from time to time. Since both Cathy and I do a fair amount of work remotely some of our time is spent working. I have a good internet connection and can do much work from here.
Teaching Heroes has been a part of what we do when we are here. We had an opportunity to teach Heroes in the High School here at Fe Viva. Teaching Heroes here is a bit more challenging because we always need an interpreter. This makes it a bit slower and more complicated. Thankfully Kerry is able and willing to do this for us.
I try not to talk to much about the weather. People here don’t talk about the weather. Mostly because it is the same every day. At least at this time of year it is. It has been sunny and hot every day since we have been here +32 to +35 every day. That is pretty hot so from time to time we head down to a nearby pool and cool off.
Matt and Kerry Blacklock are in the continuing process of transforming a piece of property here into the children’s home Hijos De Dios (e hos – deh – Dee-ohs) meaning Children of God. I find Hijos hard to pronounce because in Spanish the H is silent, i sounds like e, and j sounds like h. Languages are complicated.
Anyway we took a walk up to the property to have a look and see how it is progressing. There are several building there from before and they have been slightly renovated by putting on a new roof and a few other things as well. The wall around the compound has also been extended. There are many rules and standards that the government has laid out for children’s homes.
You can see here where the wall has been extended.
Walking up to the compound.
Some trees had to be removed.
Small grove of banana trees.
Siesta time for the workers. This was in the middle of the afternoon in the heat of the day.
Here is a short video of the compound area.
If you are interesting in giving to this project go to here for more information.
One other exciting thing that happened was we had a little visitor come and see us during supper one evening. At first we thought it was a bird but it turned out to be a bat. Bats are our friends but not in the house. I took him down with a pair of pants and sent him back outside.
On Saturday we had the opportunity to work with Matt and Kerry with some leadership training in the area of inner healing. We did this at Matt and Kerry’s house and is was a great success. The students, which were leaders, were receptive to the training and are looking forward to going deeper.
Lunch time
Later that evening we decided that we needed to go out for dinner. A restaurant nearby provided just what we needed.
The last 3 days have not been really that busy but we have had things to do. Sunday morning starts out with waffle Sunday at the home of Grant and Carol Lamb. We all go over to their house and enjoy waffles together.
After that we normally go to church but the church schedule had changed so we went to the beach. It was about 1 hour away from Fe Viva right on the pacific coast. Here is a map.
It was very hot and the sand on the beach is black so it was impossible to walk on the sand without shoes of some kind. Of course down by the water is was fine. Here are a few pictures of our time at the beach.
This is a picture of the beach and the shade areas. It is a good thing they have those shady spots. Usually you have to pay extra to use those areas but Anthony knows someone there so we got to use it for free.
This is the group that came with Anthony. Back of the truck all the way.
The beach. It was actually very beautiful and huge.
They drive their vehicles right down on the beach. Sometimes they get stuck and it is fun to watch them figure out a way to get out.
The waves were actually quite big and it was a lot of work to spend time in the ocean.
Cathy, Kerry, and Sonia venturing into the water.
The shade.
Beach selfie.
Lunch time in the shade.
As the sun was setting it got very beautiful. Hard not to take multiple pictures.
Liam contemplating the mystery of the seas.
Elsa’s birthday cake.
I took a little video while I was there.
On Monday we had the opportunity to help Steve and Karla with their Friends of Jesus Breakfast. This is a project that reaches out to the prostitutes of Guatemala. Once a month the bar owners allow the women to go to a breakfast for one hour. In this time we can share the gospel, eat and pray over these ladies. Some ladies have come out of prostitution due to this outreach. At every breakfast there is a powerful move of God. For more information go here.
Here are a few pictures from that time.
On Tuesday I spent the bulk of the day working on the computer with issues back home. I still need to work even if I am not at home. I am really glad for the opportunity to be able to travel and still do my work. Tuesday evening we were able to spend some time with some of the young people in the area and teach them Heroes. We love to teach Heroes so this is a great opportunity for us.
It has been a great first few days. We are starting to settle into the area and getting used to the hot weather. More adventures to come over the next few days.
Well we arrived safe and sound on Thursday evening at 10:30 in Guatemala City. Matt, Kerry and Liam were there to meet us. We then had the drive from the airport to Fe Viva where Matt and Kerry live. We are happy to be here. This is us being happy.
On day one we pretty much just rested and did some shopping for groceries and other essentials that we needed. We also connect with some of our friends down here. I am thankful for Anthony for getting my internet situation all figured out. Looking forward to spending a little time with the folks here at Fe Viva.
It always takes a day or 2 to get accustomed to the surrounding and environment here. Things are a bit different than they are at home. Like in the grocery store they have chicken pieces just laying on ice out in the open. No idea how many people have handled them.
Since I also do my work from here I need to setup my computer and office. That is usually anther project for the first day.
We are enjoying the weather here, it has been consistently in the 30’s during the day and then cools off to the low 20’s at night.
On day 2 we spend the morning hanging out with Matt and Kerry and planning some of the things we will do while we are here. I am looking forward to the many opportunities to do stuff we have not done before. In the afternoon we went into town again to do some shopping. It is always interesting to wander the streets. I took a short video to try and capture a few moments of this. The part that is great is the music that is always playing at max volume. When Cathy saw the video she said she did not even realize that there was music playing. It is just the normal sounds of the street.
The truth is Matt, Liam, and I went for ice cream while the girls were shopping.
Tomorrow we are heading to the beach. Normally we would be going to church on Sunday but there is no church so it’s off to the beach.
So it is time once again for Cathy and me to leave the cold of Alberta and head to the warmer climate of Guatemala. We were supposed to be on our way today but due to bad weather in Houston we have been delayed one whole day. It is kind of weird having a day like this when you were planning to travel but then suddenly not. We are all packed and ready to go so there is not that much to get ready. An interesting situation.
Anyway we will heading down once again to hang out with our friends Matt and Kerry Blacklock.
They live in a small community in Guatemala called Chiquimulilla. They have been there for many years and have given their lives to working with the local people to provide better lives for the children in the area. They are currently working to build a whole new facility to help children with their physical, spiritual, and emotional needs. Their goal for the children’s home is to reunite families. They don’t just provide for the needs of the children but families as well. They want to build a better community by building strong health families. Go here to learn about Hijos De Dios (Children of God).
We will be there for 3 weeks and will involve ourselves in whatever comes our way. We are looking forward to what God has in store for us on this trip.
I will be updating this blog from time to time during the trip so keep an eye out for the updates. You could also follow the site and will get notified whenever I do an update.
We got a motel room last night because the forecast was for rain and flash floods. Sure enough it rained like crazy last night. It was a good call to get the motel. They also had an amazing free breakfast so it was a double win. Today we are heading up into Colorado. Here is the route.
Our journey today took us through New Mexico to Santa Fe and Taos. The scenery is pretty much just desert.
Until you get to Taos then it is a bit more mountainous. Santa Fe and Taos are touristy type towns with lots of cool architecture with lots of pueblo type buildings.
Just past Taos is a place called the Rio Grande Gorge. It is really cool because as you travel along the road there is nothing but desert then suddenly out of nowhere there is this huge gorge. It was quite scary for me to walk on the bridge.
Just past the bridge is an area where they have a bunch of what they call Earthships. They are houses made form odds and ends and they are built into the ground. I don’t quite get it myself but they were interesting.
We then carried on into Colorado and found a campsite that worked out very well. The scenery was fantastic and sunset was spectacular.
Day 17
Today we plan on driving all teh way to Rock Springs Wyoming. There are lots of mountains on this route but the scenery will be excellent. Here is the route.
When we woke up in the morning it was quite cool about 10C. But it was a beautiful morning and when the sun made it over the mountain it warmed up quickly.
Breakfast excitement
Colorado Sunrise
When we were on our way it warmed up quickly and was soon in the 30’s We had several mountain passes to go through and the car was not behaving very well. It was starting to overheat on the mountain climbs. We had coolant as well as water but we soon used all this up. We finally ended up on the side of the highway with no water and a boiling over engine. I was making my way down to a creek to get water when a guy stopped and filled all our containers with water. After the engine cooled and things started circulating properly we had no more trouble. It also helped that the temperature started to drop a little.
There was so much different scenery today as we went through Colorado, Utah, and into Wyoming.
With all the time we have been on the road we have encountered very little construction. However on this day there was a delay.
We got to Rock Springs and checked into our campground and then went to our site. When we got there someone else was already camped there.
Look carefully for the rabbit on our site.
The campground was very nice and the campers next door were from Manitoba and on there way to Calgary. We would run into them twice over the next day.
The days just keep sliding by. Day 14 was the last day of my motorcycle ride. I left Winnfield and it was about 23C which is pretty perfect for riding. I traveled a bunch of small back-roads and it was by far the best part of the 4 days I had on the bike. Great back-roads in Louisiana.
My route for the last day
This is the awesome back-road I took.
There is always much great scenery on the way but I don’t get to take very many pictures because I am too busy riding. Here is a couple I took from a bridge.
I also stopped for a break and took a couple of pictures of me and the bike. It is tricky to do because I have to balance my phone on something.
I did enjoy the bike very much however it is not as much about the bike as it is the ride. I enjoyed some of the features of this bike but all in all it is not $20,000 better than my bike. I think I will keep mine for now.
Day 15
So I am back in Dallas and we are preparing to head back home. We have 5 days to get to Calgary because Cathy is catching a plane out of Calgary on Saturday morning.
Repacking the car for the trip home.
We did not get very far today because we got kind of a late start and we had to repack and all that sort of thing. We finally left at about 10:30 AM and started on our journey. The first hour or so is just torture because the Dallas freeways are just crazy. There are express lanes and toll lanes and everyone is driving like they are late for something. I was glad to get out of the Dallas area. We drove through the Texas desert for a few hours until we got to Lubbock.
The scenery through Texas is not that great. Desert and that sort of thing for the most part.
Texas Landscape
On the way to Lubbock I started looking for campsites to stay at but then I got a notice on my phone that there were flash flood warnings for this area. It is supposed to rain up to 2 inches tonight. In light of this news we decided to get a hotel for the night. Stay tuned to see if it does rain during the night.
Today was the best day on the bike so far. It was cooler this morning because it was raining. The rain was no big deal because is was so warm out. Usually rain is bad because it causes you to get cold. Not here. This is the route I took today.
I started out by riding right along the coast of Mississippi along a place called Long Beach. This is the Gulf of Mexico but more specifically it is called the Mississippi Strait.
The bike by the beach
Long Beach
I rode along the beach all the way to Biloxi then started to head inland again. Most of the buildings are built up high on stilts. This must be some sort of hurricane proofing.
I rode all the way into Alabama just to say I did. It is one of the States I have never been to before so since I was so close I decided to go swing through. It rained off and on a good part of the day but not a big deal. It was actually under 30C most of the day so that is good. I had a rest stop by the side of the highway and found this cool little pond. I walked out onto the dock there but it was pretty sketchy so I did not stay long.
I took mostly back roads today and ended up in a place called Winnfield Louisiana. Tomorrow it is back to Dallas.
So today is the day get to rent a motorcycle. I rented one from Eagle Riders in Dallas. I was hoping to rent a Indian Roadmaster but they did not have one available so I rented an Indian Chieftain. They are almost the same but the Roadmaster has a few more options.
Indian Chieftain
Cathy and I parted ways as she was suppose to be at a conference but it was cancelled so she is just spending 4 days relaxing by the pool. I am off into the Texas landscape to see what I can see. The first thing that is really obvious is that it is hot!
It has been between 34 and 40 all day the first day I road from Dallas to a place called Jasper. I pretty much just rode all day and stopped a few times. Not much to see along that route.
Stopping along the way is a bit of a problem because it is so hot that unless you have shade it is not very restful. I did find a back-road at one point and stopped for a short rest.
All in all it was a pretty good day the heat was a big problem but it was still good. Originally I had planned on tenting but with the heat like this it would be very uncomfortable trying to sleep in a tent. On a good night it will only cool off to about 28C. So I am staying in motels for now and we will resume our tenting when we leave Dallas and head north.earlier than normal
Day 12
I started earlier than normal today because I wanted to beat the heat. I did manage to get a couple hundred kilometers in before it got to hot. Today I am heading down towards New Orleans. I did end up at a place called Diamondhead. It is fairly close to an area called Mississippi Sound. Tomorrow I will ride along the coast. I am really looking forward to that. It was not a very great ride getting here because of all the traffic. This whole area is quite populated so that means lots of traffic. I did go for dinner tonight at a place called Harbor House Steamer. It is a seafood place down by the water. Here is my dinner view.
It was a nice dinner location. Now the bike is put away for the night.
I was able to lock it up tonight. I am always paranoid that someone will steal it during the night. This will make it a little harder.
It was very hot and the sand on the beach is black so it was impossible to walk on the sand without shoes of some kind. Of course down by the water is was fine. Here are a few pictures of our time at the beach.
They have been there for many years and have given their lives to working with the local people to provide better lives for the children in the area. They are currently working to build a whole new facility to help children with their physical, spiritual, and emotional needs. Their goal for the children’s home is to reunite families. They don’t just provide for the needs of the children but families as well. They want to build a better community by building strong health families. Go 
Loren's Travel Blog 