Guatemala Day 8-10

Since the clinic is all over with, we get a few days of relaxation and vacation.  We started it off with going outside of Guatemala City to Antigua.  They have a little outdoor market there where we were able to buy a bunch of souvenirs.  After our shopping we headed over to this cute bed and breakfast style hotel where we ate this delicious lunch.  I am sure going to miss the fantastic black beans and rice.  They are to die for!!  The flowers were so colorful at this place as well.  It was gorgeous!  After our morning in Antigua we got on a plane and headed to Roatan.  The flight was 55 minutes and they even fed us.  Not even our 3 hour flights fed us.  We were in heaven.  The landing was crazy though!  Out our side of the airplane all you saw was the ocean, but we kept descending.  I was getting nervous that we weren't going to make the runway!  Those pilots are sure talented.  We landed safely and walked out onto the ground and headed inside.  The airport in Roatan was tiny!!  And I thought I lucked out with humidity for the week but Roatan fooled me.  My hair and humidity didn't get along for those next few days.  That night we had dinner on the beach, swam in the pool, and talked with a bunch of people.  

Shopping through the market

Outside of the market

The infamous buses my dad is obsessed over

At the hotel

The volcano in the background.  It was huge!

The famous archway

Getting off of the plane

The next day we decided to just lay around the pool/beach and go snorkeling.  The water was so blue and the snorkeling was great!  We saw a great big fish (name was unknown), a bunch of colorful fish, light blue fish, and one barracuda.  The barracuda was freaky looking and didn't like it when my dad started to swim down by it.  We decided it was probably best to just leave it be.  That night we took a water taxi to another part of the island to eat.

Lunch on the beach

Headed to dinner

My hair was out of control

Our last day in Roatan we decided to go zip lining!  It was so much fun!!  We went on 13 zip lines and my parents saw monkeys, unfortunately I didn't.  They told us on one section to look down in the trees and you would see a bunch of monkeys.  So I looked and didn't see any, but I did see an iguana.  I would spot a iguana before a monkey.  The rest of the day was spent by the pool and beach.  It was fun to just stick around to watch the hotel crew set up everything for a beach wedding.  There was a bunch of colorful dresses and the bride was gorgeous!  We went to dinner across from the hotel that night with two other couples from the group.  Talk about a major third wheel, but it was fun!  After dinner we walked along the beach, soaked up the biggest moon in the year? decade? and watched the wedding reception.  They had some fire dancers which was pretty legit/scary/cool.  The fire man had the bride and groom stand together and he made a ring of fire around them.  Cool idea right?  Wrong-o.  The fire was cool for a minute, but a bunch of black smoke engulfed the bride and groom and they weren't to thrilled about that.  Imagine the smell of her dress.  Yuck. 

Our instructor was hilarious!

Not the best picture, but a fire dancer at the reception

 Our last morning in Roatan we got up and headed to a conference room in the hotel for sacrament meeting with the whole group.  Since our group was large enough that we would've overwhelmed the local branch, we got permission to hold our own.  It was just a testimony meeting and it was very inspiring.  A lot of people got up and talked about their experiences and seeing the hand of our Lord in the small and big things throughout the week.  People talked about how when we work, we remember Christ and his love and we come to know who we are.  Others talked about how we are building a kingdom, either Christ's or our own kingdom.  It was a great meeting and we ended with singing God Be With You Till We Meet Again.  The only time that song is sung in church is when we are departing from something so who wouldn't cry?  I don't think there was one dry eye in that room.  This trip has changed me and my perspective on life.  It is very sad for me to have to leave this country and people, but I know that I will be able to keep on serving when I am home.  I am already looking forward to when I can join that group again.  

Something must have been funny.  This is the line to check-in at the Roatan airport.

Congrats for making it through these long posts!!  I just had so much to say!! Now it's time to get back to reality...