Day 7:
The free day! We were given a selection of places to go and things to do for our free day and we chose to go to “The Lake”.  It was this huge, stunningly gorgeous lake 2 and a half hours away from San Miguel Escobar. It was surrounded by volcanos and mountains. The water was so clear! The lake was surrounded with wonderful foliage of all shapes, sizes and colors. The roads and sidewalks were again cobblestone. It was so beautiful I’d say it was paradise.  Ahhhh…

We had a few different options of what we could do. The popular choice was to go zip-lining in the nature reserve on the edge of town. It was quite the nature reserve located within the mountains. So stunning. A foot long lizard even ran past my foot like it was nothing. While some of the group went zip-lining, Cassy, Sophie, Nikki and myself went kayaking in the lake. Jane joined us as well! It only cost us about $3.28/person/hour! It was picture-esk. Just paddling out to the middle of the bay of this massive lake we were in and just looking at everything. There were no words to be said or even to describe how beautiful, peaceful and serene this was. But! There was more to see!

Back on land, the 5 of us went to this fantastic little outdoor cafe for lunch. It was beautiful AND delicious. Who could ask for more?

About half way through, a van pulled up to the area and there was the zip-line crew! Well hey there guys, how was zip lining? They said it was fun. They did 8 different courses that went through the mountains and even past a waterfall. Their longest one lasted about 45 seconds. That’s a pretty long time to fly through trees! They said at the end they got to see some monkeys chow down on bananas! Whoa! The rest of our day at the lake was spent walking up and down their main road. It was filled with little shops and restaurants. Lots to see and take it. Such a pleasant day it was!

Now, I personally get car sick real easy and the winding roads through the mountains, oof, not for me. So I stopped at a pharmacy before heading back to buy some benedryl to knock me out! When I asked for some, they sold it to me by the pill. I thought that was cool because then I didn’t have to buy a whole pack. I talked to Jane about it and she said that’s convenient however, that’s how all the medication is done there, even anti-biotics. So people don’t always get their proper dosage and prices can get weird as well. Another interesting thing I learned about their culture and another thing I find myself reflecting about my own culture. Thought I’d tell you all about that tidbit.

Needless to say I got in the van and the next thing I knew I woke up at a restaurant for dinner! Rad! We ate our final dinner in Guatemala at this really awesome crepe restaurant in Antigua. Crepes? In Guatemala? Yeah! And they were crazy good! Fresh made in a matter of minutes with both savory and sweet kinds. Mmm! And it was a pretty cool restaurant where you even had the option to eat on beanbag chairs out on a patio. Legit. After dinner we bid a fond farewell to Paula (an AGAIG gal who helped us translate at times) and Andy.

(Flambeed crepes!)

Back at the house we had our final reflection in Guatemala. We reflected on how now that we’ve had this experience, what can we take from it? What can we start doing? What can we stop doing? What can we continue to do? Most of us said a lot of the same things. We’d like to start shopping locally more often, care about where our stuff comes from, use more sustainable resources in our lives and simplify. Wed like to stop complaining so much, taking things for granted and stressing out especially the little things because in the end it’s not that big of a deal and were all gonna be okay. We all seem to have taken a lot from this trip that maybe we didn’t think we would. I, for example, didn’t think I’d now start to put so much focus on where I buy things but now I totally am! Main St, USA here I come! Overall, we all got a great experience here in Guatemala.