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Day 4 in Guatemala brought us yet another new adventure as we traveled from San Miguel to San Lucas which was about a 2 1/2 hour (bumpy) drive. San Lucas is where we will be doing our service project tomorrow, Thursday. After arriving, we checked into our beautiful hotel only about a 2 minute walk from the cooperative that we will be working with for the service project.

We joined the cooperative for a lunch of pork, rice, green beans, and tortillas. Next, the secretary of the cooperative took us all on a tour of San Lucas. San Lucas, we learned, has a rich history and many stories are passed down through the generations. On our tour we visited the cemetery, Maximon, the church decorated for Lent, Lake Atitlan, and of course we had to stop for some ice cream (helado in Spanish).

Maximon is a legend recognized mainly by the Mayans in Western Guatemala. Supposedly, he helped many people during the assassinations in the early 1900’s. The Maximon that we visited today was just a representation or model of what they envisioned him to look like. People come to him for help and leave him various gifts such as money, candles, and alcohol. Unfortunately we couldn’t take any pictures of the Maximon we encountered.

As you can see in the picture, the cemetary we visited is a bit different than we usually see. The graves are above ground and are colorful. Two of the towns priests who were American were put in the center of the cemetary because of their contributions to the town.

Its safe to say that our day wore us out. After a much needed rest, we rejoined the members of the cooperative for a dinner of eggs, refried beans, and plenty of coffee. We’re spending the rest of the night relaxing, playing games, and gearing up for our service project tomorrow! 

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