Vamos a Guatemala

Ashton took his first trip to Guatemala with the family!  He did very well!  I think he had a really good time playing with Luis Miguel, Pat and Bill's son, playing with their four dogs, Felicia, Pinky, Tres, and Lucy, and playing on a variety of playground equipment in different places!  It was also a good experience of learning to live without internet or tv for a week!

Our first day we visited a park called Florencia Ecological Park, an open and wooded space park/playground with wooden rustic play structures, hiking trails, covered pavilions with outdoor wood cooking called churraqueras.  They also had a 2 small pools, horseback riding, a man made concrete pond with no water and pretty views of the hills.  We spent a lovely afternoon exploring the park!

Ashton had been hankering to climb a tree, since the moment we touched down in Guatemala, so he finally got his chance.  Ashton enjoyed himself on the many tree swings, swing sets, and climbing structures

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The next day we celebrated Easter with Pat and Bill at the Union Church in the city.  It was a pretty boring service, but Ashton did very well.  We were very proud of him.  Upon returning home we did a mini chocolate Easter bunny hunt. Luis Miguel had never done one before.  Not sure he was a fan!

Later that afternoon evening in the pueblo of El Hato we visited Earth Lodge. We had to hike down about 300 meters down to the earth lodge.  There we were greeted with  amazing views over valley and with a little bit of cloud cover some of the volcanoes.  We enjoyed playing on the playground overlooking the valley while eating and listening to some acoustic music.  Of course Ashton enjoyed playing on the playground the most!!!

The next morning we headed to Antigua for our professional photos and to enjoy some time at the Hotel Soleil.  Ashton thoroughly enjoyed the swimming pool and playground.

In Antigua Ashton was eager to climb on ruins and go to the market and buy a backpack.  Unfortunately we never made it to a set of ruins he could climb all over. We also visited the Ninos con Bendiciones in San Antonio Aqua Calientes.  I think Ashton found it a bit overwhelming, but I think it was good for him to see.  We decided to sponsor a little girl named Ivanna who is 7 years!

Ivanna with us

The next day we visited Finca Filadelfia Coffee Plantation just outside Antigua, Guatemala.  They had many options for activities.  We took a coffee tour by Jeep.  It was little disappointing, I thought it was going to be more like a Jeep safari tour, when in reality it was more like a drive down the street, get of the jeep, learn about coffee, get back in the jeep, drive a few more feet down the road, learn about coffee etc...If we had known we would of definitely done something else like zip lining or something!  Oh well...next time.  Ashton was not really a fan.  He ended up abandoning the tour after the 2nd stop and opting to play on the playground with his fellow man cubs!  Thank goodness they  had a playground!

This captures Ashton's feelings about the coffee plantation tour

Unfortunately that night we all got really sick and so the rest of the trip wasn't quite as fun.  To celebrate the kids birthday's we visited Grizzly Pizza in San Cristobal, Guatemala.  Ashton enjoyed the large oversized playset for a short while.  We had a birthday cake, but poor Ashton was so sick he had gone to bed early and slept through the night. 

 

Despite the illness at the end we had a very memorable trip, but we were super ready to come home!  Until next time Guatemala!