A Marvelously, Wonderful trip to the Beach!

We got up SUPER early (3:45 am) to see the sunrise! poco a poco....little by little...it started out so small!

But t got bigger and bigger and brighter and brighter!

So my family took me to the beach as a farewell gift before I left for my permanent site in Quetzaltenango.

It was honestly one of the happiest days of my life!

I truly appreciate that Guatemalans can have good ole fashioned fun with just themselves and the beach. Nobody needs expensive toys or boats. We just splashed each other and had a giant mud fight and laughed and laughed like we didn't have a care in world. There's not much more to say....it was just so happy. Enjoy the pictures : )

The best picture of the day!

I had just washed off all the black sand covering my legs and was ready to go explore when...my family decided I looked better covered in sand. They really thought they were so funny. Sounds a lot like my real family lol After we left the beach the first time, we enjoyed a delicious breakfast of tortillas and cheese, chips ahoy cookies and coke : )
Then we locked the keys in the car : (

But, brother Pinto is honestly the smartest guy ever and fished them out....using a hanger to pull them through the door. RIDICULOUS RIGHT!?

But if anything is hard....Pinto does it. If the car's in a tight spot and needs to be moved-Pinto maneuvers it out. If something is broken-Pinto fixes it. If something new in the house requires assembly-Pinto figures it out. He's practically a genius. If he only had 7 more inches on him....we might be able to make it happen....but alas....5'2" & 5'9" is a no go.

I was totally skeptical and absolutely certain that there was no way this plan was working. If you manage to even grab the keys at that weird angle, how in the world do you get them out of the car and into your hands?

But finally, he actually pulled the keys through the DOOR JAM! I was beyond impressed.

A great view down the strip....so tropical! (plus when your elbows are sweating you know it's tropical!)

Shell creations

These little cuties were made out of shells too! Aren't they precious? A pic of the fam on the bridge

A cute roadside fruit stand...The guy was nice enough to let me try his orange-peeling machine ; 0 )
I was working really hard. It's harder than it looks ok...

I love this picture! Not only is Pinto seriously cheesin' but he's rubbing his belly like the bus attendants always do and he's barely taller than this mannequin's hips : 0) I'm not sure why I love that part, maybe cause it makes me feel not so gigantic. Can you spot our little friend on his perch? This guys was just waltzing around the beach shopping center, carting this little critter right where you see him now.
I was so surprised when this truck full of people drove by. It looked pretty packed in there!

So Guatemalans are the most generous people I've ever met. Seriously. After we came back from the beach we visited friends, each of which loaded us up with fruit from their yards!

I personally caught this deliciously sweet treat as it was being dropped from 25 feet above! I was proud because they thought I couldn't do it but they let me try anyway. They obviously didn't know who I was : ) It's called caimito.

I tried to capture how big this tree was so you could truly understand how high up the air the guy in the next picture was... I mean.....dang....homie scaled this giant tree barefooted and started throwing down ripe fruit. I have the utmost respect. A sharp branch pokes your foot and you jump and SPLAT....it's all over.

If you can't scale a tree...you just use really long sticks to poke the fruit down! see....the trees are really, really, really...really tall

It's orange coconut!!

And that's the trip!! We devoured the fruit and drove home exhausted but happy!