January 10, 2014
Today we started out by splitting up and heading to our worksites after breakfast. We did more of the same work with cement and rebar and only stayed there until noon before heading back to the hotel to shower and have lunch. We were then ready to leave for our R&R weekend. The bus ride from our hotel in Tecpán to Lake Atitlan was about 2 hours long and full of curvy roads along the mountainside. Once we got to the bottom of the mountain and reached the waterfront we had to take a boat to get to our hotel, La Casa Del Mundo. The boat ride was about 30 minutes long with a few stops along the way before we reached our destination. We were all surprised to see them continue to pile people onto the small boat. At one point there were about 40 of us on there (along with our luggage)! While on the boat I overheard several conversations of people who have moved to this area from Canada or the U.S. I can completely understand why they would. Life here is much simpler and waking up to a view and weather like this every morning would be incredible. The hotel here is absolutely beautiful. It is isolated on the mountainside and you have to take a boat ferry to get to any of the surrounding towns. The view from our rooms is breathtaking as you look over the lake and see the mountains and volcanos in the distance. We finished out our evening with a delicious dinner and playing games together. Tomorrow we plan to explore some of the surrounding towns and embrace more of this culture. We will be here until Sunday afternoon, then we will head back to Tecpán.
Written by Lauren
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