Caught up Living in the Present

It's been some time since our last post and obviously a lot has happened...

We are currently writing to you from Pana! We spent this past weekend in a hostel on Lake Atitlan in a village named Santa Cruz la Laguna witch had no reliable wifi connection. I found a sign that read "Pull the plug and give a hug!" and that we did.

As soon as we got to the village of Santa Cruz all we wanted to do was explore! We walked as far as we could before nighttime to a lookout point in the middle of the jungle. We have all envisioned getting lost in the jungle on our journey through Guatemala, but neither of us expected to encounter a mystical jungle around the most beautiful lake in the world.

Grandma Sherry treated us to a three night stay at La Iguana Perdida, all of our first hostel experience! We stayed in a 7 person dorm where we came across a lot of down to earth people. A group of 28 Christians came through, and we were lucky enough to stay with 4 of them. They are currently apart of the World Race, which is traveling to 11 countries in 11 months, helping people along the way while spreading the word of God.

After a live concert at our hostel... We spent our morning enjoying coffee on the dock in front of our hostel. We made friends with the local fishermen and eventually ended up buying a fishing setup from them. (Sprite can, line, hook, and worms). We caught no fish but made good friends out of the experience.

They gave us directions as to where to hike but nothing more than follow the creek bed up the mountain. We hiked 10,103 steps and or 4.84 miles (according Jameson's fitbit) to find ourselves at a 50ft waterfall.  We spent 45 minutes in complete awe taking in every bit of our surroundings.

After heading back, we enjoyed our last dinner with Grandma Sherry... She has been more than kind treating us to our first week here in Guatemala and we look forward to seeing her shortly. But for now, we are ready to carry on with our adventure.

This morning we woke up to fireworks from the locals. Today is the Guatemalan Independence Day and all we hear is loud music, fireworks, and bombs going off!

We spent all day with a local futbol player who we first met when we first came through Pana. He showed us a good time but tonight will be special. Not only is it the Independence Day, but tonight is special  because we are meeting up with a San Clemente local who is currently in Pana! Christine Jonas will be taking us to her favorite spot here in town and we couldn't be more thrilled about it!

I've been told tonight is a crazy party, obviously! So a quick siesta before the fiesta!

¡Adios!