4 Hour Trip to Teleman...that became 7+ Hours

GUATEMALA TRIP DAY #4

11/30/15

TELEMAN

We had an amazing day in the busses - cruising, fording, crossing the mountins to Teleman! The mud was crazy which made the dirt roads exciting! :) We were traveling from ~10:00 am to ~5:00 pm - a drive that was supposed to take only 4 hours. We had a BLAST though - the views were out of this world!

Thanks, Megan, for the photo! :)

We passed so many villages, went along hillsides so steep that it was a wall straight up on one side and straight down on the other. The mists fell down off the mountains and covered the tips. I have NEVER seen such lush mountains - everything from banana trees to ceba trees to pine trees. And it’s as thick as anything! I had to force myself to take a quick 20 min nap at the end because I couldn’t stop looking out the window!

Mom and I were CRACKING up as we tried to get pictures of each other while leaning out of the windows. There were trees you had to avoid and the roads were so windy that one moment there is gorgeous scenery behind our heads and the next, a mud wall. :) We just had a blast - I think we’ve found our rhythm as traveling partners!

I felt SO much better after a full night’s sleep last night, a good hearty breakfast (with DELICIOUS lemon grass tea) and lots of driving time. I just can’t get enough of seeing all the towns and kekchi people. It’s surreal!

We picked up a neni (the word in Hungarian for old woman that just fits :) ) and her two grandkids and took them with us along the trip. Mom got to give them her Christmas pencils that she brought. The kids wake at 4:00 am, have school from 7-12, then work until they go to bed at 7. The girl was 9 years old and the boy, 12. He was carrying a HUGE bag of melons or fruits - they put the ‘shoulder strap’ around their head to carry loads on their backs - but he said that he wasn’t working, it was just “leisure” with his grandma.

A man working in his field on the side of a steep mountain.

We stopped in front of this HUGE waterfall and got pictures as a group. Oh yeah, and earlier some women sold us bananas and mandarins through the window. Poor mom got swarmed and it was a bit of a stressful experience for her.

Oh, and another thing! The road was getting repaired in one place, so we got out of the busses and walked a ways down the road to a town where there was an LDS church. It was a mountainous area (think Emporer’s New Groove) so up on the next hill in front of us there was an adorable, quaint, white Catholic church. Mom and I got awesome pics as our group walked down the steep street, path, alley to our church that was along the same road as the Catholic church. It was so fun to get off the ‘main’ road and see things!

The villages are so tiny and built on steep cliffs. I wish I could describe it better on paper! Today it FINALLY sunk in that we’re actually in Guatemala!

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We arrived at Teleman and our hotel is AMAZING!! (Hotel Chelsea Maria) There were tens of thousands of birds in the trees and because it was sunset, they were going NUTS. I was THRILLED because at Disneyland, Mom always loved the Tiki Room. And this was the LIVE version of the Tiki Room X 100! There are vines hanging from the balconies, red perforated roof tops, steep stairs, a crooked sink in our room, and just a WONDERFUL feel to this hotel!

Mom thoroughly enjoying washing clothes in a pila.

M___ cooked us a wonderful dinner of chicken, rice, papaya, tortillas, watermelon and the BEST horchata!! It tasted so good after a long day with no lunch. :)

I stayed at the hotel to rest up while Mom and some of the group went to visit Benita, a 90-something year old lady who walks 200+ steps to church each week and takes care of her 90-something year old sister. They said it was a tough hike to her home so I rested up, but Mom said that it was incredible. The spirit was so strong in her little home.

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#Guatemala #KekchiChoir #LDS #Mormon #ldsnomad #travel #cheap #DestinyYarbro #MikePeck #Teleman