4th of July

So remember how we just flew in from Guatemala yesterday and now we're are getting on another plane to Utah today. I must have been crazy to book those flights.

Today is Nathan's sister Andrea's birthday. We celebrated it by going bowling and eating lots of food. Nathan won both games and I came in second, pretty much, we ROCK!

The next morning we got up early to watch the balloons launch in Provo. The kids love seeing it . Later that night we went to the Orem Owls game with the whole family. Too bad they lost. But there were fireworks afterward so it wasn't a complete bust.

We celebrated the 4th by running in the Freedom run. It is a 10k, 5k and mile race. You run along the parade route in Provo. It's pretty fun, except the part that I wanted to die when I was finished. I think there were 15 of us that participated this year. (Some didn't want to be photographed.) My dad is running for state house of representatives, so we all wore his shirt.

After the run we enjoyed the parade, which is like every other parade on the fourth. We later went to the park and had our traditional BBQ. It was fun to see my cousins. the 4th has always been a big deal in our family, so there were alot of us that were there from all over the west.

Nate and I went with his family to the Stadium of Fire. It was fun as usual. Miley Cirus and the Blueman Group were the performers this year. The fireworks are unbeatable.
On Saturday so of the family rode their bikes up the canyon to Bridal Veil Falls. Mom and I drove.

Daph, Bryce, and Madison are in the lead. Then Tom, Dad and Nate brought up the rear.

Maddi and Bryce are climbing up the waterfall. (Both in red, Maddi near the top of pic and Bryce right in the middle.)

In the afternoon Nate and I went to Park City with his mom and crew. We had to by Nate some doctor looking outfits for his rotations. Then we went to Wall-e. It was a pretty cute show. Sunday morning we woke up and flew home. honestly have never been so worn out in my life. It is great to just be able to relax after so much travel. To bad for Nate that he started his rotations at 5:00 am on Monday.

Guatemala

Nate and I spent 10 days in Guatemala. We went on a medical mission with a program called DOcare. Here is the day by day summary, you can skip as much as you like....just take it at your own pace.

Day 1 Saturday, June 21st
Flying to Guatemala
Day 2 Sunday, June 22nd


We spent last night and this morning in Antigua. We then got onto a very cramped bus and went to a another city called Panajachel. This city reminded me of Tiajuana. Lots of little shops just begging you to buy stuff. Strange smells, stray dogs, and lots of poor people. It is right on the lake Atitlan, which is beautiful. It is surrounded by volcanoes.
Day 3 Monday, June 23rd

Today was the first day of clinic. We got on a boat and road across the Lake Atitlan to a little pueblo called San Antonio.



Nathan had a lot of responsibility. He has his own exam room took the history and physical, diagnosed the patient, and then presented it to the doctor. The doctor most of the time help him with the dosage of the medicine and then signed it off. I took weights and heights for the first few hours and then I entertained the children. I enjoyed using my Spanish. All of the people were so nice and helped me when I couldn't figure out the words to use. I figured it was a mix of sign language and Spanish.


Guatemalan man in his canoe. Remind anyone of the one Andrew made?? Joe's Valley!!
Day 4 Tuesday, June 24th

Today was another travel day back to Antigua. We didn't have enough room in the van that we drove for all of us to go back, so Nate and I got volunteered to ride with our police escort. I did wear a bullet proof vest when I was with them, It was pretty cool.




We did get to hike a volcano that is right near Antigua called Pacaya. It is a very active volcano and we got to get real close to the flowing lava.


Hot coals and a little cave into the flowing lava.


If you notice the lava is branching about half way through the photo. Nate and I later hike by the lava which would be near the bottom of this photo.






Nate is roasting a marshmallow, those are very hot coals.


Nate and I with the lava flowing right under us. It was hot. We are crouching down and our shins were burning through our jeans. The soles of our shoes melted.

We did the twilight hike so when we left he lava was glowing when we left.

Day 5 Wednesday, June 25th

Today I am ashamed to say I was SICK!! Talk about Montezuma's revenge. But the group went on with out us. They went to a very poor village to do the second clinic. They were nice enough to take photos for us

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Day 6 Thursday, June 26th
We got up early today to go to our final clinic. I don't know the name of the city maybe I'll fill it in some day.



Today Nate did pretty much the same thing as he did in San Antonio. He had his own patients again. I was the runner between the pharmacy and the doctors so I went back and forth all day.


Day 7 Friday, June 27th

We drove today to Guatemala City. Nate and I and some other friends went to the temple here. It was a real neat experience. We spent the night in luxury at the Marriot. I only mentioned it because it came to be a little joke about the sanctuary of the Marriot.

Day 8 Saturday, June 28th

We left early this morning to fly north to the ruins of Tekal. This is an old Mayan city that was abandoned.


Scene look familiar to anyone?? It is from the move "Return of the Jedi" when they are leaving the Ewaks. We are sitting on to of the tallest pyramid in Mesoamerica. As you can tell we are above the tree line. Those trees are 70 meters tall.


We were sitting on the bottom ledge (right above the trees is a little door shape, that's where we were) of this temple to take that last photo.








Day 9 Sunday, June 29th

Last night staying in our "jungle bungalow" we were woken up by the howler monkeys. They sounded like strange dinosaurs. I could only imaging what it would have been like to be in the jungle and hear that and think it was something that would eat me in my sleep.
We finished our tour of the ruins today.


We were impressed by how much was there. The temples were almost endless. And so much has yet to be uncovered. For those who have seen the church move "The Testament" it was life the Nephite village with a thousand years of jungle on it. It was amazing the huge trees that are growing on top of some of the smaller temples that they haven't even excavated yet.

If you look closely you can see a face carved into the rock

These are the stairs that you have to take to make it to the top of the large pyramids. They let you climb on the rock for the small ones, but the 6 largest ones you have to use their scaffolding. If you notice, it's almost like a ladder.

We flew back to Guatemala City. Our flight was a disaster. Nathan practically had to give an elbow to a woman so he would have a seat on the plane.
Day 10 Monday, June 30th
Nate, Isaac and I painted up the town today in Guatemala City. We went to their marketplace where you find all of the American knock offs. For those of you who have been to China Town, you can imagine what this place was like.
Day 11 Tuesday, July 1st
Go home!! I was so excited to be able to drink the water.