Davis arrived in Guatemala about 3 hours before Bobby and Maddyn were to arrive, and not wanting Davis to have to hang out in the airport on his own in a foreign country, Bobby set up some of the local CRF team to be there and pick Davis up to transport him to a local hotel. They stayed in Guatemala city for the first night as everyone first arrived. Bobby was bringing a small group of young people and a couple of chaperones into the country for some work through CRF.
The next day Davis joined the crew on a drive down to Xela area of the city of Quetzaltenango to begin working in that area near a CRF center for the sponsored children. There they joined the team in Guatemala to learn how to make Mayan hot chocolate. One of the mothers in the program teaches the children how to make the chocolate to sell. They first roasted the Cacao seed, then peeled, then ground it with almonds. Then it gets mixed with sugar and you then weigh it out, mash it flat and let it dry. They were able to mark their own chocolate bars as well, which still tasted pretty good when it made its way back to Chelsea. They also drank some that was premade so they would know what the final product taste like. The team enjoyed playing soccer, chase and other activities. Maddyn had a line dance class going on, and I saw her and Davis dancing the Chicken Dance later in the day. It was a great day of learning and being a part of the community in Guatemala
From Bobby's Facebook post on another day "We visited a few of the families from the program in Guatemala. Ayrton Citalan the program director was telling us about these kids in the program who were struggling because their single mom was often gone working. Last year we opened a new CRF Center near their house. The kids grades were bad, and health was bad, but since the center opened and they joined the program, they come to the center for food and tutoring. The kids are now doing well in school, and the mom said the leader Alonzo Dari at the center is like a father figure to the kids. Change happens because a small investment in a child’s life through sponsorship."
Early in the week, I also woke up on a Sunday morning to see Bobby post that he was "Marked Safe" during the earthquake in the area. I believe it was a 6 or 7 on the scale, but neither he or Davis felt the tremors, as they were riding in a vehicle at the time. I did share with Bobby that "I am glad my wife is not your facebook friend to see this post". He replied that he and Davis did feel the aftershocks later that night around 1AM (3 little waves).
Davis was able to lead the prayer for one family below that owed the drug cartel $23,000. All because the dad was trying to get into the US for a special eye surgery, and got hooked up with a drug coyote to help him get across the border. Now this family is basically enslaved to the cartel.
There are two little kids that were the family of one of the CRF leaders in the area, and both Davis and Maddyn loved spending time with these guys. Maybe Davis can remember their names, but he said they were really fun. After the work in Xela, the group went on some outings canoeing and doing a little surfing in the Pacific Ocean, and Davis was a trooper, lending a hand as a loyal intern to help them out on their trip.
After seeing some of the pictures coming back, we were not too worried about this guy. He was having the time of his life. He saw an active volcano. Made it up onto the board surfing when his instructor finally let him out on the water (apparently helping teach the girls was more fun for the instructors on that day). He would send us pictures of the birds hanging out at his hotel. Of course he would pick them up like we do with the ones in a zoo and hand them to others. I heard that Maddyn would not hold them at all. And then the picture of his hotel with a pool or hotel next to the beach, we knew he was in his comfort zone. And this picture below is the first we saw of him in Guatemala...can you believe it was cold enough at night for Davis to wear a hoodie.
But finally, they had to make their way back to Guatemala city to take a bus on the Pan American highway through El Salvador into Honduras and on into Tegucigalpa. Davis said it was a really nice bus that brought them snacks and drinks periodically. There was a bathroom on the bus, but he said they tried to avoid that, but he did get another stamp in the passport going through El Salvador, and they did stop there for a quick sandwich and bus change. On arrival in Tegucigalpa, it was already very late, which is why they did not come on to Campamento that night. But Davis had one more perk of staying with Bobby...Bobby had some hotel points and got him a 2 bedroom, 2 bath hotel room all to himself in one of the high rise buildings in the city. Yeah, Davis was living large.
And I am glad he was traveling with Bobby. Bobby is street savvy in these central american countries. For example, here is another Bobby post: "Leaving Guatemala I needed to change some money back to USD. The rate I should have gotten was $240 usd. He started by offering me $175, I laughed and walked away, his next offer was $215, I stepped on the bus, and then his offer was $237. You gotta know the game at the border money changing".
After another 2.5 hour bus ride, Bobby, Maddyn and Davis finally arrived at the day care. To screams of MADDYN from all the little ones, and big hugs for Dave from me and Belle. Strange way to meet up, but it was fun to hear some of these stories above later that evening.
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