Volcano Fuego- last night around 10 pm, many of the WRCA team heard a massive BOOM that rattled the windows and set off all the town dogs into a barking frenzy. This morning we learned that it was volcano Fuego ( means fire) that created this noise. Tonight when we arrived back in San Juan, we were treated to Fuego releasing puffs as the sun was setting. An amazing for the students to come to an awareness that the earth crust is very active. You can see the puff above Fuego and also volcano Acatenango to the right. We can actually 3 volcanos from the town square.

The view over Antigua and of volcano Aqua at dusk

Notice the age of the kids and the strain on their bodies and faces

The carrying of the incredibly heavy float that holds the carving of Christ. For this section of the procession it was being carried by youth.

The incense carriers that lead the Easter processional through the streets of Antigua

Views of Antigua from our hike today. Nope, not nearly at the top yet.

Some quiet reflecting and writing in San Juan square to start day 4

Another work day complete!

William trying his hand at welding alongside Eve, Colin and Farai

Katrina, Justilyn, our translator Vivian, Sara, Kyler and Mrs. Carrasco helped build a cement wall today

Riding in style - the chicken bus!

Taking time to reflect on our experiences

Visiting a family at their home and, yes, that is a volcano behind us

Water in a bag!

Wheeling and dealing in Antigua

Jacob, Demi, and Austin working hard in the wood shop.

Colin doing some welding for a school work project

Our first welding project complete!

The guys digging a trench for a future wall

Day 1 Complete

At 8:30am we met in the town square as a team to head out to a local school to do some work projects. Most of the students did construction work while some others did some wood working and metal welding. Morale was high, even when the sun was beating down on most of the students and we stopped for a lunch break to enjoy a spirited, pick up game of soccer with the students. During the work projects we were able to work right alongside the students at the school and learned more Spanish as well as we tried to communicate with both words and charades. 

After our work day ended at 3, we picked up our tired bodies and went to explore the city of Antigua for 2 hours. We are spending time hanging out with our home stay families tonight as our first work day is complete. As we say goodnight please keep us in your prayers as we head into another work day tomorrow. 

The crew about to explore Antigua

Gorgeous view this morning from the town square in San Juan

Arrived Safe and Sound in Guatemala

Successful travel day! After being met in the airport and loading all of our gear into our bus, an excited group of students and staff embarked on our trip to San Juan Del Obispo. On route, in typical WRCA fashion, we had some bus trouble (see picture of smoke). We pulled over, got staff, students, and luggage off the bus-in that order :). After meeting some nice Guatemalan firefighters and police, we loaded up on our new bus to meet our home stay families who were waiting for us in the beautifully lit town square. 

After a good rest we are ready for our work project day in Santa Lucia!

The smoke 

Our bus

Town square

Guatemala Bound!

5:30am at the airport!

Instagram

If you happen to be on Instagram, we will be using the hashtag "#gmala2K14" for all of our picture posts. We will also be posting photos on the blog as often as we can to give you a snap shot of what our students have been doing throughout the day.

Team Photo

Team Guatemala 2014! (minus a couple people who were missing that day)

Tie Dye!

Here is a small sample of our Tie Dye Shirts!

In order from Left to Right:

Mrs. Carrasco

Davis

Jacob

Kyler

Maddy

Jory

Mr. Deboer

2 weeks!

We are officially on the two week countdown until our plane takes off in Vancouver and heads to Guatemala! T shirts have been made, flights have been booked and events with the kids in Guatemala have been planned as we are finalizing the last details before we go. Here is a photo of some of our grade 11 students as they unravel their tie dyed shirts last Friday.