Travel

A LITTLE BIT ON GUATEMALA

I have been lucky enough to do a large amount of traveling in the past few years and I am extremely thankful for that. Traveling is one of my biggest passions and I will continue to do so as long as I am able. As I sit here thinking about all the places I've been, it is far more than I initially thought. Each post on this page will have to do with a different trip I have taken and what experiences came out of them.

For starters, I was born in Guatemala, so I mean, I was pretty much born ready to travel:) ...just kidding.....sorta.

{Side Note: Adoption is always an interesting topic to discuss with people. Many people don't know that I was adopted from Guatemala. Sooo....here ya go. I was adopted. (insert dropped jaw). I believe there are many different situations that can play into adoption and  I think that is why some people are so shy to talk about it. In no way am I trying to be insensitive to the topic, but if anyone wants to talk to me about adoption, I am an open book. I love that my parents were so open with me about everything that had to do with my adoption. Both my siblings were adopted as well, my sister from Guatemala (although we are not blood related) and my brother from Russia. If we expand into extended family, I have 5 more cousins who are adopted. Three are from Guatemala, one from Paraguay, and one from China. So in a nutshell, we have quite a mix of adoptions and diversity in my family. I love it and would not have it any other way.}

ANYWAY, from Guatemala, I moved to Ohio. Ohio is one of those places that you learn to love. It is by no means a dream living destination, in my opinion. At the same time, I could be living in the streets of Guatemala. I could be calling "home" a 12x12 room with 5 people crammed in (which is what I would have been doing) so for that Ohio is pretty darn great in comparison (although Guatemala got the weather and temperature thing down). The place that you call "home", is home because you make it that. You have the choice to create an atmosphere that you enjoy being in or despise. I am extremely grateful I was adopted and will continue to count my blessings.

As I said, I love traveling and I've always been one who loves being on the go. As soon as I got my license, I was never home. Always at soccer practices, school functions, hanging with friends; anything that was spontaneous and fun.

When I was 14, my family took a trip back to Guatemala. It was there that I was able to really grasp the idea that I had been "rescued". I love the parallels between adoption and our relationship with  God "adopting" us into His family. I was given a fresh start thanks to my parents, and we are given that exact same opportunity when we accept Christ into our lives. One of my favorite verses to identify with is Romans 8:14-16. ^"For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, “Abba, Father.” For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children." There is something that makes me have such a sense of peace after reading that. I know I belong.

Sitting here now makes me wonder what I would be doing today if I were still living in Guatemala. I can only imagine how much different life would be. The trip also made me realize how much I loved discovering new things, meeting new people, and learning about different cultures. We got to see the Peten Jungle & Mayan ruins in Tikal, the market in Guatemala city, the mission where my parents worked, orphanages, and Antigua. It was really an awesome experience, especially since I had the special connection of being a citizen of Guatemala.

The Peten Jungle was awesome, mostly because it is a freakin jungle! We had to take a short flight there from Guatemala City, but it wasn't too bad. We ate lunch at a small local restaurant, with delicious homemade food, and then got to go on a bus and tour parts of the jungle.

Guatemala’s Peten jungle is a filled with crazy flying insects, huge caterpillar type bugs and spiders (....and not just little house spiders either...there are tarantulas literally running young, wild and free -  so very creepy). Wild monkeys, jaguars, and beautiful birds were normal to see; these birds put our little blue jays and red cardinals to shame. Not only were the animals unusual, but even the road signs. The normal "pedestrian crossing "sign was replaced with "jaguar crossing"caution signs...which maybe, just possibly, comes as a surprise when you're only used to seeing ones with deer, ducks or people on them, here in Ohio.

After a bit of driving, we stopped in the middle of the jungle to walk around. The sights and sounds are too difficult to put into words, it made you feel as if you were transported into a different world. From our stop, we hiked to a few different Mayan Ruins in Tikal. It's crazy to think that the place was inhabited by Mayan people so many years ago. There is so much history and culture as you walk around. We even got to climb some of them and you could see over the tops of the trees. Definitely a very cool experience and would recommend it to anyone!

My favorite place to visit was Antigua. There is nothing like it! Is it bad that sometimes when people ask where I was  born, I want to say Antigua just because it's such a beautiful place and sounds cooler than Guatemala City? Regardless, I do have bragging rights to being born in Guatemala. It would be my dream to go back and live in Antigua, to really study the architecture (which it's known for) and take some Spanish speaking classes as well. I really felt like I could spend days there and find something new to do everyday. Safe to say a little piece of my heart will always be there. I got a heart necklace made out jade while we were there and it's on of my favorite pieces of jewelry to this day. It's a special reminder of my favorite place!

I could go on and on about more stories of this trip but I'll save them for other posts. For now, I am advising everyone to visit Guatemala....like right now. Go buy your tickets, you won't regret it!! (joking, but not really)

I'm off to try and find some photos of our trip and I'll post some, too!