Several months ago, at the age of 34, I got my very first passport. I was always nervous to travel abroad. I am sure part of it was the propaganda about traveling to certain places. However, most of the time I think I was intimidated by new languages, international paperwork, and flying. I had a terrible time with Spanish in college and only received some sort of a B (don't remember the exact grade) due to a student teacher who was afraid to look bad. I hate flying, not because I am afraid as much as I feel sick, both air sick (either I come down with a sinus infection from the pressure or actually vomit on the plane) and it aggravates my fibromyalgia. Until now, I never felt like I missed out and I certainly traveled otherwise, hitting more than half the states (by car) before I turned 20. Still, I was nervous. I have a cousin who has lived in London for quite a while and have never gone despite the fact that I am sort of in love with Britain from its wonderfully made television mystery shows. In the case of Britain, it isn't a language issue, but a long flight and time change issue. Anyway, with our kids in the training choirs at
church and the regular church choirs traveling to England this August, it hit me that I needed to get comfortable with foreign travel in the near future.
Then a friend of mine who lived in Guatemala for over a year, raved about it to me and wanted to go back, so we decided to go together for the month of January. It would be a great homeschool trip for her son and my kids as well as a break for my fibromyalgia in the cold. Of course, if she had only been on vacation there, I never would have been brave enough to go, but since she actually lived there, on her own with her son, I was much more comfortable. I wanted the kids to be immersed in Spanish as well as see a different culture and experience life very different than the U.S. The nice thing about Panajachel Guatemala is that there is still a very strong Mayan culture including traditional food and dress. It is one of the few places left in the world where so much native culture remains. The climate is also ideal with lows of about 48F and highs of about 72F all year, so it is never cold or hot.
For homeschool, it was a super experience. First off, the architecture was interesting with buildings open to the outside, sometimes in the middle of the building, since they don't require heating or cooling.
There are churches much older than our
church too.
Don't forget the day trip to Antigua where we saw many sites with old ruins including the Church and Convent at Capuchins.
There was the natural wonder of Lake Atitlan with its surrounding volcanoes.
The science of hot springs due to the nearby volcanoes.
The nature preserve was quite exotic complete with banana trees.
We learned about coffee on a tour of the farm and processing.
Forget conventional art class. The kids took a Mayan weaving class.
They visited a handmade pottery factory.
They visited the Galeria owned by Nan Cuz where they viewed lots of Guatemalan art.
They tried on authentic Mayan clothing from the village of San Antonio.
While we didn't plan on doing a whole lot of math, they kids studied Guatemalan currency and used it buy things including watching Mom attempt to bargain. Social studies was the strongest area covered mainly because the kids visited the homes of two local families and ate a traditional meal at one of them. We also experienced the ancient by visiting
Mayan ruins.
Modern differences were the most interesting. On the one hand, there was litter and less than perfect plumbing, but on the other hand there was the tremendous wisdom in simplicity such as the efficiency of tuk tuks on roads without too many cars (no traffic lights), hopping in the back of a pickup truck for longer distances, shopping in a pharmacy with no prescription needed, using ATMs where you can lock yourself in without the fear of someone else with a bank card being able to get in, and eating in restaurants where the owner's chickens roam about the premises.
Physical Education wasn't left out either as we did a horseback ride throughout the village of San Pedro (which I don't recommend for someone with fibromyalgia as due to lack of balance and sensory issues it was very uncomfortable and afterwards I had to rest quite a bit on the couch for several days - but it was fine for the kids).
The kids also went kayaking, but I didn't get pictures.
Obviously, many people in Guatemala don't have as much as we (or most Americans) do, so we had the kids volunteer two mornings doing an art project with preschoolers at
Mayan Families. They really felt great about helping the little ones.
