HELPS

The view from the hospital in Tejutla-we were on a mountain

Guatemala was amazing. I'm so glad I went. Even though I don't speak very much Spanish I still met some incredible people in Tejutla. It was really eye-opening to see how the people in the mountainous villages live. They are so incredibly impoverished but so much happier than most people I know. They were so grateful for the medical care they received and so devoted to their families. Especially the husbands, it was really neat to see how patient and devoted they were--they just stayed by the bedside of their wives or children the whole time they were there, making sure they had everything they needed. I got to learn how to take vitals and helped out the nurses for a couple days. And I got to watch a couple surgeries too, which was fascinating (after I got over the initial queasiness haha).

The little boy Carlos was so cute, plastics operated on his hand

These two are sisters

The little kids were so adorable as well. A couple of girls we were playing with one afternoon asked us what it was like to ride in an airplane, and Sophia was trying to describe it to them. We played games with them for an hour or so one afternoon and they were trying to teach me the Spanish alphabet haha. And laughing at my prononciation. We taught them a couple English phrases too, it was so cute. Their favorite was "thank you veeery much."







A day or two later they were peeking under the crack under our door one day and recognized Sophia (they called her Sophie). But they couldn't remember how to say my whole name, so they were asking her: "Donde esta Kenni??" haha it was so cute.







We had a military escort the whole time in Tejutla, so there were always soldiers around. Haha they totally took this picture seriously and posed with their guns. I think they were trying to look menacing haha.

One of the last days we got to go on a hike down the mountain and up the next to this really colorful cemetery. The view was absolutely amazing. We also got to look at a real flour mill powered by a waterwheel--they diverted the river and everything. So cool.

This boy was wearing a BYU shirt and didn't even know what it was

Grinding flour

The mill

One of the farms

The cemetery

The view

Most of the nights we were just too tired at 8 or 9, so we just went to bed early. The roosters started around 4 am, though so the last two hours of sleep were usually interrupted by them or the dogs, or firecrackers haha. One of the nights I went and played cards though, which was really fun. I had never heard of the game 500 before, but it's basically a more complicated version of hearts.

I already posted about Tikal, which I got to go to on Monday, but after the week in Tejutla we went to Antigua for a couple days to do touristy stuff. Tuesday we just laid by the pool and had a banquet that night, where everybody got dressed up. It was fun to see everyone again but sad having to say goodbye.

Love them

Guatemala was amazing. I definitely want to go again, but next time I want to go on the stove team, cause there were too many helpers this trip. It was definitely still a great experience though. I loved it.