Feb 4-6 we once again all loaded into the big, bright school bus and headed to Lake Atitlan. We went to Santiago where we spent a few hours, and then went and saw the landslide area, and then some of us stayed in San Lucas Toliman and others stayed in other areas around the lake.


The Lake from Santiago
















The park and "beach" in San Lucas. The water was really clear, though I never went swimming... not much of a beach, but a few docks.










Melanie, Katie, and Caitlyn playing on the playground






Some of us who were staying in San Lucas rented a boat for half an hour and went out to more of the middle of the lake.







In the water - Caitlyn, Katie, Adam, Melissa, Cassandra

While we were at Lake Atitlan, some of us stayed in San Lucas Atoliman at a house that belongs to the sister-in-law of one of the students from Guelph (who married a Guatemalan, and has lived here for quite some time). The house used to be their vacation home and it was quite literally a mansion. Unfortunately it was REALLY badly build on the side of a hill, and about 10 years ago most of the house just went sliding down the hill. Pretty much all that remained of the house was a kitchen and what I can only assume was a dining area, or a small living room with a bathroom. Now the living area has about 10 beds in it and I guess they just use it for when people want to stay there. They have someone that lives there and takes care of the gardening and such like, so the yard is beautiful, and it was a great little getaway... here are some pics..




This is the house (if you can see it). The part that we stayed in is the stone house in the front/middle of the pic. All the stone walls you see behind it, going up the hill, is what also used to be the house... It was HUGE!














Our first morning there we decided to have a little breakfast picnic... bread, peanut butter, jam, and nutella (which I don't think I had had since travelling in Australia). Jen, Adam, Melissa, Katie










Melissa and Caitlyn and the view from the top of the house/ruins

















Our last night there we decided to have a BBQ, which ended up being a fire inside with hot dogs and marshmallows... it was great (most of you know how I feel about hot dogs roasted in a campfire... hot diggity!) :) Melanie and the fire.

On Sunday when we were in Santiago we went to the area just outside of the city that was affected by hurricane Stan in 2005. It poured in the area for about 4 days nonstop and what they think happened was that the crater of the volcano filled with water and then broke, sending a massive mudslide early in the morning and burying the village and killing about 7000 people. We went to see the ruins, but were told by the local police that it wasn't safe to go see all of the area so we saw a little bit and then drove over to a temporary site of houses which was built by the gov't (with international help) for those people who had lost their homes in the mudslide.



What used be part of the school


















Deanna standing in front of one of the buildings so you can see how high the mud was











The houses that the gov't built for the people who lost everything. It was literally just a wooden frame and sheet metal. They built the houses on land that belongs to the catholic church. The catholic church has temporarily loaned it to them, but only for 2 or 3 years. There used to be about 700 families who lived here, now I think it's about 300









These were some of the more permanent houses being built on the land - for those who were related or a part of the catholic church

Saturday (Feb 3) was our spanish final - I cannot believe that we have done our four weeks of spanish already! The classes were good, not sure I can say the same about the final exam. We will see. In the afternoon, Magda (our Costa Rican prof) had us all over for a party. Her place was beautiful. It was also Ryan's bday, so it was also a bit of a bday party... a few of us bought him a pretty pinata.



Walking to Magda's with Betty the Pinata












We put so much candy in the pinata that the hook on the top of it wouldn't hold her up, so we had to tie her to the beam by a rope around her neck (a bit morbid, perhaps...) This is Ryan trying to get at the candy

















Ryan and what was left of Betty the Pinata
















The group... and cake!