Guatemala photos below tell the tale of my first real travel adventure!
BIG new flash about me…I LOVE to travel! I want to see the world and I’ll be including several more posts to come of trips I’ve taken and future plans of longer term travel. Yay!
I took this trip to Guatemala during my early 20’s. At that time, I was a nanny in the San Diego area. My parents started planning a trip to take their church youth group to Guatemala to work in an orphanage that my family had been very involved with. (I have two cousins who are adopted from this orphanage.) They extended the invitation to me and I accepted with great excitement!
Prior to this, my travel experiences out of the U.S. had only included Mexico trips with my parents that were close to the U.S. border. So I was very excited to get my passport and even the needed shots.
Here are some pictures of my travels in Guatemala:
This is Casa Guatemala:
The orphanage is located on the Rio Dulce in Guatemala:
While at the orphanage, one of the bigger projects we completed was the building of this bridge that led from the main area to the clinic:
And here is one of many photos I took of the amazing children that we loved spending time with:
After the time spent at the orphanage, I was fortunate enough to be able to stay on a bit to travel with my Aunt, Uncle and cousin. We were off to explore more of the beautiful country of Guatemala!
We visited many of the local markets, including the famous Chichicastenango market (I think that is the market in the picture.)
Beautiful Lake Atalan surrounded by volcanoes:
Here is a picture for the city center in Antigua, Guatemala – a place well known for its Spanish language immersion programs.
Things I learned from my travel experience to Guatemala:
- I wanted to see more of the world! This dream was most definitely still alive!
- I did find great joy in volunteering at the orphanage and would love to do something like this again in the future.
- My weight DID hinder me in some ways! Though not at my heaviest, being overweight affected how I felt about myself and it definitely made a difference in how I moved throughout this journey physically. (I also got really sick towards the end of my trip and feel that the longer recovery period was partly to do my physical state.)
- Meeting other travelers in Guatemala spurred my optimism that I would travel again in the future!
It was a wonderful first adventure and my heart would begin yearning for more…Â 😉
Do you love to travel? What was your first BIG trip? Would love to hear it…
