Guatemala Day 7

Today we hiked up a mountain to the sacred Laguna de Chicabal.

We rode our party buses to a little rest stop on the mountain. From there, all 14 of us + the driver squeezed into this pick up truck and went to the entrance of the park.

I forgot to mention that the truck had bull horns and a siren that went off before we started driving. I think that made the whole experience :)

A to-scale map of our hike

Obligatory FTFO photo

After hiking up the mountain (which was insanely difficult because 1) it was really steep and 2) we're not even used to the elevation of Xela yet), it was a relief to walk down a million steps 

If you look carefully, you can see a man in this picture. I wanted to ask him to trade pictures with me (since I was obviously in his picture too), but he disappeared. I guess it just wasn't meant to be.

First glimpse of the lake! It's a sacred Mayan lake so you're not allowed to touch (let alone swim in) the water.

The remnants of some Mayan rituals 

We were not the only visitors to the lake. There were a LOT of different school groups there, presumably on a field trip to this very important site. You could tell they were confused because our group is so diverse - they couldn't really pinpoint where we were from. After a few minutes of curious stares and awkward eye contact, they started to approach us...

They absolutely ADORED Ariel's hair. They were touching it and asking how it's done. I wish I got a picture of the whole group that swarmed her!

And then there was Jaeho with his very unique look and personality. Some of the girls started asking me if we were dating (presumably because we're both Asian lol) and when I said no, they started giggling HAHA They wanted to take selfies with him and when he pulled out his trusty selfie stick, there was an absolute riot. They were SO excited. Some of them thought he looked like  구준표, a famous Korean actor:

I don't see the resemblance...

And then, right when we thought that things couldn't possibly get more exciting, a man comes out of the blue and starts to serenade Ariel.

And then we got into a huge circle and started playing games with them. I have NO idea how to describe it but videos to come... 

Okay and then after a while, we finished our walk around the lake, sat down and ate lunch, then walked back to the red bull truck.

And along the way, we played on a rope swing which was nothing short of fantastic.

Today was such a fantastic day. Not only did we get to hike and see this beautiful lake, the kids really welcomed us into their community. I think they were fascinated by how different we were (how we looked, how we acted, how we spoke, how we lived), but I was fascinated by how similar we are. What we eat for breakfast, what we wear, what language we speak may be different, but kids around the world all like to play and have fun and are interested by new and novel things and I'm so honored that they included us in their game and were so open to us. Wherever I am, I want to think about those kids and remind myself to keep that kind of open mind, open heart, and open mind.