A sight to behold!

In the past, I've talked a lot about all the hours of Spanish school, studying, and other Spanish related activities that have mostly occupied my time here. After a full week of learning, my head is usually almost swimming with the uses of subjunctive, imperfect vs. preterite tense, estar vs. ser, idiomatic expressions, and a boatload of new vocabulary. My teacher, Mary, sometimes says "Aww, pobrecita la cabeza, Sam!", referring to my head that's about to emit fumes if it has to remember another iota of information. :)

But luckily for me and for all other sufferers of the head-about-to-explode syndrome, there's a solution: the weekend! In my weekends here, two major activities I did (besides taking naps) were hiking the volcano Acatenango and traveling to Tikal to see the ancient Mayan ruins. They are, I might add, two experiences that are at the top of my list of "things I'll never forget".

The trip to Acatenango was a group trip organized by a friend, Deano, that I met here at the Spanish school in Antigua. He graciously invited me to join their group of nine, which I did, without fully realizing the pain my poor body was to endure later on!

On the way to the drop site. Not a clue about
the beating we were about to take. :)

Our initial ascent. Looks easy, right?

Some of the what the path looked like. On the way up it
was very foggy which made everything wet and slippery.

The hike begins at 1,400m (4,600 ft) up a generous slope of about 30-40 degrees with 25 pound backpacks. That may not seem like much, and indeed, it seemed easy at first, but after a while you start to want to throw in the towel. Finally, after close to six hours of hiking up to an altitude of 3,676m (12,060 ft) through slippery mud, sand, and volcanic residue, we reached our base camp. We were still not at the top, however; that was 300m further and the hardest climb of all!

Our basecamp. Hardly any of us slept because of the rocks,
icy cold, and noisy neighbors, but better than nothing!

The final ascent. What made this part hard was the
volcanic sand underfoot. On top of having to climb at
a 40 degree angle, you also had to take about two
steps for about every foot you traveled!

However, in spite of all the hard work, it sure was worth it. About all I could say was "wow, wow, wow......wow!" Nothing prepared me for what I was about to see. I was literally "on cloud nine"!

Some of the crew that made it to the top for sunset. Left to right: Lilli,
Daniel, Monica, Michael, Danny, and myself.

When we got to our camp that afternoon, only some of us climbed all the way to the top to see the sunset. The rest stayed behind to wait until the next morning.

We woke up the next morning at 4:00, hardly any of us having slept a wink, and prepared to climb to see the sunset. The millions of stars shone like diamonds in the crystal clear sky above us as we trudged slowly in the dark up the final slope. In all my life, I have never seen stars like that. With no lights for miles, you could literally see millions and billions of them! Again, all I could say was "wow, wow, wow..." I couldn't help but think then of the One who placed all of them there with merely His spoken word. What an amazing God we serve!

Once we finally reached the top we walked over to watch for eruptions from the active volcano, Volcán de Fuego. We saw a few small ones, but nothing to write home about. I thought we might not see any, and one of the other guys had literally just finished saying "Wow, wouldn't that be awesome if there'd be a huge explosion right now?", when BOOOOM and the top of the volcano opened with a spray of bright red lava and a huge puff of smoke. We all stared incredulously as the lava trickled down the sides and slowly turned to the color of the volcano. 

After the eruption, we turned our eyes towards the east where we witnessed one of the most beautiful sunrises I have ever seen. (This post is full of superlatives, isn't it? That's how it was, though!) Again and again I had to think of God and to marvel at his creation. And maybe it was a bit silly, but I felt closer to God as I stood 14,000 feet up in the sky and saw the cities, rivers, and forests beneath me. Or as the psalmist so eloquently says: When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them? Psalms 3:3-4

As a little side note, my aforementioned friend, Deano, made a very entertaining video of the trip, which has some more details about our trip. He is a master of talking "Espanglish" and is not afraid to try to say things, even though it might be embarrassing (a quality I very much admire!) You can find the video here.

The weekend after hiking up Acatenango, I traveled to Tikal. The trip maybe wasn't quite as spectacular as the volcano, but it still was quite interesting for a history lover like me. Tikal, for those of you that don't know, is an ancient Mayan village, and one of the most famous Mayan regions in the world. The park is renowned for its well-preserved Mayan temples and its many other buildings and ruins. It's located in the northern part of Guatemala, about a 10-11 hour trip if everything goes well.

Unfortunately, everything didn't go well. On the way there, we had two flat tires on the bus which lost us about 2-3 hours. When we finally got to Flores, our stop, it was already too late to go on the tour I had paid for. However, due to a very kind guide, and some answered prayers, everything worked out surprisingly well. I was put on another tour without having to pay extra and I got to spend the same amount of the time in the park.

Scientists estimate that around 120,000 Mayans lived in Tikal during its peak. While I was looking at the ruins, I thought about how the villages must have looked many hundreds of years ago. Mayan men and women bustling around, working their farms, babbling a strange language. Slaves working in the hot sun to erect temples for the Mayan gods of the sun, earth, fire, and water. Mayans in costumes singing and dancing around a fire worshiping their deities. What must it all have looked like? 

One of the main Mayan villages or plazas. 

The view from the top of Temple IV. In the distance you can see other
temples peeking up above the jungle.

Besides all the ruins, we also got to see a lot of wildlife. Since Tikal is a jungle, it sustains a multitude of creatures inside its vast borders. We saw a grey fox, numerous spider and howler monkeys, many species of birds, and two toucans--all in the wild! And that's not even scratching the surface of all the wildlife that finds refuge under the jungle canopy of Tikal.

Visiting these ruins was a great experience. However, in a way, it made me feel a bit sad as well. All this effort and work of the Mayans to please who? or what? Do I put a proportional amount of effort into worshiping God, who I know is real? Quite a challenge, isn't it? But at the same time, I can rejoice that I can have a personal relationship with my Maker. I don't need to tremble and constantly offer sacrifices to "please" Him, even though He requires me to do my part.

I hope you enjoyed this little sketch of my visits. If you are ever in Guatemala, take some time to visit these places. You won't be disappointed!

And as always, thanks so much for your support and prayers! In a few days I have plans to travel to El Salvador to begin another year of teaching school for the deaf. I'll really be sad to have to leave this pretty town of Antigua, but at the same time, I can't wait to get back to my home away from home. Pray that this school year would go well, and that we would be could instruments in the hands of God as we interact with the deaf of El Salvador!