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Guatemala 2010 – day 4

Shawn — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 12:21:00 +0000

See all the pictures here.

Guatemala 2010 – day 3

Shawn — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 14:19:06 +0000

See all of the pictures here.

The most beautiful sound

Shawn — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 16:33:41 +0000

To say it’s difficult to get the boys of Eliza Martinez organized is an understatement.
There’s constant fighting and competition which is understandable.
When you’re an orphan, nothing in an orphanage is yours. Everything’s communal.

So to see these boys come together and not only work and play together but to cheer on their own is, literally, nothing short of a miracle.

And you’re about to see it.
But more importantly, you’re about to hear it.
It’s the most beautiful sound.

The little boy on Wendy’s lap is Alex. Alex has cerebral palsy. His lower legs are so underdeveloped he walks around on his toes, teetering with every step. He also has to wear a diaper and doesn’t speak.

We brought two piñatas with us to Eliza Martinez. After the boys destroyed Luigi we brought out Spider-Man.
The staff lined up the special needs boys to let each of them get a swing at Spider-Man.

Alex is sitting on Wendy’s lap when one of the staffers comes over and grabs Alex.
It’s his turn to take a swing.

Based on past experience, I’d have expected the other boys to let Alex take a single swing then push him out of the way.
But that’s not what happened at all.

Instead, they chanted his name as he (tried to) pummel Spider-Man into submission.
I imagine a host of angels were cheering Alex on, too.

Eliza Martinez panorama

Shawn — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 04:00:45 +0000

It’s hard to tell just what goes where or how big things are when looking at pictures from our Guatemala trips.

Therefore, I’ve put together a 360° panorama of Eliza Martinez (it’s actually closer to 400° as there is some overlap at the left and right edges of the image) from the view of the courtyard, where we seem to spend most of our time with the boys (when we’re outside).

Clicking on the image below should open the panorama in a new window. You may have to click it again to get it to show full size.

Guatemala 2010 – day 1

Shawn — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 03:31:06 +0000

Internet is spotty where we’re staying so who knows how infrequent our updates will be.

After a 13-hour travel day (up at 2am, leave home at 3am, get to Indianapolis airport at 4am, leave Indy at 6am, arrive in Atlanta at 7am, board for Guatemala at 9:30am only to find our plane had a leak, disembark, board a new plan and leave at noon, arrive at 3:30pm (2:30pm local time), we had some time to grab lunch then, on the way back to the baby’s home (where we’re staying, the baby’s have vacated to various locations and to foster care) we stopped to visit with Dani.

Dani seemed to be fitting in very well at his new home. When we arrived he was chatting and playing with the other kids. We entertained the boys with fart sounds and the old “quarter behind the ear” trick.

Rachael ended up showing a video that was on her camera of Juan Pablo to Dani who started talking to the camera as if it were Juan Pablo, telling him how much he missed him.

Guatemala in pictures

Shawn — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 13:31:00 +0000

Just in case you weren’t around for my trip to Guatemala last October, here’s all the pictures I took in slideshow format.

Our January 2010 Guatemala itinerary

Shawn — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 19:26:54 +0000

Those of you who like lists (I love lists, btw) will get a kick out of this post. Here’s our tentative itinerary for 1/21-1/25.

Thursday, 1/21

6:00am DELTA 5960 Indianapolis to Atlanta (track us for free at FlightAware), arrive at 7:38am local time
9:50am DELTA 693 Atlanta to Guatemala City (FlightAware), arrive at 12:20pm local time (gaining an hour)
Afternoon – Up in the air at the moment. We have to do some grocery shopping for our Friday morning Compassion visit (which we may have time to do Friday morning). I believe we’re also going to try and visit the Buckner baby’s home.
Evening – dinner at Casa Chapina, Cafe Sayul or NAIS Aquarium.

Friday, 1/22

7:30am-11:30am Wendy and I get to meet with Sammy, one of our sponsored Compassion children at his home, then Jody gets to meet with Miguel, one of her sponsored Compassion children in his home.
Afternoon – Spend time with the boys at Eliza Martinez, starting day one of our three day life skills courses. We developed these in response to the regular needs boys learning some skills they’ll need to operate as productive citizens once they come of age and leave the orphanage.
Evening – dinner at Casa Chapina, Cafe Sayul or NAIS Aquarium.

Saturday, 1/23

Morning – possibly more time at the Buckner baby’s home
Afternoon – more time at Eliza Martinez with our continuing life skills courses.
Evening – dinner at Casa Chapina, Cafe Sayul or NAIS Aquarium.

Sunday, 1/24

Morning – unplanned at the moment. This may end up being some much-needed downtime
Afternoon – Our final day with the Eliza Martinez boys. We’ll be wrapping up our life skills courses and cooking lunch with the boys (spaghetti, garlic bread and salad). This will be a hoot!
Evening – our final dinner in Guatemala for this trip. Undecided where we’ll go at this point.

Monday, 1/25

Morning – packing and travel to the airport
1:50pm DELTA 692 Guatemala City to Atlanta (FlightAware), arrive at 6:25pm local time (losing an hour)
8:30pm DELTA 5949 Atlanta to Indianapolis (FlightAware), arrive at 10:07pm local time

Guatemala 2009

Shawn — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 05:03:00 +0000

Guatemala 2009 slideshow

Shawn — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 15:04:54 +0000

Say hello to Sammy

Shawn — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 14:32:19 +0000

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