Volcano Fun

I added some more pics! These are from the past week.

In the states, it is stereotypical for a teacher to receive an apple from a student. On Friday, I am trying to get a bunch of kids under control and walking around the room, and this one kid asks me if my name is Samuel. Just as soon as I say "Yes," he pulls out this mini-pineapple from underneath his shirt. Well, I am shocked. That was probably the last thing I would expect when I confirmed my name with this kid. I was a little speechless as I took the mini-me pineapple from the kid, but of course I am speechless most of the time when it comes to replying to someone in Spanish. Anyway, I say thank you and place the strange gift on the table while I ponder if this was a "normal" thing here. After the school day I picked up my things -- including the pineapple and as I walked out, I saw another teacher who was holding a mini-me pineapple and she turned to me and said, "Oh, you got one too!" I guess this is the Guatemalan equivalent of the teacher's apple from states.

I spent this weekend in Antigua again. I love to hang out there. It's so much more chill than the city. It's a great relaxing place to go to after a big week teaching in the inner city. Of course, now that I REALLY know how to get to Antigua (since I got lost last time for several hours,) I left the city at about 5PM and figured, "I'll be in Antigua before dark." Well, I couldn't have been any more wrong. No, I didn't get lost this time, but I experienced Guatemalan traffic at it's worst. I spent 3 hours in the city before even getting on the road to Antigua. Yes, it was nighttime and I was still in the city. Traffic is no fun here. While I was sitting in bumper-to-bumper Guatemalan traffic listening to the radio, I felt God telling me turn off the radio for the time that the traffic was moving slowly, and talk to Him instead. He was showing me to take advantage of the situation. I was looking at it as an annoyance that was slowing me down, but God helped me change that view into a "quiet" time with God. I say "quiet" time because there really isn't much quietness to a Guatemalan chicken bus.

Before I get on the road to Antigua, I stop to get some badly needed gas. I think this is where I lost my ring. I have... er, had a ring that I kept on my carabineer, but when I got to Antigua, it was gone. I just knew it was going to eventually fall off. But the funny thing is, I bought it here in Guatemala many years ago. It just wanted to be home. After filling the tank, I start to get back on the main road, but this chicken bus cuts in front of me to take a right turn. I don't think that the driver saw me, because he got REALLY close to my car. I was gripping the steering wheal just waiting for a scrapping sound to start as this long bus got closer and closer. There were Guatemalans standing around outside and their faces said, "Oh no!" Now, if you see a Guatemalan worried about something to do with traffic, you know you are in trouble. But there was no scratchy sound or bumps. All is well in the body of my car.

That night, I went out with some friends and just chilled or whatever. The next day we got together for lunch and everyone was trying to talk me into going on this trip with them the next day -- climbing an active volcano! "It's only 40Q," (about $5) they said. So I was sold, I figured it'd be fun to go hang out on some trip with them. As we were walking to go watch some native dancing in the streets we passed by the agency that was putting the trip together, and Leneia said, "Hey, why don't you just go in and pay for it now, do you want to?" I said, "Sure," and I went in and signed up. As I was leaving the agency, Floor and Anameak came to me and said, "Oh, I thought you were going with our group to [such-and-such] city." What? I was totally confused, "Aren't you guys going on the same trip?" No, they weren't. I had just signed up to do something that the most of the rest of the group wasn't doing. But we ended up agreeing that it was ok since I would see them next week. Then Lineia said she would make some sandwiches for me tomorrow since we had to provide our own lunches and I didn't have a host-family anymore in Antigua to provide food.

The next morning I woke up at 5AM to get to the pick-up location at 6AM. When I got there, there were two people from Germany waiting for the bus. After some small talk, the bus arrived, and Lineia and her friend weren't there yet; right before the bus leaves another German comes on board, but the bus had to leave and pick up some other passengers, so Lineia was left behind -- with my lunch for the day. I also didn't eat breakfast since I knew I could munch on some of the lunch... haha! I was so wrong. All I had with me was a half-drunken bottle of water. I don't know why, but I guess since it was in my hand, I kept drinking it... and drinking it, until there was just a little bit left, then I stopped as I went for another sip -- "Shouldn't you save this for when you really need it on the volcano?" I thought to myself. I screwed the lid back on and hid it underneath my jacket.

When we arrived at the volcano, I saw a little store with bottled water for sale. "You should get some water since you don't have that much right now," I said to myself, but I talked myself out of it by saying, "No, I have enough to climb up some stupid hill." Wow, did I ever underestimate the size of this volcano. As we start the climb, we are surrounded by a wooded area. It's kind of like hiking in Kentucky, but a little steeper. After about 45 minutes, the trees had faded away, and we came upon a big open space with weird-looking grass fading into lava-sand-rock-stuff. When we got to the beginning of the REAL part of the volcano, ash, sand, and rocks, it looked like the tour guide was about to say, "Ok, that's it, let's go back now." But he turned to the massive volcano and started walking.

Up until this point, I had been in front of the group the whole time, getting to all the places the fastest. Then we started climbing up the sandy-rocky-lava-stuff. It was SOO hard to do. You would take one big step and slide down about one foot. Then you take another step and slide down two feet. I was dying. Not only was I out of shape, out of breath (because I was out of shape and because we were like a million miles above sea level,) but I was in dire need of water. As I pull the water bottle from the hiding place in my jacket, I look through the clear plastic to see a whole lot less water than I remembered there being. Feeling like Samwise Gamgy and Froto Baggins from Lord of the Rings, I take the miniscule sips of water and start back up the slippery volcano again. You know in the last movie of Lord of the Rings where Samwise and Froto are struggling like crazy to get up Mount Doom? Well, that was exactly how I felt. I had to stop every few minutes to catch my breath. Wheezing like an old man, I put one foot in front of the other only for them to slide down more. It was the most frustrating hike I had ever been on. But it was worth it.

When I got to the top, there were splashes of lava shooting out of this tower of lava that stood in the middle of the crater of the volcano. There was this hole glowing bright-red to the left that looked just like the entrance to Mount Doom. After taking lots of pictures at the top, we began the decent down. I thought this was going to be the worst decent ever as with the first two steps I nearly fall on my butt with both. "This volcano is slicker 'n snot!" I thought to myself as I carefully tried to maneuver myself downward. With every carefully calculated step, I started thinking about "letting go," not holding anything back, like when you make a decision to follow Christ, you have to put all your fears and worries on Christ, and trust that God will take car of you. With that, I let go, I started to lunge into the slick ash and rock. With every lunge I made, I slid five feet. Rocks and sand were consuming my feet in a moving mound. The longer I lunged, the faster I got. Rocks and dirt were pouring into my socks and shoes, but I didn't care -- I had let everything go; I knew that if I fell, I would be cut-up and bruised, but at that moment, I didn't care, I was trusting that nothing would happen to me as I kept on lunging into the slippery slide of rocks and ash. One of the German guys had caught up with me because he was "letting go" as well. It took about 45 minutes of sheer hardcore aerobic workout on just this one part of the volcano to go up, but it took about 2 minutes to come down when you let it all go.

When I got to the bottom, I looked up at the others who were being cautious and slow. God said, "Are you going to be cautious and slow for Me? Or are you going to really trust me -- are you going to 'let go' and have your faith be completely in Me?" As I looked up at the slowpokes above, I saw a figure coming down, just flying by the others -- it was our guide, "letting go." God showed me from a distance what He can do through people who say, "I'm letting go, God. You are the one I trust, here are my lunges of faith to prove it."

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