Day 11

After breakfast at the mission, we boarded a boat called the “Karina” to go across Lake Atitlan, which boarders San Lucas. The views of the mountains and the villages were exquisite and cannot be matched in New England.

We landed in a town called Panajachel and rode in “Tuk-Tuks”, which are motorized tricycle taxis, to a resort where we were scheduled to do zip-lining. We hiked up to the top of the resort, and got to view the unique vegetation and wildlife. We experienced speeds as high as 40 mph, and we enjoyed the amazing views of the surroundings.

We then visited the shops around the resort and had lunch. Afterwards, we rode the boat back to a town called San Antonio and continued shopping in the local area. The level of poverty at San Antonio is much higher than that of any area in which we had previously visited. It helped reinforce the need for volunteer help, and how even a little effort can go a long way in helping the people of Guatemala.

For our final meal together we headed to the Hotel Toliman restaurant, which would match any fancy restaurant in the States in quality. The professors thanked us for our efforts and made it a point of describing in detail how we surpassed their expectations. We returned the sentiments and thanked them for giving us the opportunity to help.

-Pete