Walking into the school community in Cojomachoj, I was immediately taken by the hand by this gorgeous girl, who became my “ambassador” for the day 😍

Such a cutie!

We were then treated to a lovely show by the children, including traditional Guatemalan dances. These two stars of the show demonstrated the cutest traditional courtship routine with two of the little girls from the village, all of them dressed in traditional village costume.

Coutship in Guatemala, as demonstated beautifully by the village children from year 4.

He then jumped onto my lap for the remainer of the show! 

Three of the girls showing us a traditional Guatemalan fire dance

How much fun is this?! We feel so welcomed and it’s so incredibly amazing to be be here! You Should Be Here!

Each of us Voluntourists introduced ourselves and the children all said our names a few times as a group to remember them. Members of the community came along to join in and welcome us to their village. Considering the whole village was in mourning for the unfortunate passing of a 6-year-old girl yesterday (from chickenpox), they were still so happy to see us and made an amazing effort to show us their gratitude. Bless! ❤💙💚💛💜 (we all paid our respects with a minute silence… and possibly a few tears…)

Then another (fury) friend joined the ceremonies!

The birthdays for the week were acknowledged and celebrated!

Dancing together to “break the ice”

Hugs all round!

Wheelbarrow fun!

The decorations all made by the children from rubish scraps were enticingly beautiful and so colourful!

A cheeky face observes with glee

Team meeting with our foreman before work continues

Hard at it mixing concrete

A feathered friend joins our tour of the village

Learning how to make corn tortillas

Observing the hand-weaving craft of the village women

Being led around the village to visit local houses, from the more wealthy to the poorest of the poor, my two lovely guides took my hand and insisted on carrying my water bottle for me! Such beautiful gentle souls, and yet we couldn’t speak a word to each other due to language barriers, I feel I am connected to each of them forevermore! Such a magnificent feeling of joy to be helping these communities 😍

This beautiful lady is 86 years old and a great grandmother

Coffee beans being dried in the sun

Three pairs of hands, one heart to serve!

This family of seven live in a tin hut with open sides,  no electricity or running water and only two small beds with no matresses between them. They survive on a mere $7 a day for 7 people… certainly puts things in perspective…

The house they live in, the kitchen is on the right, the living area where everyone sleeps, on the left

Swinging off the fruit trees!

The arts and crafts made by the children and the villagers provided us a chance to do some gift shipping and contribute more to the community.

The market stalls were bright and  colourful and filled with incredible talent

Another fury friend bids us Ola!

And of course,  somewhere in between all this love, THIS happened and work began together with the community to build our bottle-school! 😉

Floorings before…. 😉

And special thanks to this incredible lady, who cooked us lunch and dinner… you have not eaten food until you have tasted Cristie’s cooking! Can’t wait to see what’s on the menu for tomorrow! 🤗

On the bus

Time for a shower and good night sleep!😙