I cannot believe how fast the time has flown. Tomorrow I head to Belize to the carribean islands and hopefully a visit to the lighthouse reef - wow!! My time in Guatemala has really been amazing. It is such a beautiful country with so many wonderful and varied things to see and do. The last few days Kate and I headed up north to Flores. We did want to go to Rio Dulce but despite being not far from Lanquin there are no concrete roads and it proved almost impossib...

The last week of house building really flew past quickly. It was hard work (again) because the site was so hard to access, so whereas before we used wheelbarrows to transfer sand and stones a short distance to make cement, this time we had to carry buckets of sand and stones about 50 feet down hill and through a thin alley to the tiny space by the house. Luckily we had three very strong guys in our group which made things a lot easier... The house was finished o...

Last week was very busy and hard work. Monday we had an earthquake around 10am - just before we had to climb up onto the makeshift scaffolding which is basically planks of wood balancing on blocks and poles...not very secure. I seemed to be the only person who didn't feel the earthquake - not impressed :0( and still had to climb up onto the scary scaffolding to cement bricks. As usual the kids had no fear running up and down the ladders, chasing each other round ...

Climbing Volcano Pacaya after a week of housebuilding was quite a challenge for me! Guides with horses taunt you calling "taxi, taxi - esta cansada? Caballos es muy fuerte!" But I was determined to climb the volcano with my own feet! Besides as soon as you got so tired you thought you couldn't continue, the path seemed to flatten out a bit - or we had a little rest! The ascent was quite cloudy which was good as it kept us cool, and also meant that we c...

Monday we finished our first house. The family were presented with the keys and the dad said a few words in Spanish. It was quite emotional and as the dad said thank-you, you could see that he was quite close to tears. This family has been waiting 5 years for a 'brick' house. The grandfather said to us that it was a gift from God and he was so grateful. This house means so much to the family and you suddenly realise that you forget the differences when you are bu...