Not everything is peachy keen but......

but in the big picture all is well.

Mel´s version...... (Raquel´s version below)

After a weekend trip for 7 of us to the Nacional Parque Semuc Champey, and a lovely time it was with plenty of stories to go with it, we returned to find all was not quite right. In fact, I returned to find some items had been stolen from my room. My laptop, phone, chargers, credit card and drivers license were all gone! You can imagine my shock. The next part(s) are dramatically shortened because it would be small novel to tell the entire story.

In a nutshell, owner of hotel passed away, lots of sons and daughters who know very little of how the place is run, the three employess of the place dumbfounded, the two room cleaners in tears, police investigation and report (a short novel in itself), guatemalan lawyers, mucho phone calls to the U. S., luckily an interpreter from a peace corp group in town, a quick trip to guatemala city the next day, the morning spent at the U. S. Embassy (I forgot to mention my passport was also stolen), a night at a B&B in Guatemala City, a van ride to Antigua. Whew!

Anyway, Marcia and I are now on early R&R in Antigua. Like I said, we are fine, there will be some inconveniences to deal with upon return but now we are in for more adventure. We will be sad though as wE are going to miss the roof going onto Onofre´s home and the closing celebration in Uspantan. We spent some time looking around for a USB card reader today to no availE so unfortunately I can´t post any pictures (more stolen stuff). I´ll get the pics up eventually, you´ll enjoy the one, quite comical, of the policemen getting assistance from the inerpreter filling out the report. Oh yeah, while at the police station I met another Melvin!

Enough for now, and we´re looking forward to the beginning of Semana Santa (Holy Week) festivities tomorrow here in Antigua.

Adios!

Raquel´s version:

Hola mi amigos! Our weekend of R & R was a great adventure, although not much rest was involved, and the relaxation part was up to individual interpretation. Seven of us used public transportation to get to Semuc Champey, which is definitely off the beaten path. We think the largest number of people packed into one of the 12 person vans we travelled in was 28. I have a bruise on my butt from being wedged into a seat for several hours. We also spent plenty of time riding standing in the back of small trucks. We stayed at a totally cool place in wood and thatch roofed huts, 2 bunk beds to a room, for about $4 per night. The food there was great, the climate much hotter than our build site, and the scenery gorgeous. We spent a day hiking into and swimming in these amazing pools that are on top of a limestone arch with a river rushing underneath. Hard to explain so you´ll have to take my word for it that it was truly beautiful. In the evening we hiked into a cave to watch all the bats fly out at sunset. This was not my favorite part of the adventure due to slipping regularly on the bat guano in the steep climbs of the cave, but all in all I loved the whole adventure, and we all had a blast together. As my subject line suggests, the next part is not as great. When we returned to our hotel in Uspantan, our room had been broken into and a bunch of Mel´s stuff was stolen, and just a bit of mine. Since the area we were travelling to was more remote, we had decided to leave our valuables behind in what was considered a very safe hotel. Mel´s passport, drivers license, credit card, laptop, I-phone, my phone, all of our cables and connectors and $160 US dollars were all stolen. My passport and US dollars were not taken from the room, and I had my credit and bank cards with me, so we are not penniless in Guatemala. Luckily we had copies of our passports that we had taken with us, which made it easier for Mel to get his replaced. We spent Sunday evening and Monday morning dealing with the hotel staff and the police, which truly was a fascinating experience. To add to the bummer of it for the hotel, the owner had died on Friday, and his children were having to deal with the situation during such a tough time for them. Apparently Uspantan has a reputation of being a very safe place and the hotel has never had a theft before, so they were pretty devastated. We ended up getting the help of an interpreter and the hotel had a lawyer help them and it worked out pretty well for everyone. They paid us the costs of the expenses that would not be covered by homeowners insurance, and the deductible. We cancelled our phones and Mel´s bank cards with the help of Dustin who we had left copies of everything with. Then on Monday afternoon Mel and I left our team behind and headed to Guatemala City to the US Embassy. This morning (Tuesday) after only 2.5 hours he got a temporary passport, and we headed to Antigua where we will reconnect with our team on Thursday. It is way too far (6 hour drive) to go back to Uspantan then turn around and leave again. We are bummed to be missing putting the roof on Onofre´s house, but not at all bummed to no longer be carrying cement blocks down that hill! Not at all what we had planned, but these trips are all about flexibility and going with the flow. We have all had a very interesting experience dealing with the Guatemalan police, and the process of getting a passport, which we never would have experienced, and we have learned some new lessons. Not to mention that we now suddenly have a couple of days to ourselves in a very cool town. Tomorrow will be the farewell party in Uspantan, and down here in Antigua Mel and I will be watching the preparations for Semana Santa, which is a major holiday down here for Holy week. And who knows.....we may even squeeze in a well deserved massage! That´s all for now folks. We are so grateful that we are all safe and that our cameras and memory cards were with us rather than in the hotel! Buenos Noches! Raquel