Guatemala 1: el orfanato y los niños (the orphanage and the kids)

I have so many pictures of all the things we did in Guatemala, so I decided to do a few different posts and divide everything into categories with a slide show in each one.

First of all, Guatemala was awesome! I had such a good time and am so glad I went. The weather was perfect the whole time, even though they are in their rainy season and it should have poured every day. It was about 70 degrees the whole time and even though it was overcast a lot of the time, it only rained a couple of times at night. This was an awesome blessing because a lot of the members of our group wouldn't have been able to work if it was raining.

I think my favorite part of the trip (besides the shopping) would have to be playing with the kids. They are so much fun and just love the attention! Our first day there we brought bubbles and they had a blast. One girl, Ana Maria (8) went through a whole bottle. It took her about 3 or 4 hours, but she did it. There are a couple of babies there that we got to hold a lot. There is also a 3-year-old girl, Lydia, who only weighed 8 pounds when they got her a couple of months ago. She has gained a few pounds since then, but she is still so tiny. She was severly malnourished and I think has fetal alcohol syndrome. She was very sweet and loved to be held or pushed in her stroller.

There were a couple of boys that were about two, Carlos and Abraham, that loved to be held as well. Carlos would pretty much attach himself to you and if you tried to put him down he would collapse and start crying. So if you were holding him, you were stuck with him. Which was totally fine with me. The only bad part was when you had to leave for the day and give him up. It was heart breaking to watch him cry.

There were a few teenagers there that I would talk to a lot. It's really sad that they have to be there, but that's how it is until they turn 18.

The orphanage itself is....probably not a place I would want to live in. The kids mostly hung around outside, because most of the orphanage is not enclosed. The bedrooms are, but that's about it. Thank goodness they're building a new one about 1/2 an hour away that will be much nicer.

There were about 3 kids that I would have gladly adopted if I could have. Unfortunately adoptions are closed in Guatemala right now :( But I am SO glad I got to go down and help at least a little. It was amazing!