Hola amigos! Wow we have had a couple of packed days here at Eagles Nest. We will try to fill you in on our adventures so far…
Our first full day, Thursday, at Eagles Nest was a whirlwind! We started our day by going to the Nido de Aguila (New Day School) and participating in their morning program. It was amazing to see 185 students who come from several small villages to attend the school here. They were full of energy and ready for a great day! It was International Children’s Day and it is a big deal here in Guatemala. The children had parades, games, treats, and more! It was so fun to watch them get excited for the day ahead!
As school started we went on our way and Felis (our leader) gave us a tour of the facilities and shared more stories about how they ended up buying this bankrupt property for $150,000 which was negotiated down from $600,000. This “hilltop” view is breathtaking (see below)! Felis also shared with us their plans to continue to build out their ministry by building transition homes for the boys and girls to allow them to still have support while attending college. It is amazing to see the work that they have done and the structures they have built to accommodate as many children as they are given.
We ended our tour in the children’s home. There are about 50 little rascals in the home right now most of which are school age (k-6). We got to spend time holding, reading, drawing, and playing with the babies & toddlers and helping out the “Mamas” as they prepared lunch for the kids. We quickly grew bonds with all of these kids!
Our day didn’t stop there…(that was only 10AM)…we continued our day by helping prepare for the women’s retreat. Preparing for a 24 hour retreat for 90 women is a lot of work! We baked, made signs, bedazzled bags, glued, sewed, etc!
Next on our journey was probably the best part of the day for both of us! We were able to travel into the local (and we mean local) Guatemalan market with a couple who works for the home (Anayansi & Omar). Neither of them speaks English so they brought the 5 teenage boys who live in the children’s home with them along for the ride. We soon found that these boys are very sweet and also very good at speaking English (after they told us “no Ingles”). They helped tell us what the different fruits & vegetables were that Anayansi was buying. We made a deal that we would speak in Spanish and they would speak in English…that was a fun challenge! The market was packed full of produce, meats, cheese, and clothing. Our favorite part was to see all of the women dressed in their traditional Mayan clothing and trying all of the fruits before we purchased them.
By the end of the day we were exhausted. The next two days were going to be busy with the women’s retreat and helping in the home.
