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<\/a> We called ourselves \u201cLos Ochos Taquitos\u201d (Eight Little Tacos). We traveled many hours and saw many sights. We were eight U.S. \u00a0Americans, on our own, embarking on an adventure of a lifetime.<\/p>\nOur free travel adventure began on Thursday morning at 5:00am. Our group of eight traveled by two separate taxis to the Litegua bus station of Guatemala City.\u00a0 Our trip started out a little bumpy when one of the taxis didn\u2019t show up on time to the bus station. Four out of the eight persons waited for 45 minutes without hearing a response from the other group. Luckily, about 1 hour later than planned, the rest of the four showed up and we loaded onto the bus. The bus was headed for Puerto Barrios, a small port town located on the eastern coast of Guatemala. The planned bus ride of 5 hours slowly turned into a 9 hour bus ride through traffic. We spent our time on the bus watching two Jackie Chan films and Puss n\u2019 Boots. After a long bus ride, we finally arrived in Puerto Barrios.<\/p>\n
Two days were spent relaxing in and getting to know the small town of Puerto Barrios. On Sunday, our group left by ferry to Punta Gorda, Belize. It was the ferry ride of a lifetime with our ferry master, Walter. We all got soaked with sea water and our skin was crusted with salt. Although uncomfortable, it was an amazing experience that I will never forget. We arrived in Punta Gorda after an hour and a half. Once in Punta Gorda we caught a bus to Placencia. We arrived in Placencia as it was starting to get dark. We still had to find a hotel, so we made reservations at the first place we saw, located about 3 miles outside of town. A hotel named SEAKUNGA. \u00a0We spent a night in this hotel which was located on the beach. Our plans changed due to the less than desirable conditions and we decided to stay closer to town. The next day we made new reservations at a nicer beach front hotel. We spent four days in Belize and had a wonderful time relaxing, playing spades, meeting new people, and eating traditional Garifuna food.<\/p>\n
After Belize we traveled back by ferry, with Walter the ferry master, to a port town in Guatemala named Livingston. Livingston is a very small town located on the mouth of Rio Dulce (Sweet River).\u00a0 In Livingston, we took a wonderful river tour. On the tour we saw an island of birds, mangroves, and a castle. We also swam in a natural hot spring. We spent some time at an indigenous school and women\u2019s co-op.<\/p>\n
We traveled back to Guatemala City and met up with the rest of the group. It was wonderful to hear funny and scary stories about the other trips. We ended the free travel week by setting off fireworks outside of CASAS. It was an amazing experience that I will never forget. I am so glad to have gotten the chance to spend a week with 7 wonderful people who made the trip interesting and fun.<\/p>\n
-Emily Wise<\/p>\n
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Let the good times roll<\/p>\n
Our theme for the week was \u201cjust roll with it\u201d and at times that was all we could do.\u00a0 My group consisted of 6 other people besides myself and we were headed for the beautiful beach of Tela, Honduras.\u00a0 The day before we left for free travel, the internet at the school didn\u2019t work, so we could not look up the final directions we needed to get to our hotel from the bus station.\u00a0 All I knew was we needed to walk east once we got off the bus.\u00a0 Needless to say, God was watching over us and we got to our hotel safely and everything worked out!\u00a0 We spent most of the mornings soaking up the sun and relaxing on the beach.\u00a0 The water was perfect and the temperatures were very hot!\u00a0 The afternoons usually consisted of exploring the small town of Tela or hanging out in the hotel.<\/p>\n
We took one excursion in kayaks through mangroves to see wildlife, but unfortunately the kids who came with us were too noisy and scared everything away.\u00a0 We also got to experience the Garifuna culture as we spent a few hours in the village after our kayaking trip.\u00a0 This was an interesting experience because we saw the traditional dancing of the natives and ate at an authentic restaurant.<\/p>\n
Every evening we would make our own dinners because we had a hotel room with a kitchen.\u00a0 The last full day the five girls went out to the beach in the morning and Alex and John stayed back at the hotel to prepare lunch.\u00a0 Our expectations for lunch were not high but when we returned four hours later we were delighted to see chicken fajitas on the table and the smell of heaven surrounding us!\u00a0 What a great way to end the week!\u00a0 Our bus ride home was another interesting story because we didn\u2019t have a plan once we got back to Guatemala City but when we arrived and walked into the terminal one of the staff members from our school was there to pick someone else up from the same bus and he offered to take us too. Yet again we all felt God\u2019s presence and we know that he was watching over us and protecting us throughout this trip.<\/p>\n
-Laura Beckler<\/p>\n
On March 17th<\/sup>, our free travel groups made their way back to CASAS in Guatemala City. My group got back around 10 p.m. and celebrated our last moments of free travel with a bang… literally. We set off some firecrackers outside of CASAS since we had some leftover from celebrating Steph\u2019s birthday during free travel. It was difficult coming back to CASAS after a week of free travel, but it was nice to have a free day there for packing and doing our laundry. We met with Don to prepare ourselves for heading to Mexico the next day and also to find out the news we had all been anxiously waiting for: who we would be living with in Mexico. We also had group bonding while watching Bridesmaids<\/em>.<\/p>\n