mom & dad!

I'm not sure if you're aware, but I keep a Nicchi-in-Guatemala count. For the past 4ish months, it's been at a very steady one. But on November 10th, the count shot up to three when my parents touched down at the airport! For almost a full week, Mom and Dad came to see what this whole volunteer thing in Guatemala is all about (convinced? check).

In her typical fashion, Mom wasted no time in making sure we saw and did everything we possibly could while they were here. Plus, it just so happened that they were here for the 15th anniversary celebration! We started off with that, in which my parents had the chance to meet a bunch of my boys, practice speaking with my older English students, get to know my volunteer friends, and take about 390480 pictures of the place that I live/sleep/work/eat at :)

The next stop on the itinerary was the lake. We almost didn't go, but were we sure glad we changed our minds. We decided to take up the offer for a boat tour. With that we saw a coffee co-op, a bungalow port town, eat delicious sandwiches, browse a few art galleries, and of course catch the stunning view of the surrounding volcanoes. The next day, we headed to Antigua. While I'm there pretty often, it was fun to explore it with the tourist mindset. We squeezed in a few museum tours, church visits, and gift shopping. It was then time to head back to the capital. We got stuck in a little bit of traffic, but the dim sum dinner we had for dinner that night definitely made up for it. Dim sum? That's just one of the numerous non-rice-and-bean meals we had. The trip's menu also contained french onion soup, steak, sushi, veggie-filled omelettes, and Pollo Campero (Guatemala's version of KFC). Dad's nose knows!

While there's always email, snail mail, and phone call contact between the fam and I, absolutely nothing beats having the real deal here with you. It was a wonderful trip full of silly, yummy, and great moments. Gracias Mama y Papa!