PROGRAM PHOTO ALBUM
Thanks for the checking out the blog for this Global Leadership Adventures program!
Here are a few things to know and expect:
- Blog posts are written by onsite program staff and/or students and sent to our Headquarters team who will post the blog on this page.
- We typically receive 2-3 blog updates per week from each program, so please don’t be alarmed if you don’t see a blog post every day – that’s totally normal.
- Blog updates received late in the evening or overnight will be posted the following day.
- Blog updates received on weekends may not be posted until Monday.
- Due to many factors such as internet accessibility, program staff aren’t always able to send photos, so some blog posts may contain text only.
Thank you for your patience and understanding, and we hope you enjoy following along on these unforgettable adventures.
For frequently asked questions about the blogs, please visit our Program Blog FAQ page.
-The Global Leadership Adventures HQ Team
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BLOG POST FOR JULY 1
Welcome to the first blog post of the Guatemala: Children of the Maya program!
Today, your students arrived safely at the airport and were greeted with a warm welcome from our team. We then made our way to Antigua, where we are staying tonight. After getting settled and unpacking, we took a walk to the main plaza to take in the beautiful colonial architecture and vibrant colors of the city.
For dinner, we visited a restaurant built in 1650, giving everyone a taste of history alongside their meal. Now everyone is resting, and excited for first full day tomorrow as we begin our journey together in Guatemala! We are waiting for our last student Audrey whose flight was delayed and once she arrives we are
We look forward to sharing more updates with you throughout the program.
Best your Guatemala team,
Magdalena/Mag (international director), Alexa (mentor) and Nayo (local director)
BLOG POST FOR JULY 2 & 3
July 2nd
Today was a traveling day. We started our trip at Antigua, for the first night. After enjoying a desayuno delicioso with breathtaking views of the volcanos “Fuego” and “Agua”, we packed our bags and headed over to our Home Base in Xela. We stopped after 2 hours in a beautiful “Don Roberto Rancho”, where we ate lunch and saw cute conejos(rabbits), gallos(roosters), gallinas(chickens), y patos(ducks). We finally arrived to the Home Base in Xela, we’re Nayo, Mag, and Alexa gave us an informational tour of the Home Base. We discovered our rooms and our new roomies, and after some leadership activities and orientation, we got ready for bed, and adventures for the next day!
July 3rd
Today we woke up in our favorite old style way, bells at 6am sharp! We ate breakfast, and participated in an activity where we located our conform zones, learning zones, and panic zones.
Then we headed to the school we will be doing our service work this week, and we met the sweetest students ever! They talked, played, and took pictures with us- Que genial! We then started renovating their play area outside; scratching old paint, and re painting designs from older GLA programs. Then, 2 of our GLA students (Emily and Pepe) helped to teach a 6th grade English class!
After service, we headed to a chocolate museum, where we learned about the history of cacao, the procedure to make chocolate, and we tried chocolate tea, pumpkin spice chocolate, hot chocolate, and a chocolate fountain with fruits! Then, we took to a salsa dance class. We came back to the Home Base and we had our daily “Tea Time” afternoon meeting reflection. Then our last leadership group activity, and we got ready for an exciting day ahead!
Yours truly,
First Leaders of the Day: Ellie and Pepe
BLOG POST FOR JULY 4
We started off the day with homemade pancakes. Then went straight to our second day of community service at the school. We got to play many games with the kids including duck duck goose, soccer, hopscotch, and etc. Then we began painting the steps of the school after we sanded off the old paint.
Back at home base, we had time after lunch to go to the garden and work on our letter to future selves before a group meeting.
During the meeting we got to have a deep discussion about how our phones affect our lives and the adjustment we’ve made with the no phone policy. After, we played mafia as a group and then had extra free time to work on our lesson plans for the students at the school before eating celebratory dinner. This consisted of tamales, a sweet plantain with beans and hot cocoa. To end the day we did a bonfire and made s’mores to celebrate the Fourth of July! 🎇
Your leaders of the day: Ava & Emily
BLOG POST FOR JULY 5
Today, we headed off to Panajachel! When we arrived, we went on a boat tour on Lake Atitlan to San Juan. There, we learned about traditional Mayan weaving techniques with cotton. Every string is dyed naturally! With bugs, plants, seeds, or fruit/fruit skin. Then we had some time to walk around and shop. We headed back to the hotel to have lunch- made my the owner of the hotel herself! Then we played games in our mentor groups and had group conversations on how we are doing individually and as a group. We went to the Pana Market where we had another opportunity to shop before. Then we ate dinner, and worked more on our lesson plans for Monday at service and then – sleep!
Love,
Your leaders of the day
Amelia and Talia
BLOG POST FOR JULY 6
After our overnight in Panajanchel, we had a home cooked breakfast made by the owner of our hotel. We drove two hours to the Chichicastenango market which was bustling with many locals shopping for fruit, kitchen supplies, and more. We then had just enough time to rest and rejuvenate before reuniting with home base and getting straight to work on our lesson plans. As we presented our ideas for our lesson plans we got approved and continued preparing for our first day of teaching. We then had a delicious dinner followed by tea time and more bonding. Overall we felt very emotionally bonded by the end of the night and we really illustrated our love for the community we have built.
Love,
Nina And Niko
BLOG POST FOR JULY 7
Today in the morning we headed straight to the School where we taught our first lessons. We focused on teaching the children adjectives and verbs in English. Although it was tough speaking in front of a class everyone persevered, and did an amazing job! We headed back to home base to a lovely lunch and a surprise. After munching on our surprise ice cream we had a guest speaker from one of the schools here in Xela. She taught us the struggles schools in Guatemala deal with today. We ended the night with a wellness check in our mentor groups!
Love,
Paris and Anneah
BLOG POST FOR JULY 8
We started off the day with a filling breakfast to prepare for the hike. Then we headed towards Chicabal for our hike. It was a very beautiful trail up, with stunning views of the volcano along the way. When we got to the top, Santiagito Volcano started to smoke and we experienced raining ashes. Afterwards, we walked down 600 stairs to the sacred Mayan lagoon. To get back to the top of the mountain, we spilt between the trail and stairs.
In the afternoon, we all hung out and played Guatemala themed trivia with facts we learned throughout the trip. At night, Mags, Alexa and Nayo surprised us with a pizza party and karaoke night. To finish off the night, everyone prepared their lesson plans for tomorrow.
Love Harlie and Audrey
PS. Miss you mom and dad
BLOG POST FOR JULY 9
Today we started off the day by traveling to the school. Each group taught 2 different classes that we had planned the day before. We taught our lesson plans, as well as painted the stairs. After we left the school, we went back to home base for lunch – and got ready for the hot springs. The drive to the hot springs was around 1 1/2 hours, but the drive was very beautiful.
Once we arrived to the hot springs, we got in and relaxed in the warm water. Once we finished swimming, we got back on the bus to headed back to home base. Along the way we stopped to get some snacks, and the rest of the bus ride we listened to music. The other leader of the day, Reid, was not feeling great so she stayed back and rested, which was much needed.
– Abby
BLOG POST FOR JULY 12
Yesterday we woke up bright and early ready to celebrate our Ava’s 18th birthday! To make the day special for Ava we ventured to the Zip Line to start the morning. After 7 zip lines through the beautiful Guatemalan forest we started to feel a light drizzle – which quickly became a downpour! As we ended our zip line journey short, we hopped on the back of a pick up truck and truly enjoyed the “go with the flow” moment while singing in the rain- another special bonding moment.
Then on the drive home we made a quick stop at the gas station to prepare our snack bags for our big travel day back to Antigua.
We returned to home base and packed. After, we came together as two mentor groups and shared our OMG (One Meaningful Goal) through powerful and descriptive skits.
Then we enjoyed a lovely dinner and threw a surprise party for Ava! We sang happy birthday in English, Spanish, Portuguese, Polish, Basque, French and Russian. After a long dance party we ended the night bonding one last time at home base and then got a good night rest.
Lots of love,
Leaders of the Day: Pepe, Emily (and Nina)
BLOG POST FOR JULY 13
Today was our last day full of fun experiences, cultural activities in Guatemala! In the morning we said goodbye to our home base and went to a Mayan ceremony where a shaman created an altar and taught us the steps of a traditional ceremony.
After, we had lunch and toured a local coffe from. Here we learned the life of the coffee fruit, all the way to the ground up beans in your coffee cup.
Then we drove to a local home where we learned the stages to a traditional Mayan ceremony. Some of our friends were involved in the full reenactment of the wedding.
After, we came back to our hotel, freshened up and got ready for our final dinner!
Followed by an appreciation circle, and saying goodbye to some of our friends who were leaving that same night. Time to sleep and prepare for everyone else’s travel day!
– Reid
