Family Life Network Trip:
Guatemala with Ernesto Pinto
Currently planned for January (2010) |
Why this trip is important and helpful.
1. First of all just your presence on this trip will already accomplish something huge, because a portion of your fee will pay for and enable an indigenous pastor couple from Guatemala to attend the weekend FLN sponsored pastors training weekend. Prior to the training weekend, we will have the pleasure of traveling with Ernesto for several days, a great way to really understand the hearts and minds of Central America. (A $200 tax receipt will be issued from FLN for this portion of the trip.) While this is not a massive expense for most of us, it is huge for these couples, most of whom live and minister in poor rural villages.
2. Secondly, You will be a significant encouragement to the pastor couples who we will meet during the weekend retreat.
3. We will offer (on two mornings only) the option of participating in a volunteer experience in 
Santa Maria, a Mayan town on the side of the Volcano that looms over beautiful Antigua. This will be an eye-opening and pleasant experience designed to bring you to places and people that tourist travel simply does not do.
4. We want you to keep your eyes open for possible projects and partnerships with FLN in Guatemala. Let’s do some dreaming and vision work with Ernesto. Perhaps there is a project for you & some of your friends (or your church?) to create something really life-giving.
It will be our pleasure to make this tour helpful, practical
and a huge learning experience. You will travel a fascinating country with a complex history in the company of hosts who are intimately knowledgeable with the people, their culture and history. 500 years of Spanish Catholic dominance overlapping 2000 years of Mayan history... form an incredible backdrop!
We will enjoy some evening discussions and learning experiences over coffee. We'll bring in some interesting people for you to meet and enter into the country's history and politics. We'll experience some eye-opening side trips. As mentioned, Ernesto will accompany us for a portion of our journey introducing us to some of the pastor couples bringing life into some of the smaller rural churches.
A primary goal of these tours is to inspire and delight you with the work FLN is doing around the world. We will give you an experience that will be practical & helpful, "comfortable" (at times very comfortable), full of beauty and informative. We want this to be a significant learning experience. We'll design a schedule with you so as to leave you time to wander, meet interesting people, read, shop, drink great coffee and pursue a few of your own interests. Our job is to bring you back both invigorated and relaxed! And inspired.
So come, let's do something wonderful together.
We will never be quite the same again.
Cost:
$2590 US.
This fare includes all Central American travel, tips, most meals, beautiful hotels, boats, photography lessons,
guides in generally good humor, hosting with Ernesto Pinto, and creative side trips.
It does not include airfare or bad deals made in the local markets.
(We have excellent travel agents serving these trips.)
Note:Payment is made directly to Family Life Network with
a Donation receipt
for $200
to be mailed back to each traveler.
Daily Schedule:
Note: These plans to be read with the understanding
that plans WILL change slightly & that we WILL be "joyfully flexible".
Wednesday, ...
Arrival & pickup at the Guatemala City international airport. 1 hour drive to our Hotel in Historic Antigua. Supper together, introductions and orientation to Guatemala and the City of Antigua.
Thursday, ...
Morning … Volunteer opportunity. Sponsored by Mission Impact in the Mayan village of Santa Maria. Some may wish to spend a few hours with a wonderful school for Mayan girls who are often overlooked in the indigenous education system. Others will form a few small teams to build a smokeless stove in a Mayan home …( homes which for thousands of years have featured open cooking fires.) Others may choose to spend the morning exploring Antigua or just resting in the beautiful hotel grounds savoring the coffee and a good book.
Afternoon … Time to wander and explore.
Friday, ...
Morning … Volunteer opportunities continue.
Afternoon … in Antigua with a very knowledgeable Guatemala guide who will give us a tour of Antigua and help us understand the country and its people from a variety of perspectives.. mostly historical. This will be a fascinating time, and some of you will have questions from what you have seen & experienced so far.
Saturday, ...
We take a day trip into Guatemala City where we will spend some time with a mission that is doing work with people living in the Guatemala City dump. Lunch at Tikal Futura mall. This will be a hugely impacting and thought-provoking experience. (Not the mall so much)
Sunday, ...
Volcano Pacaya!
A morning climb on volcano Pacaya, a live volcano an hour from Antigua... (A safe but exhilarating experience.)
(Some will hike; Many will accept the kind services of a horse).
Afternoon swim and possible evening worship service.
Monday,...
We are off to the Ocean on a 2 hour trip through the Guatemalan countryside. 
A couple of days on a volcanic sand beach in thatched cottages surrounding 2 quiet pools will give us time for good conversation, excellent meals and even some photography lessons in the quiet of the day.
Tuesday, ...
Ocean-side Rest continues.
Today we take an evening cruise through the mangrove park famous in this area. (on long boats with our driver using a long pole to move us through the naturalist paradise) (this is exactly like the Venice experience …except drivers do not sing, there are no buildings, the boats are different, water is cleaner, the place is lousy with birds & wildlife, etc.) (otherwise pretty much an identical experience)
Wednesday,...
Bus picks us up for trip to stunning Lake Atitlan. (Approximately 4 hours). We’ll arrive mid-day at the Hotel Del Lago where for the next two days we will live in an all-inclusive setting. This should begin playing with the edges of our conscience as we consider all we have seen and will impact us with the kind of contrasts within which the people of Guatemala live. Extreme poverty and extreme wealth live side-by-side. We will take some time here in Lake Atitlan to discuss our thoughts and feelings around issues of lifestyle.
Here as well, Ernesto will join us and continue with us for the remainder of our journey.
Thursday, ...
Lake Atitlan. This is one of the most beautiful lakes in the world... bordered by three (non-active) volcanoes. This afternoon we'll take a panoramic boat trip across the lake to the Mayan village of Santiago Atitlan. We’ll have opportunity to choose gifts and souvenirs of our Guatemalan experience by walking the markets not only of Santiago but also of the area surrounding our hotel.
This is a safe area and we will have a great time wandering the markets, lounging by the pools and eating some great meals.
We continue with good conversations around the excellent meals.
Friday, ...
Mid afternoon we leave for our hotel in Retalhuleu. Here we meet with the pastor couples we have helped sponsor and share a meal and open evening around the pool.
Saturday, ...
Morning activities with Ernesto & the FLN team ministries.
Lunch with total group
Afternoon… We head off for Antigua, a relaxed supper and open evening.
Sunday …
Morning Church service.
Free afternoon.
Supper together and a celebration with Ernesto to cap off our experience.
Monday, ...
Airport shuttles for the trip home.
Hotels being booked for this trip:
- Antiqua... to be confirmed (Hotel Antigua or Villa Colonial)
- Antiqua... also to be confirmed (Hotel Santo Domingo)
- Guatemala ( the ocean) Pez de Oro
- Lake Atitlan... Hotel Porto Dell Lago
