Day 6: Coffee (Marko)

    I woke up today still feeling a little groggy. I still haven’t gotten use to our earlier wake up time. I got ready and started to head down to the mission. For my second full day in San Lucas I was still in amazement by my surroundings, it is completely different to the environment in San Diego. The majority of the buildings looked unfinished (Rebar is sticking out of the roofs of buildings), but every building has someone living in it. Today was the second day we had oatmeal for breakfast, so far I'm loving it. After we all ate, we split up into groups and headed to our work sites. I was grouped up with 3 other friends and Father Kirk. We were working with a contractor named Juan. For 3 hours we worked with Juan to install cement flooring in a wood house. In all honesty Juan was a powerhouse and did all the work, we were just along for the experience. We came back for lunch, which was garlic bread and soup.

   The second part of our day we headed down to the Coffee Project and we were given a presentation on the coffee that. Is grown and prepared in San Lucas and that is later exported to the US. After showing the coffee preparation process on a smaller-scale environment we were given a taste test between their coffee brewed in a standard coffee pot and in a French press. Personally I was leaning more towards the French press. The whole presentation was well done and kept me intrigued for the entirety of it. Afterwards we were let off and had dinner. For the second day in San Lucas not to shabby.

Day 5: Work (Sebastian)

January 9, 2017

Today was our first full day at Mission San Lucas Toliman. Our daily work consisted of splitting up into 2 groups, and then going to a construction site near or in the town. At the construction site we were tasked with assisting the local contractors to construct a wood house on the property. Work included sawing wood, nailing in boards of wood to build walls, and building shades for windows. The two groups then returned to the mission to have lunch. After lunch we were taken on a tour of the town and the mission's multiple facilities including their clinic, coffee processing plant, and women's center. We then had dinner at the mission at 6. Once dinner concluded, we watched a film on Father Greg, the founder of Mission San Lucas Toliman. Once the film was over we returned to our hotel and hung out. And the day was over.

Entry by: Sebastian Castillo

Sent from my iPhone

Day 4 Traveling Part Deux (Chase)

 1/8/16

    Departing copan at the crack of dawn with slight rain, we all had mixed emotions about leaving. We had made some friends and ate some delicious food, yet we were looking forward to the adventure ahead at the mission (San Lucas). With our previous drama at the Honduras/Guatemala border we decided to just sail through with little attention. Our driver leaving Honduras was rather dashy and quite daring to say the least. We would merge over into the oncoming traffic to pass slower drivers and just barely miss the oncoming cars making the ride very tense. Shifting gears seamed to also be rather rough. It was about a 5 hour drive to get back to Guatemala City where we stopped to change drivers and split into 2 separate vans. This was a huge relief for us, giving us much more room to stretch out on the way to the mission. Getting out of the city was a relief for the eyes bringing scenic views of the back country and mountains but with one caviot... the road. Probably the worst road on the face of this earth paired with the stiff suspension of our vans (Toyota Hiace) made for a very nauseous ride. About an hour later we arrived in town and pulled up to our hostel that looks like a castle from the exterior. It has a furnished center courtyard with bronze spiral staircase leading to the majority of our bunking rooms. After we got all settled and moved into our rooms we headed over to the mission hall for dinner which was marinated chicken and beans. With full bellies we all decided it would be best to hit the hay early for the busy day ahead.      -Chase Colbert

Day 3 Ziplining (Reid)

In day three of our trip, we had a more settling attitude about the town of Copan in Honduras. We mingled to our usual breakfast spot, right in the main plaza around the corner from our hotel. After the delicious pancake breakfast, we explored around the town more, venturing throughout the vibrant shops and saying hello to the "locals". Once afternoon arrived, we knew it was time........The Zip Line. There was so much anticipation about this adventure. When the zip line guides came to pick us up, we all climbed onto the back of their pickup truck and sat in the back. Once we arrived to base and got suited up, we took another truck up to the start of the ride. There were about 12 different line sequences as it varied from going upside down or across valleys. As the sun began to set, we started getting hungry and tired. We decided to eat at the same place from the 1st day, "Los Asados". After dinner, relaxing on the rooftop deck, and packing our belongings, we decided to get a good nights rest for the long drive to San Lucas. 

Day 2: The road less traveled (Calvin)

Jan 6, 2017

We woke up and met at the hotel’s central patio at 9:00 a.m. Next we walked down looking for a restaurant and found one close by. The restaurant was across the street from the central plaza in Copan. After breakfast we got some free time and walked around the city for an hour. When we walked in a big group we attracted a lot of attention from the locals, so we decided to slit up into smaller groups and were able to attract less attention. After that hour we visited the Mayan ruins and it was amazing that they were able to build all that without horses, and iron. The ruins were beautiful and to see the native wildlife take over the mountains of stone was impeccable.

We decided we wanted to visit another ruin site and walk back to the city along the river. The second set of ruins were not as large as the first but were still beautiful with all the vegetation around it. When we were done here we began our trek along the river, we had no idea what we were getting into. The trail at first was good and beaten, but a part of the trail had been washed out by the river. We cut up into the vegetation and got lost, it took us some time wading around in circles until we were able to find the trail again. The trail turned into something ungodly, in the beginning the trail was barely beaten with a horde of plants creeping up on you from all directions, but towards the end of the trial it became more beaten and we were able to make better time. We ended up on a cow ranch and had to ask the man who lived there to let us pass through, he was gracious enough to do so and we made it back to the road we started on.

When we got back into town we showed after our exhilarating, arduous, and entertaining trek along the “trail” by the river. We ate dinner at a local restraint then got free time to explore the city. We got back at 9:30 and hung out at the hotel until bed.

Day 1: Traveling (Will)

Jan 4 – Jan 5, 2017

January 4 was technically the first day of the trip, since we met up for the flight at around 11:20 PM out of Tijuana. Everyone crossed over the border through the US checkpoint on January 5, approximately an hour after everyone arrived, and we began to wait for our plane. We were flying with the airline Volaris. After we boarded, the primary objective for many of us was sleep, but due to multiple factors this wasn’t a possibility that was well-attained. Fortunately, the flight was only a few hours, and once we landed in Guadalajara, everyone felt better that a portion of the travel was over. After landing we all got something to eat, since it was morning time, and waited for our flight to Guatemala City, since we had a three hour layover. This flight however was delayed by an hour, after we got on the plane, so we landed in Guatemala City that much later than anticipated. We met our driver, and were off to Copan. The drive was supposed to be four hours, but it ended up being seven due to traffic, and miscalculation. Regardless, once we arrived at Copan, the relief of standing up outweighed the length of the trip. After getting dinner, which to everyone’s delight (and possibly surprise), was very good and of substantial portions, we went to our hotels to sleep. Even though everyone expected these two days to be filled with travel and possibly boredom, the excitement of what was to come was really with everyone.