Day 2: In San Marcos

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Today we spent most of the day traveling from Guatemala City to San Marcos. It was an eight hour ride through the beautiful Guatemalan mountains. San Marcos is about 7000 ft above sea level and a border town to Mexico. We spent most of the evening buying gifts for the children. Above and below are picture of the socks for boys and girls, coloring and reading books, toys and powdered milk. Shopping in San Marcos was difficult as the town is bustling with people Christmas shopping. It was interesting carrying all of the supplies without running into anyone. The biggest challenge was finding a bank that would exchange my US currency into Guatemalan Quetzales. None of the banks would helps us even after verifying our money was not counterfeit. Out of the $1,200 only one bank took pity on us and exchanged $200. We were tired and frustrated but we reminded one another that the children depended on us. Finally, we decided to bargain with the store owners into allowing us to pay with dollars. People are extremely weary of counterfeit money because of the heavy drug trafficking in Mexico. Because of the close proximity to Mexico we were fortunate that most of the store owners (after viewing my passport) allowed us to make our purchases using US currency. 

Now, we are headed up to Sibinal. We are certainly exhausted, but our hearts are full of joy and the car is bursting with ALL of the gifts for the children. As we trudged to the car Aldo Lemos said, "Watching the children tomorrow and sharing in their happiness will make all if this worth it tomorrow." I couldn't agree more.