First Day at a Guatemala Orphanage


The warm sun shone through the hostel's curtains and onto my face as I woke up reminding me I wasn't in Canada anymore. The night before we had arrived in Rio Dulce at about 10 o'clock after a 5 hour bus ride. My gut tightened with anticipation as I wondered what the first day of volunteering at Casa Guatemala would be like. After packing up and grabbing a quick bite to eat at Hotel Backpackers, the hostel we were staying at, we got into the small motorboat that was going to take us to the orphanage.

Climbing aboard I thought I saw something glinting on the captain's belt. Looking closer I...

Our plan to catch the7:30am chicken bus was quickly changed after we looked at the clock. I had woken up to the irritating screech of an exotic bird mixed with the “Ola, ola, ola” of the parrot that lives as a pet in the hotel. Dad's watch alarm hadn't gone off, so I ended up waking everyone up at 7am.

We all had to get ready and shower, so by the time we left our room, it was already 7:31am. Needless to say, we ran the whole way to the bus station. Someone was supposed to pick us up at 8:30 in Parramos to bring us to the orphanage, but we had no idea how long the bus would take. We had no choice but to take the 8:00am chicken bus and cross our...

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