Our treehouse. Notice the hammock out front. Two double beds on top. Bathroom on the lower level. Scenery out our front door. We also had beautiful weather while in Guatemala.

Antonio likes Hammocks so much that is what he wanted from the market in his birth village. We will put it on our gazebo.

This gentleman helped us with everything at Finca Ixobel.

We just had to bring a hammock home.

The pictures you didn't see and we didn't take were of us riding through a village on the horses. This was the first close up view the kids got of how life really is. The shacks were made of tin and wood. The front lawns were all packed dirt. Chickens, pigs, and dogs ran loose. After going through the village Antonio stopped complaining about anything - I think he really saw how his life could have been. This is a picture of us right before we went into a cave. By this time Jody and I were understanding that Guatemalan's don't exactly tell the truth. If they say a storm isn't going to come though it looks like it is - it probably is going to come. This guide told Jody that there wouldn't be any small spaces to squeeze through. The kids and I knew that the first time we were on our belly going through a tight opening that Jody made the right to decision to wait for us and not come in. There were three such spaces. The countryside was beautiful.

The kids continued to be great hikers.

There is the cave we went into and out of.

Antonio is a pro.

The longer we were in Guatemala and the more Guatemalan he looked.

Back at Finca Ixobel. A great place to stay. Treehouses, a pond, horses, caves, and a hike.

We are off.

Does she look comfortable? This is the first time Jody has ridden a horse. Unfortunately, my horse and hers had a little fight going on. This did not help ease the situation.

Going down beautiful paths/roads.

Crystel loved every minute of it. Especially when she was in the lead.

Crystel getting a hand. Antonio is ready.

Crystel is all over this. She tries to get her horse to run during our ride. I try to show her how it's done but her legs are to short to reach the horse's legs.

Our next home. This is a treehouse. But really, a house on stilts. The bathroom is below. We used mosquito nets that were provided for us. This is our new swimming place. It had a raft that we could swim out to and a slide into the water. Our first injury - and our only one. Antonio was climbing the slide the wrong way and hit and cut his head. Unfortunately the airlines confiscated our bactine but we did have ointment.

A favorite with Antonio and Crystel. We went for a three hour horse ride into the Guatemalan countryside and the village. We didn't take pictures of the village because it would not have been respectful. But ... we took in everything with our eyes. The shacks, the children, the chickens, the dirt, the pigs, the men and women. It was an awesome glimpse of what I think of as the 'real' Guatemala. This is where Antonio and Crystel's change became profound. I could just feel the realization sink into them of the love their birth mother had for them to permit them to have a different life. Once in awhile I would say to them - people live there - because in our minds - it was inhabitable. They responded with that they 'knew that'. I didn't need to say anymore.

The Guatemalan in the blue hat was our guide.

Jody before the ride. If you look close you'll see that really she's unsure about this whole 'horse' thing. But ... what a way to see a village.

Our first person we saw on our walk. Later on we wished we saw him again. I would have sent Antonio back to the hotel or straight on to the airport for the flight home. It was too hot, too buggy, and when were we going to get there, kindof walk for him. But ... an interesting transformation started happening the next day when we started seeing Guatemalan villages and boys his age carrying wood. He didn't whine the rest of the trip and I'm assuming - figured out he had it pretty good. The trail.

A nice place to rest.

An interesting bug army.

Our hotel with air conditioning and hot water outside of Flores.