The Earth Lodge *edited for clarity*

*As Jon read my blog, and as I re-read my blog, I realized I didn't even mention who went on this trip, and therefore, when I talk about how "one of them is going to slap me", clearly it only makes sense if I tell you that it was Jenna, myself, Nick and John on this particular trip, and therefore Nick and John are the slappers in question. * Here's a little taste of what my weekend off looked like. The Earth Lodge is a little slice of heaven, snuggled in the mountains and volcanoes just outside of Antigua. We only had to travel about 40 minutes to get there from El Tizate, half the trip being us in the back of a faded yellow pickup truck as we rounded endless bends on our asscent up the mountain slopes. Apparently last year there were no paved roads, but this year it seems there has been more development, and so most of the roads were cement. I've got a video of our ride up, but I have no idea if I can figure out how to put it on here...but reader's digest version: John describing antigua in a nasal-y british accent, and nick spitting his gum out at me.

So, back to the descriptions of the Earth Lodge. From the convorsations I had this weekend, I now know the following: It's run by a Canadian couple, Drew and Brianna, who started this place about 4 years ago, with the help of a business partner who had previously purchased this land and was just waiting for the economy to pick up and have someone actually do something with it. Aside from the half dozen or so cottages that they rent out, they also have an avocado farm, which, if you so choose, you can work on to earn your room and board. Pretty frigging amazing. There is this dude from Israel who apparently had only just arrived last year when Jenna was there before, and he has just stayed on indefinately. One of my favorite memories was him and this other "friendly as advertised" tattoo artist/ jewelery maker coming out of the brush with machetes, looking like some kind of amazon men.

As I mentioned on Facebook, Jenna and I spent our nights in the one and only "tree house" avaiable at the earth lodge. We had to walk up these long winding steps to get to our casa de las arboles, and once we marvelled at the view of the mountains and volcanoes and the entire city of antigua on our little deck with a hammock, we opened the small, oddly shaped door and stepped into a room where litterally one entire wall was just windows looking out onto a green paradise.

(yes, this is Jenna reading my favorite book ever, Fugitive Pieces. I think if Jenna and I rant about this novel anymore, one of them might actually smack us. Also, they had Fugitive Pieces at the Earth Lodge in their selection of books, and this made me quite happy). Although the boys were quite tired, and at times I felt like a little sister trying to make her big brother play with her, all and all it was a fantastic weekend full of reading in hammocks or on muskoka chairs, swinging on this fantastic rope swing that made you feel like you were swinging over the entire earth, and lots of managing to fit four people in a tiny bed to read or nap or watch movies, most of the time by candlelight.

One of the other best parts of this weekend was my HOT SHOWER! yes, it's true, normally, I shower in a cement box, in the dark, with cold water...which makes me highly promote water conservation in the form of only showering every three days. But this weekend, for 5Q, I got to have a big huge friggin hot shower all to myself. bliss...other than the water pressure was pretty much like a wet dog shaking itself overtop of my head...



So, all in all, I'd say this is a pretty frigging amazing missions trip. Also, I'd say that if you are a cheapskate, come to Guatemala, as this entire weekend cost me about 40 bucks. Also, after a sweet convo with Ash and Jenna in bed last night, I'm thinking I need to rethink my entire career path...more on that later.