Guatemala

On Sunday, I returned from another awesome trip down to Guatemala. I was just there back in April for Painting Lemonade, but when I was leaving I looked out the window of the airplane and saw an incredible view of green mountains and towering volcanoes. I told myself that I had to come back and explore this country. So just a few months later I was back with my friend, Chris to ride around the country on rented motorcycles. Probably not the most sage decision on our part, but we managed to both make it back in good health. Although, there was one run in with a chicken bus that left Chris off the bike for a few days, but he recovered and we had a great time. As usual, here's a video, but you can also check out all of my pictures here.

If you ever get the chance, Guatemala is a fantastic place to travel. The volcanoes are incredible, the food is terrific, the people are friendly, and it's all very affordable. You can usually fly there for under $400 from the states, and stay there for between $5-$20 a night depending on your standards. From Antigua you can take a bus to just about anywhere in the country for less than $25. With many more volcanoes and Mayan ruins left for me explore, it's a safe bet that I will be back.

Guatemala Trip

I got to spend an amazing spring break in Guatemala visiting my friend Leah and delivering paintings for Painting Lemonade. I brought down almost 200 portraits, painted by American high school students, and delivered them to the children of La Limonada. It was an incredible experience and a wonderful week.

A huge thanks to all the students and teachers who participated in Painting Lemonade. I hope to make it a reoccurring project. The children were mesmerized by their portraits, as were their parents. When I first walked into a shanty home in La Limonada, the first thing I saw was a Painting Lemonade portrait up on the wall that had been delivered earlier this year. An awesome sight and an incredible gift.

Painting Lemonade

The first set of paintings have been delivered. Here is a very short video showing just a few of the children receiving their paintings.



Painting Lemonade is a project where I paired up American high school art students with children in La Limonada. The American student paints a portrait for the Guatemalan student and these paintings are delivered to the children along with a brief letter from the American and a photo of themselves. I will be travelling down to La Limonada to deliver the last of these paintings and visit "La Escuelita" in April.

International Festival

A few weeks back, Garner Magnet High School hosted it's 3rd annual International Festival. Since I actively participated in setting up 3 different booths, I thought it warranted a blog post. So here are the booths:

Booth 1:
Beleza/Fair Trade

Sorry about the blurry picture, these pictures were taken by students, so what are you going to do?

The paintings were done by my friend Eddie Bbira in Uganda. They're painted on bark cloth and they sell them at Beleza in Cameron Village.



Booth 2:
Invisible Children

Welcome to Gulu, Uganda. This grass roof was a pain in the ptootie to build. But it looks pretty bad-a, right?

Booth 3:
Painting Lemonade
Guatemala City, Guatemala

I'm most proud of this one. I put together the Painting Lemonade project back in August. Wake County high school students paint portraits of children in La Limonada. I'll be delivering some of these 250 pictures to the children in April, during my spring break. Not bad, huh?