We've been off campus for the past couple weeks now that school has been out for break and it's allowed us a lot of time to do fun stuff. A few visitors came, including two different significant others and Robb Wilkinson, who came on the spring break trip here with me in March, and who's now living in my house in SLO. It was awesome seeing Robb, who was a joy to have stay at our house. He went to Guatemala for a few days in the middle of the 12 days he was here, and miraculously got back -- we didn't think he would, especially with his very limited Spanglish.

After all this we had a little overnighter -- some might say retreat -- for the guys on the team, out at El Parque Nacional de Los Volcanes. This was a huge blessing for us as we've really been needing more time away, and more than just a few hours during the day. We've also been needing some quality time just for the guys to bond and care for one another. Though overall I think we've done well being honest with one another, we've still been lacking some vulnerability and depth in our relationships lately. So this was an awesome way to connect with each other, sharing stuff that has been on our hearts, whether it be gratitude or confession or encouragement.

We stayed overnight at the National Park's visitor's center, interestingly situated in the crater of the Cerro Verde volcano. We joked how being there was like being at summer camp, which actually gives you a good idea of what it was like. There was a "cafetería" which was a tiny little snack shack kind of thing, 6 little cabins with 3 beds and a bath that had that same camp cabin smell of dirt and disinfectant, and little trails you could walk on for views and exploration. We actually really loved staying there, especially for the amazing views it afforded of surrounding cities and volcanoes. Pretty awesome place.

We got in on Sunday and on Monday we climbed Volcán Izalco, one of the world's youngest volcanoes, thus making it one of the best formed -- and most difficult to climb. It was a huge pile of loose volcanic rock that made climbing difficult for us, especially with there being knee problems and other injuries or sicknesses. At a lookout point during the drive up on Sunday we met René and his godson, Andy, two guys originally from Honduras who are avid hikers and volcano climbers. They had tried to climb Izalco before but were unsuccessful because there weren't enough climbers for the guides to take up, so they were very excited that we were also planning on summiting. We thought it would only be us and the guides, but were very surprised when dozens of other people including families with kids came up with us. We didn't feel so hard core when we saw this, though a lot of these people didn't make it all the way up.

Our guides included a park worker and two tourist policemen, one of which charged the volcano like it was a molehill. We had to go down the Cerro Verde volcano first, a 1800 ft. descent, then up Izalco, another 1600 ft or so. Then back down Izalco and up Cerro Verde, so we really climbed two volcanoes in the span of 3 and a half hours. Izalco's summit elevation is about 6000 feet, and Cerro Verde about 6800. Here's some pictures of Izalco and us.