my best volunteer trip so far

i went to antigua not expecting much and not even knowing what i was going to do there or whether or not i was going to like it. With just one day of being there i fell in love with the city, i fell in love with it's colourful and colonial streets, and the amazing volcanoes and mountains all around. When i got to the project site, a retirement home "Casa Maria", i was a little in shock by knowing just how lucky and blessed i am that i don't live like the elderly at the retirement home and that i have a comfortable bed, and a place to eat, and family and friends who didn't abandon me. Then i realized i was there for a reason and to give back. I was there to help out even if it was just the tiniest difference. In my two weeks there we put the roof up for the new kitchen at Casa Maria, painted the rafters and started working on a cement counter top. But what i enjoyed most about my project was making new friends at the home, the residents are so happy to see the volunteers and every morning the say hola waving and smiling like they've known you forever. It's experiences like these that truly make us appreciate everything we have and the life we live.
I stayed at a volunteer house with six other girls from around the world and even though we were completely different we were there with the same purpose which made us a lot a like. In my time in antigua i also traveled and lived amazing experiences like hiking a volcano and roasting marshmallows at the top, i rode a boat in one of the most beautiful lakes worldwide, i took a Guatemalan cooking class which was worth every penny and overall i just learned so much. I learned more about myself, i learned a new culture, i meet a lot of people and learned about their stories, i learned we can make life awesome and i learned that there's always a way to help and to give back.