Day 8

We really packed our day full today. We decided to do the last 2 excursions today so we could rest all day tomorrow. We started out with a bike ride in the morning. The paperwork said it was for beginner riders and was fairly easy. Well 17 miles/28 kilometers later we found out otherwise. The only problem with the ride was the long steep hill was last on our ride. There were 6 of us that went on the ride. Ann and Josh, Chad's sister. Don and Kristi, and Chad and I. We are all smiling in this photo because it is at the beginning! The streets in Antigua are cobblestone so that wasn't very fun riding bikes on, very bumpy.

Chad and I in front of a cool looking church. Our guide Ricardo is texting while we are busy being tourists!

Across from the church above is a community wash tub. All the ladies in the village do their laundry here so they can have a nice conversation/catch up on all the local gossip while doing laundry! It really made me grateful for all of the modern conveniences that we have!

About half way through the ride we stopped at a Macadamia Nut farm. It was really cool to see how they process the nuts.

The nuts sit here for approx. 20 days. The nut will rattle inside the shell when it is ready to be cracked. If they crack it too early the whole nut will not come out of the shell.

This is how they separate the nuts into the different sizes so there machine can crack the nuts open

The most photographed toilet in Guatemala was at the farm.

Chad was then given a facial massage using macadamia oil. He loved it.

After our bike ride we went right over to Filidefia to ride their zip lines. It was such a blast. A lot safer than the last lines! We didn't have to brake ourselves and it was super fun!! There are no pictures of Chad on this on though. He had the camera the whole time.

All lined up and ready to ride!!

I didn't make it all the way across on this line. The wind was blowing really hard. Actually only the guys made it all the way to the end. The girls had to flip around and pull ourselves hand over hand to the end.

Ann would have made it if the stopper hadn't stopped her. She hit the rope and it slowed her down way too much. Luckily she didn't have far to pull.

All done. There were armed guards everywhere. We definitely felt safe while we were there.

We were all really exhausted and slept really well!! Needless to say from the cobblestone streets to the 17 miles we all were a little sore the next day!