Enjoying the Great Outdoors

Parque Ecológico Senderos de Alux is a park about thirty minutes away.  It is in the city of San Lucas.  We have wanted to visit there since we moved to this area a little over a year ago.  We pass the entrance every time we drive home from Guatemala City and always talk about going.  We finally made it happen the Friday after Christmas.  After being home inside a few days I thought some fresh air would do us all good.  We packed a cooler and a picnic lunch and headed out for the day.  I am so glad that we did.  It was a perfect outing for some low-key family fun. 

We arrived at the park about 9:30 that morning.  It was still a little cool but nice and sunny.

We headed straight for the trails and got busy exploring.

The park has swings placed all over.  They were a lot of fun.  Every time we would see one we would stop and jump in.

We loved crossing this bridge.  I had seen photos of it on the park's facebook page and was looking forward to it. 

We hiked a lot that day!

There are three miradors (lookouts) at the park.  They all offer views of Guatemala City in the distance.

It was so beautiful from up there!!

The road that we travel to get back and forth from Guatemala City.

taking a break

The boys enjoyed climbing this tree at the next lookout.

family fun

more fun on the swings

                                           

they spent some time at the playground

 

Enjoying our picnic lunch at the park.

They have a single zipline that the boys both got to ride.  Here are videos of them on it.

We had such a fun day!  It is a great place to visit to enjoy the outdoors.  We had a dual role in going.  Not only did we want to explore the park for the day but I had also seen on their facebook page that they offered camping.  Back in April we purchased a family sized tent.  We had big intentions of going camping soon afterwards.  Well, we spent May in the States and then our summer was busy with teams.  We also did not take into account rainy season in this part of the country that began in late May.  We had lived the past seven rainy seasons in Chiquimula where it is hot and dry.  They do not get near as much rain as this part of Guatemala.  So, that spoiled all of our plans for camping in the fall.  Rainy season ended in November and the boys and I were determined to go. 

My new Christmas ornament for 2019 did not help either reminding us of our need to go camping.  I had ordered this and brought it back from our trip to the States in May.  I had big plans when I picked this ornament out. ha

So, while at the park that day we got all of the details for camping and went ahead and picked out a few camping spots that we liked. 

We returned the following week,on January 2, and chose this spot to try out. 

David and Cruz got busy putting up our tent. They had practiced it in our backyard so we would know what to do when we got there.  Cruz was a very big help to David getting everything set up. 

our camping spot

Doesn't he look excited!

first family camping trip

Ben helping David start our fire.  They had learned a lot of outdoor skills at an eco-explorer class they took last year. 

more swinging

enjoying the campfire

We roasted hot dogs for supper.

and marshmallows too.

ready for bed our first night

breakfast by the fire

We only had intentions of staying one night.  When we got up the first morning no-one was ready to leave.  We ended up staying a second night because we were enjoying it so much.  David and Cruz drove into town to pick up a few more food supplies to get us through the night.

We spent the whole day just playing and relaxing.   Here are the boys playing with hot wheels in the dirt.

We spent a lot of time playing cards.

and a lot more time hiking the trails.

Ben enjoying a sparkler on our last night.

We do a lot of fun activities as a family but I have to say that this one was probably one of our favorites.  You just cannot beat the peace and quiet of being outdoors.  There was no cell service there so we did not have the distraction of phones and internet.  It was just two days and nights of being together as a family talking, laughing, playing, and making memories.  It was just what our family needed.  We loved it and we cannot wait to do it again.