Our trip to Guatemala!!

It is Hispanic Heritage month, a perfect time to talk about our trip to Guatemala! Hispanic Heritage month is from Sept 15th to Oct 15th in the United States. It recognizes the contributions of "Latinos" in the United States and it celebrates heritage and culture. While I think this is great, I also wish more people were aware that each country is so rich in heritage and culture with its own unique history.

I have been very fortunate to be exposed to many of those cultures and heritages. I consider myself very fortunate to have learned and continue to learn about them.  This August I had the opportunity to share some of my own heritage with my husband. My family is Guatemalan. Guatemala is a country in Central America that is bordered by Mexico, Belize, El Salvador, and Honduras. Many people are of mixed backgrounds because of the rich Mayan culture and the colonization by Spain.

 

On our way to Guatemala!

 

 

 

 



 I don't think Steve knew what to expect but he was definitely pleasantly surprised. The pace of life is slower and there is a strong emphasis on family. Mostly everyone is kind and welcoming. Did I mention that Guatemalan food is absolutely delicious!



The first thing we did one we arrived was visit the Basilica of Esquipulas. A little history about the Basilica.It is where the statue of the Black Christ was comissioned by Spanish conquistadors.It was carved in 1594 by Quirio Cataño in Antigua and installed in the church in 1595. In 1603, a miracle had already been attributed to the the Black Christ, and it attracted increasing numbers of pilgrims over the years.The history of the Basilica begins in 1735, when a priest named Father Pedro Pardo de Figueroa experienced a miraculous cure after praying before the statue. When he became Archbishop of Guatemala, he commissioned a beautiful basilica to properly shelter the beloved statue. The church was completed in 1759. We deeply believe in this place and it was so amazing to share this experience with Steve.

 

 

 



 

Our second stop was Antigua, Guatemala. It is one of the oldest cities and still retains most of its Spanish inspired architecture. A lot of the architecture can date back to the 1500's. Antigua is also known to have some of the best coffee in the world. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After all of this traveling it was time to relax. We drove to my aunts beach house. About 1hr 1/2 away from Guatemala City where most of my family lives. We spent time with the family, had a bbq, lounged around on hammocks. We also took a ride on the 4-wheeler. It was a lot of fun and one of our favorite moments of the trip.

 One of our last adventures was attending my cousins wedding. I love weddings and we were very fortunate to have been able to travel from Hawaii to Guatemala to witness their union.

 

 

 

 It was a great trip and I am so glad to have been able to share so much about my culture with Steve.

Until next time!

xoxo,
Inggy

 



 

 

 

 

 

Holy Moly Guacamole

If you have known me for a while you know how much I LOVE my guacamole. I have been told by a few that my Guacamole is delicious! So I am letting you into my secret. Actually there is no secret! I simply keep my guacamole simple. I often see many getting really fancy with theirs. Ranch powder, garlic powder, and who knows what else. I personally like to savor the avocados and do not eat spicy food so skip out on any jalapenos. 

Ingredients:

Avocado

Tomato

White Onion

Salt 

lime

I grew up in a Hispanic household and there was no measuring ever so have fun. Experiment, add everything and make it to your own personal taste.

Until next time!

xoxo,

Inggy

Our Trip To Kauai

Woah, I am really behind on our posts! Lots of things have happened since the wedding. After we got back from the wedding our friend Greg asked us if we wanted to do a weekend trip.Unfortunately he said we could not go to Fiji. Greg and Steve have known each-other since college and have been good friends since. He recently go his fixed-wing pilot license. He was nice enough to let me pick the island that we would go to. I was quite nervous because we flew in a Cessna  a small 4 passenger plane. It was quite nice to not have to go through the usual hassles of flying. No travel size items needed. We flew over the island and got amazing views!

 I was also fortunate enough to pick our activities. The boys were very flexible and let me do all the planning. We started by going to Hanalei, the north shore of Kauai. They had the Hawaii State Championship of canoeing going on. It was nice to watch. The water was also very nice and warm!

The following morning we visited the Waimea Canyon. It is the biggest canyon in the Pacific. It had breathtaking views! We also had the most amazing dinner at the  hukilau lanai. It was seriously the best prime-rib, and Caesar salad ever. We all rated it among the top 3 meals of our lives. We were too busy eating to document any of the delicious food. 

That afternoon we headed to the south shore of Kauai. A great resort town called Poipu. We are still having a dilemma on how to properly pronounce that name. We went to a really nice beach and had a puka dog. If you follow the food network you will know what I mean by a puka dog :).

Near Kauai there is a small island called Niihau. Niihau is known as the forbidden island. It only has about 130 inhabitants, primarily of Hawaiian descent. We never thought we would get the opportunity to see it. It was such an amazing experience. Greg was nice enough to take time to fly us over it after I said how much I wished I could see it.

The weekend was truly amazing. We highly recommend Kauai to anyone. It is so lush. People were so sweet and the food was amazing. We cannot wait to return to Kauai. 

Until next time!

xoxo,

Ingrid

Banana Bread Recipe

We had so many bananas that had gone bad that I decided to freeze them. I was able to make this delicious banana bread. I discovered self-rising flour and I have no idea why I was not using it before!Hope you enjoy it as much as we did.

 

Ingredients

• 3 or 4 ripe bananas
• 1/3 cup melted butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 1/2 cups of self-rising flour

Preheat the oven to 350F, mix all ingredients in a bowl( I find it easy to use an electric mixer to mix everything), pour into an 4x8inch loaf pan. Cook for about 50 minutes. You can also add walnuts if you would like!

 

 

Our Big Day!

With the recent arrival of our wedding video and pictures, I have been reflecting a lot of that day. It was such an emotional journey and although it is now done I still can't believe that it actually happened. While it wasn't perfect by any means it was one of the most important days of our lives. The planning process was a little hectic with Steve and I  both holding full-time jobs and the wedding being 5000 miles away. It was challenging at times and we didn't always agree on things. I wanted absolutely everything to turn out perfect. We definitely had a share of mishaps and frustrations along the way and on our wedding day.Our videographer and DJ were late, the photo booth was broken and for the past couple of months I had been wishing none of that had happened. I wish I wouldn't have been so hard on myself trying to achieve the perfect wedding but how can I not it is every little girls dream.  I recently had an a-ha moment when I saw our wedding video I realized that none of that mattered. Despite the videographer being a little late he gave us an amazing video! We have realized that our wedding is a reflection of our love for each-other, the commitment we made in church and that the most important people (our friends and family) were there to witness it.  Every time I look at the video, I want to cry not out of sadness but out of happiness. Seeing our family and friends celebrate our happiness is such a blessing. We now know that we won't remember what went wrong, what we will remember is how magical that day was and how happy we felt. Family and friends are VERY important to Steve and I and being able to share that moment with them is an unexplainable feeling. We are looking forward to long happy and healthy journey ahead of us. We will be posting our adventures on here and keeping you posted on what the future is holding for us :).
"In the end, it's not going to matter how many breaths you took, but how many moments took your breath away"

Until next time <3