After eating a delicious breakfast with Pedro Garcia, I continued my trek to Rio Dulce. Early in the morning, my next host Esau Salguero, stopped me to say hello.

“Tonight you will stay with my family Filipe, we look forward to having you,” he told me from his pickup truck.

I can’t even begin to explain how nice people have been to my horses and I here in Guatemala. We have been welcomed with open arms and smiles everywhere we have set foot!

Soon enough there I was riding into Esau’s ranch in Semox as his family welcomed me with hugs. After untacking the ponies, I was invited to eat another Guatemalan feast prepared by Esau’s mother.

“I know your mom must be worried about you so I am going to make sure you get fed right today,” she told me.

After eating a delicious meal I got to know this amazing family. I learned about how many of Esau’s brothers and sisters are currently living in the United States. Carlos, another brother, is back in Guatemala but also spent a lot of time in the north.

“It was great living there, I saved a lot of money, but there is no place like home,” Carlos told me.

He showed me a well that he has recently constructed with the help of his brothers and sisters in the states.

“After the natural spring dried up we had to do something, so my family in the US put in the money and I put in the work,” he told me.

Using a hand-operated sewing machine, the family’s matriarch, Otilia Salguero told me about how she has 60 grandchildren and several great-great-great grandchildren.

“I raised my kids and now they are raising me,” she told me as she sewed together colorful fabrics.

I had a great time with this family and loved listening to their stories. My favorite was the one Carlos told me about their time growing up. The family lived in the middle of no where and had to walk for more than 4 hours to reach the main road.

“Our cow had to sleep in the house because there was a Jaguar that circled our home every night in search of food,” Carlos told me as he reminisced on his childhood.