Wednesday, June 25, 2014 (Part 2)

We rode on a boat today to tour three different towns on Lake Atitlan.  Just a brief note about Lake Atitlan.  What a gorgeous lake with beautiful lake houses like we actually might have at home and such a different scene than we have been having for the past 3 days.  Each town had its own personality and specialty.  At the first stop we pretty much just shopped the street vendors.  The 2^nd stop was for lunch, and the restaurant that Candace took us to was outstanding!!  Huge proportions and delicious food.  We did a little more shopping before getting back on the boat to our 3^rd stop.  This little village had weavers and ceramics makers, but many of the shops were closed.  We came back with purchases of scarves, shoes, shirts, purses, backpacks, belts, table runners, pictures, etc.  (After all, you have to come back with some souvenirs, right?)

Several of us helped Marbila prepare our dinner tonight of Chile Rellenos.  She had us chopping vegetables, roasting red peppers, whipping egg whites and then cooking them.  It was like having a private cooking lesson – and from Marbila, that is worth a lot!

After dinner, Marbila had a HUGE pot of water boiling and told us she was about to prepare our “gift” from the previous night.  (meaning our 2 chickens.)  Of course this involved several stages.  Marbila demonstrated the first chicken and then had some of us help with the next.  OMG.  Will was the first participant who slit the throat while Marbila held it.  (He stopped participating after that.)  Then the chicken was dropped into the pot of boiling water to loosen the feathers.  Both Gabe and Aaron helped get the feathers off the chicken.  Gabe was a pro at this being a pheasant hunter, but it was the first time for Aaron and he did great!  When it came time to gut the chicken, I watched for about a minute and left for my room before I got sick.  J  It was the job of Candace and myself to just stand there and laugh and take pictures.  It really was a fun evening.

Wednesday, June 25, 2014

Upon our return yesterday to San Gregorio, we had a meeting  with the local cocode, a committee in the community to address any concerns and answer any questions we might have about the school.  Several members spoke to us and first always thanked God for our being there and thanking us for our presence.  The main speaker was a father, and a teacher in the town next to San Gregorio.  (Interesting to note: he lives in a one room wooden house with a metal roof and an outhouse - and is a teacher.) We talked about what role the government plays in supporting the school and getting it ready for students.  Their hope is that they will start with two teachers for the four classrooms with mixed grade levels.  Teachers in Guatemala have to have a specific degree in teaching elementary education.  The school does not yet have desks and they are unsure of how those will be financed.  It is technically the government’s responsibility but the government is slow to respond to needs of communities.  The leaders expressed how they had really not anticipated the vastness of this project and that they did not know what they were getting into because they had never built a school before.  We expressed the same sentiment in that we did not know what we were getting into either!   We both took a leap of faith and together a school has been built.  One of the many wonderful things about this project has been the cooperation between members of Rolling Hills and the members of the San Gregorio community.  None of us were skilled builders, however we have all given our time, talents and learned so much from each other.  Through this relationships have formed that cross borders of all kinds. After our meeting we shook hands, gave thanks, gave hugs and left to attend their church service.

There are just some things that are almost impossible to put into words and that was the case at this church service.  We walked to the church and were greeted as if we were visiting dignitaries.  The women of the church had lined the aisle with grasses for us to walk on and everyone clapped and cheered when we entered.  There were flowers everywhere and welcome banners in both Spanish and English.   The pastor welcomed us all by name and expressed his heartfelt gratitude for us attending their little church.  Children were everywhere!!!!  We were given a schedule of service which began with three of their youth singing along with guitar and keyboard accompaniment.  (I will interject that we were sitting in the front row about 12 inches from gigantic speakers.  Still trying to recover my hearing today J.)  While they were singing, down the aisle strutted a chicken!  After a few minutes of the chicken walking around the front of the church, one of the men picked it up to great squawking and indignation.  All the while the kids just kept singing.  After a couple of joyous songs where we all clapped along, there were prayers, scripture readings, more singing and then the highlight of the evening a sermon from Pastor Ted.  Our guide, Candace, translated Ted’s sermon, which moved everyone.  (No surprise there.) 

When Ted finished his sermon, the pastor said they had one more act they would like to share.  At this time women of the church came down the aisle to give us all drinks and crackers.  They had soft drinks as well as bottled water.  Finally, they presented us our gifts.  Wow.  Our jaws dropped as they walked out with baskets laden with food.  It looked like the three wisemen carrying their gifts – from a community that does not have anything to spare.  They gave one basked to Rolling Hills and a smaller basket to the head mason who was also with us.  After the presentation of the baskets, they came with a carefully wrapped box which seemed to be moving.  The look of anticipation on their faces was evident and you could just tell they were so excited for Ted to open the box.  Ted passed the honors to Will to open this wrapped box with holes.  In this box were TWO roosters.  Oh the joy on their faces when Ted and Will picked up the animals with feet tied and held them in the air for all to see.  That is just one of those things that none of us will never forget.  This was one of their most valued assets and they were so proud.  They gave us TWO and I say this because it would have been incredible to receive even one.  We were all laughing and cheering and just so full of joy.  Ted expressed how humbled he was to receive this precious gift and that we would have a relationship with this church.  Through his tears, the pastor said how never in his wildest dreams did he ever think he would have visitors from the United States and he was just so honored to have us there.  After every one of the adults in attendance came and shook our hands and hugged us it was time for us to leave.  They lined the way to our truck where we climbed in and headed home in the rain (in the open truck).  We arrived back at our hotel wet but thrilled, knowing that the experience we had all just lived through was one that no one had ever had and can ever forget.

Due to the length of the above recount which was totally necessary because of the beauty of the event (and still cannot totally be imagined), I will tell the details of today in one short, succinct sentence.  We had an amazingly beautiful day riding on Lake Atitlan, visiting wonderful towns and shopping our hearts out.  Good night!

Post by Liz Oxandale

It’s a beautiful morning here in Guatemala and we just finished a breakfast of panqueques, fruit salad and biscotti.  Last night the rain was pretty significant so it’s great to see the sun – this will hopefully enable us to catch up on some work.  We have a packed day and I’m already catching up on our day yesterday!

Anyhow, yesterday was our first work day in San Gregorio.  The children of the community are on vacaciones so they were hanging out with us most of the day while we worked and while we waited for the late morning, early afternoon rains to cease – which took a while.  As a group we had four main projects to tackle for the day.  Four of us spent time on the roof painting the metal rods that were put in should the need for a second level ever arise.  We took turns working to clean the windows which proved to be a harder job than one would imagine!  However, this was not nearly as hard nor risky as the job of digging the sanitary hole or poso.  Our two younger men travelers braved the trek down into this hole and dug their hearts out.  We have 2 meters more to dig – approximately 6 feet – and some major boulders to get through first. We may not finish this week but seeing our group members’ heart to get as much done as they can is awesome.  Finally, many members worked to sift the dirt and soil that comes from the hole that is being dug.

This is one of the most striking things I learned/saw yesterday is how efficiently these citizens use their land and resources.  From the dirt that is dug from the sanitary hole they sift it to make a fine sand that can then be mixed with rocks and then with water and cement mix to create the cement used to build the building and also the columns needed for the poso.  There is no machinery digging the 20 foot hole and no cement truck pouring the cement.  IT IS INCREDIBLE.

We were slowed down by the two hour rain but for part of the time it was for lunch.  Another incredible fact: our lunch on site was not a brown bag lunch.  We were brought hot lo mein made by the cooks from the hotel where we stay.  Fresh tortillas, fruit and juice accompanied the main meal.  Yesterday they drove from San Lucas Tolíman to bring this.  However one of our group members who has been before said that ordinarily they hop on a chicken bus with all the food and serving ware and then walk from the main road all the up to the work site which is quite an uphill jog.

We were able to interact a lot with the community kiddos during the rain with books and jokes and then throughout the rest of the afternoon with games and such.  We worked until about 4:30 and made our back to San Lucas Tolíman.

Our night consisted of a talk by an impressive young man in the community who is also the son of our hosts here at Posada los volcanes, Mike.  Mike is a university student in environmental issues and gave us a talk on the water issues that exist in Guatemala.  He was incredibly articulate and exceptionally kind to talk with us and prepare visual aids on short notice.  We then walked to the municipal building where another community member prepared a talk on his program helping young boys find alternatives to street life through boxing.  He is (apparently) a champion boxer from the 1992 Barcelona Olympics and invited us to watch the program and invited us to leave a donation J.  While the talk and event seemed pretty purposeful to seeking money, it was amazing to see these 10ish young boys dedicate time to exercise and boxing.  Furthermore, these kids were not dressed in athletic clothes as we think of them, they had on whatever they could find which included dress shoes or tennis shoes that were barely staying together.  So regardless of the bluntness and questionable details of our presenter, any money was going to a worthy cause.

We had a late dinner and rested for today.

Because I’m already behind, I will make my account of today’s events short and the pass the torch onto my mother to recount the details from this evening’s activities.  Today was great because the rain was short-lived compared to yesterday.  We continued on many of the jobs from yesterday and made progress.  Many of our group members also attended a traveling health clinic that was visiting San Gregorio from Stanford.  There was one doctor and two students.  I was not there so cannot describe the details but no those who attended were impressed.

We stopped a bit early to come home and clean up before we are meeting with leaders of San Gregorio on any questions we have about the school and its future.  Then we are off to a special Evangelical church service where none other than Pastor Ted Pierce will be given a sermon.  What and exciting time!

Sunday, June 22

Our morning began at 6:00 walking to the market and watching the locals setting up their wares.  What an eye opener watching the people carry their products on their backs and their heads to get to their spot to sell.  Breakfast consisted of banana pancakes and fresh papaya and was delicious! 

After breakfast we all loaded on to the back of our truck and rode to San Gregorio to see the school that has been built.  It was such a joyful experience to see the excitement of the children in the community when our truck turned onto their road.  Balloons lined the roadway and there was a welcoming committee of all who were involved in this project.  It was a pretty incredible experience.  A few members of the community spoke to our group to thank us and welcome us back.  To interact with the children and women was such fun.  Also, it was wonderful to see the reactions of members of our own group who have been before on all the progress that was made.  It is almost a finished project.

After we left the school, we came back to a delicious soup lunch at our hotel which was followed by a fascinating, educational talk by Goyo, a community farmer, on Permaculture and medicinal plants.   The USA/Portugal soccer game was watched by some and a walk to the lake was taken by others before our evening meal.  This was a fun, relaxing and educational day.

Rolling Hills Presbyterian Church Trip, Day 1

Introducing the newest Rolling Hills Guatemalan Mother/Daughter Blogging Duo!  Just kidding – not that exciting but we will do our best to keep you update on the happenings of this group’s amazing adventures here in San Lucas Tolíman.  Our 10 day journey started yesterday, Friday, June 20^th.   I write this entry at the end of the day on Saturday, for day 1 consisted pretty much of sitting in the airport with a flight thrown in here and there.  Then throw in some (a lot of) lost luggage and you would have summed up our day.  Our lovely TJ leader, Candace, arranged for us to spend Friday night in Antigua so we would have a shorter van ride following a lot of airport/plane sitting.  We arrived at our posada and crashed – literally.

Since we were already in Antigua, we took advantage of the sights and shopping for the majority of the day.  While it was unfortunate that we could not get some work started at our site in San Gregorio, we were able to tack on to the front end of the trip what would normally be tacked on to the end, hopefully enabling us to spend additional time in the community where our school is being built.  The final Saturday will most likely be inauguration day so this may have worked out well – been meant to be – thanks United Airlines!  Antigua was beautiful and fun to explore.  We met for a delicious desayuno tipíca (traditional breakfast) in a darling restaurant and then split up to experience Antigua.  My mom and I bought some awesome clothes and ceramics and the others, too, had an enjoyable time looking around.  Ted and Gabe especially liked the meat market (?).

We were picked up from the hotel by our fabulous van driver and left for San Lucas Tolíman , home base until Saturday.  The drive was fascinating.  We saw an active volcano, beautiful scenery and sights of communities that certainly do not exist in the United States.  One in the U.S. cannot imagine the impoverished conditions these families live in unless they have driven through them first hand.  I mean, “wow.”  We stopped at a pineapple stand where a young woman chopped the heck out of the most delicious pineapple I have ever had the pleasure of tasting and our leader purchased 3 for $1.50.  Again, wow.  We saw coffee fincas, corn crops and miles and miles of pineapple plants.  So cool.

We were welcomed to our hotel by the greatest smiles and laughter of our hosts Marbila , her husband Felipe, and Mary.  We had a delicious fried chicken dinner, complete with fried potatoes, rice and tortillas.  We also have the pleasure of listening to the celebratory music from a school-opening Anniversary.  Apparently each year, on the day a school was opened, they have an anniversary celebration.  Perhaps San Gregorio will be having their own next year.

Anyhow, luggage or no luggage, delayed flights or not, I know that I am one lucky chica and my mom is one lucky mamá and am incredibly grateful for all that I have - it is so much more than I need.