Guatemala 5/30

Day 2 working in the community, and by the end of our work day we all finished our first stove! How satisfying it was to present a finished & efficient stove to our family! All of us were very excited, proud and overall, tired. Of course there was lots of play time with the kids again, which probably added even more exhaustion to each of us. On our way back home from the community, it seemed as though our freak flags had been set to fly as we laughed deliriously in the truck bed with each other and our masons on the other hand laughed at us in our tired and strange behavior rather than alongside us. We returned to Los Posados Volcanes where Candance had invited two of her friends to share their experiences pertaining to immigration. The talk was very informational & inspiring. Towards the end many of us were personally touched. How interesting it was to hear about our own country from another country's perspective. After our talk, we had a swollen tonsils incident from one of our group members, so a doctors visit & medication was the closing to our night. Continue to keep us in your thoughts & prayers so that we are able to fully enjoy the remainder of our trip and fulfill our intention here in Guatemala. Much love from San Lucas Tolimán! 

Guatemala 5/29

A more traditional Guatemalan breakfast this morning with eggs, black beans and plantains. Also, coffee, of course. After breakfast, on to San Lucas El Mirador where we went with our masons to began our stoves! Formal introductions were made once we arrived in the community as we split off into our groups. We got to work shortly after with a few demonstrations to get us comfortable with the materials. We worked 9-4 with a lunch break where Marbila & Grís served us a lovely lo-mein dish with tortillas of course. Lunch also gave us time to meet and play with kids. Kickball, dancing & talking were popular activities with the kids. What a refresher during our hard and yes hot work. We finished at 4 as we said our goodbyes to the kiddos whom have seemed to already find attachment to us. We reminded them we'll returned tomorrow to work & play! Back in San Lucas Tolmilán after work, we visited Candace's friend Letícia for a tortilla-making workshop, as well as water jug carrying demonstration. Are we feeling Guatemalan yet? Dinner consisted of egg-battered, fried green beans as well as meat & veggie patties and lemonade. The lemonade was almost as sweet as our day spent in San Lucas El Mirador, but I'm not sure it could match the sweetness of the kids and relationships we've started to make in the community. Today was most definitely sweet. 

Guatemala 5/28

Coffee, banana pancakes & sunshine, what a way to start the day! Breakfast was followed by a scenic truck drive with sights of massive mountains & erupting volcanoes to San Lucas El Mirador, where we will be building stoves for families. Today was meant for meeting many new faces, and getting a subtle introduction into the community before we go to work on the stoves. We got to spend time learning all about the various technologies there are when it comes to stoves within the village. This helped us gain a better understanding of the impact we will be making on the families we are building the stoves for. After visiting San Lucas El Mirador, we visited a connection of Candace's, Juan, (a basket weaver). Juan is the only basket weaver in the community, and his kids have no desire to pick up the trade, which classifies it as a dying art in the community. This made our time spent with Juan that much more special. Juan is a very patient & kind man who preaches practice. His wife, Rosaria also told us that the ones who have the passion, will finish with a great basket, wise woman. Afterword back at our hotel, Marbila and Grís served us traditional Guatemalan soup & salad as well as fried chicken. ¡El mejor pollo en el Mundo! Lots of laughs & reflections to be shared at dinner. San Lucas is treating us well. 

Guatemala 5/27

What a busy & exciting time we've had so far here in Guatemala. I was so tied up in everything that was happening around me, I forgot about wifi completely, (hence my lack of a first day post).

Anyways, our travels were safe & comfortable, as well as our quant hotel, Casa Blanca in Guatemala City, where we rested our heads for the night before heading to San Lucas Tolimán. So much to see on our way to San Lucas Tolimán. Busy streets in the city turned into winding roads into rural area where mountains, volcanoes and fields of coffee sat. Eventutaly through the rural areas and into the city of San Lucas Tolimán, we found our hotel Los Pasados Volcanes where we were greeted by our lovely and friendly hostesses, Marbila and Grís. They love to laugh and are GREAT chefs! Candace's friend Goyo, a local agriculturalist and permaculture expert, gave us a highly informative and interesting presentation about two anchient seeds important to the Mayan culture, Chia & Amaranth. We then made Amaranth bars under his direction, which then turned to granola instead. Haha. Afterword we enjoyed a walk around town to the bakery as well as the lake. Finally, we enjoyed a fantastic dinner made by Marbila and Grís, grilled chicken, avacado, lemonade with Chia seeds Chirmo and toasted tortillas

March 8th and 9th 2017

On Wednesday, we went to work on the stoves around our usual time. It was a little hot that day but we were really happy to keep working on the stoves. Our masons trusted us to work all by ourselves which was really exciting. The final round of stoves will be finished on Friday as we will be taking a break on Thursday.
After lunch, Liliane and her mom were teaching Dasia and me how to crochet, I don't know how we did but they were laughing so much, it was so much fun. It is so easy to make connections with people and I notice we don't do that back home. So many people have been nice to us here and offered to show us something, educated us. I have to say every time that happened, it had me thinking if this type of relationship would be possible with others back in the states.
Probably not, people don't make time for the little things. 
At one of the sites, a very old lady saw Eric digging up some dirt for the stove and goes right next to him and lends a hand. But, that is Guatemala. I will say it again, there is much happiness in this small community.  
After work, we got to experience some of the ice cream in San Juan with our masons. It was a great treat after a really hot day. Everyone is excited for tomorrows market day. we are waking up very early and heading to Chichi. Candace has an excursion day planned for us so we can buy some gifts for family and friends. Looking forward to it.  
It is Thursday and we headed to the market in Chichicastenango about 7am. It was crazy! People don't stop hassling you to buy their product. Bumping through a large crowd of people in a tight hot space gets exhausting. It's hard to shun the people selling stuff off you because they trail right on your heels. Everything is beautiful though because it's all mostly hand made products. The culture and people here are amazing. I think we all can say we've really appreciated the hospitality we've received. We have had a busy day filled with shopping, marshmallows, a movie about global poverty and a short discussion. 
It was a full day. We are all exhausted but looking forward to kayaking at 6am in the morning. 
Good night...

March 7th 2017

March 7^th was an emotional day for me. After a long day at work, we met with 4 men from San Lucas to learn about their immigration experiences. We knew two men from working in the community in the last few days but the others were new speakers. They all had different perspectives and shared their unfulfilled American dreams with us.

I wish I could put up each person’s picture so you could understand they are people, just like you and me trying to feed their families, build homes, and looking for a better life. They crossed the river illegally when there were left with no option. The first speaker told us, He had to pay a coyote $ 7500 (50,000 quetzals) to try and get to his dream. 

He told us, “I made it but I got captured.”

They all shared with us the conditions inside the detention centers, the treatment they received and how many days they stayed in jail before deportation. It was inhumane. They were left freezing in cold rooms. They were chained not only going to the jail but also going back to their countries on the planes. “It is business” says one policeman delivering them to the plane that would take them back home. They asked why? At this point I wanted to share a story with them but I couldn’t and I felt bad. As an immigrant, I totally understand the process it takes or I should say I understand my path. It is long and from my knowledge it is never easy. I related more to someone who is in need of medical treatment right now and because of his past illegal crossing has been denied a visa for now. He asked us, you tell us to do everything the right way and when we do it we get denied the entry. Porque? I really felt sad for him and I hope the country that gave me citizenship will give him access to medical treatment. Prayers for that family, there is always hope. As for our work day, we finished Emma’s stove. It looked great. Our mason, ‘Carlosss’, keeps calling us “Lisiii, Erick and Dasia”. It is kind of nice the way he calls out to us.The children at Emma’s house are drawing for us and I am hugging kids and braiding hair. John is the soccer star in the village. We are all having a great time. It is going to be hard to leave here. We will be going to the new house tomorrow, Lillian’s house. This is Lucyyyy signing off.

“Los extrańamos chicos”

By the way guys, ‘dogo’ is dog according to John….

March 6th 2017

Wow! What a day. We woke up early today to take a quick walk around the community. Today is laundry day for the women in the community and we got to see their laundry area as we went on our morning walk with Kathy. It was also nice to see kids going to school with their moms early in the morning. At 8am, we had our breakfast and headed to the village to meet meet the masons who would be showing us how to build  the stoves over the next few days. Candace introduced us to Carlos, Ceasar, Ricardo, Checha, Josue & Aroldo. We got divided into 5 groups among the masons and we were off and working. Long hot day full of sweat for everyone! The masons taught us the steps to building the stoves. Mixing the mortar and cutting pumus concrete block to fit the design. We really appreciate the effort the masons put into teaching us the artwork of masonry. Around 1 pm we had lunch brought to us by our hosts at Posados Los Volcanos and had activities with the children of the village. It was so heart warming to see them so happy to be playing with us. While most of us being some what mute towards the language, that didn't block us from enjoying their presence and understanding how they were just happy to be with us. Warm hugs and big smiles everywhere were the best! After play time with the kids we continued working till 4pm when we then headed back to the hotel. We took a much needed 1 hour break at the hotel before we went to Aroldo's home to learn to make tortillas from scratch. They let us make about 4 pounds worth of tortillas. It was a great experience. Long hot day at work but we all are excited for tomorrows!!