Guatemala 11/21

I’m only 15 and so I’m traveling with my parents who keep throwing me into situations where  my Spanish, and awkwardness are challenged. Today was the first day that a game of “How many people can we have talk to Luna!”, began. We were at the mayors office waiting to hear a presentation about initiatives to save the environment when a man came over to me and began talking to me as I was a native. He gestured toward my dad who was grinning ear to ear and nodding to me as I had a short conversation that mostly consisted of me nodding my head and smiling. As we were leaving the mayors office my friend saw a kid playing basketball and wanted to ask if we could play with him but was too shy, so my mom quickly offered my amazing Spanish skills to my friend. After a lot of failed attempts to get up the courage to go talk to the kid I finally went up and asked him, and he nodded and threw me the ball. To my surprise I didn’t die of embarrassment, or other such causes... I was completely fine. Later in the day when we were working with our mason, Araldo, on our stove without the help of our fearless leader and translator Candice I found I wasn’t dying even though I  was speaking with a native speaker. The day of near “death” by embarrassment and my parents throwing me into another situation where I  had to relay on my Spanish “skills” led to me being on Canal 24. That’s right I was on TV speaking Spanish and I still didn’t die. If not for being in uncomfortable positions we don’t get the opportunity to see how much we can thrive under pressure, and besides dying of embarrassment is harder than it looks, trust me.

Guatemala 6/1

Started our second set of stoves today and even with lots of rain, we were still able to get a great deal of work done. After work we drove to get icecream in our tarp covered truck, we asked our masons to join us as well. We got to treat them to ice cream to show gratitude for their help all week. Man, did chocolate ice cream hit the spot after having had a chocolate craving for the entirety of the trip. We returned home and watched a documentary on poverty, (Poverty Inc.), ate dinner and yes got Icecream once more...Things are so sweet here, the thought of leaving seems too bittersweet for me to swallow. 

Guatemala 5/31

Today was not a day for work, today was a day to see what you could call, the other side of things, compared to San Juan El Mirador and San Juan Tomilán. We visited 3 other areas around Lake Atitlán,

Santiago Atitlán, Panajachel, and San Antonio Palopo. We took a boat to each place and spent a portion of the day there. Each area was very touristy and we shopped around for the day practicing our bartering. One of the girls in our group had a friend from the States, infact she lives in the same town as us, in Guatemala. She's here for the summer working. Her friend joined us to eat lunch in Panajachel at a restaurant called Guajimbo's. The remainder of the day consisted of visiting churches, a ceramic shop, feeding our chocolate craving, and dressing up in traditional Guatemalan women's garbs. After we returned home, we prepared dinner, Chilis Rellenos, with Marbila and Gríz which was filled with lots of laughter as is every interaction with those two. Loving each and every moment here. Can't believe our trip is half over. 

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!!

Juan (Woven Baskets)

Stoves that will be replaced because of inefficiency

Cute kids in San Juan

March 5th 2017

Our day started with an early morning walk with Kathy and Tillie. They took us around to see the market set up before our 8am breakfast. Around 10am, Candace took us to the local market to experience how the locals shop. She then let us walk around in small groups to shop for ourselves which was was amazing! Around lunch, she introduced us to a local basket weaver named Juan who did beautiful work!! He taught us the process of how it's done and of course Katelyn & Beth completely rocked it! We then came back to our hotel and got picked up in the truck to head to San Juan to meet the towns people and the village we will be working in. Walking around we went into peoples homes and saw how different they lived from us Americans. It was heart touching for most of us also a huge eye opening experience. These next few days for all of us will be fulfilling and interesting for everyone as we work on the stove project with Aroldo.

pictures

March 4th 2017

Today we started our day with Goyo picking us up and riding Guatamalen style in the back of a truck bed up a mountain to his parcel. Before arriving at his parcel we stopped at a breathtaking spot on the side of the mountain to over look San Lucas, Lake Atitlan and the volcanos. Goyo talked about the myth of the volcanos and how the city started. Once we were done at that spot we continued on to his "Bosque De Comida" or parcel. Being there made us all realize how much work is put into the meals that we eat and don't even appreciate. Goyo had us plant yuca plants, prune coffee plants and pull seeds off the amarymth. After that we took a lovely lunch break brought to us by our host at Posada Los Volcanos. In our group circle we did a meditation and reflection on our day. Clearing a full mind to focus on one small thing can help with stress. Learning so much agriculture from Goyo wasn't enough. Goyo taught us all life lessons and how to appreciate the smaller things and take a step back and think. In so little time, I can say we all felt like we received knowledge and experience from Goyo while we could not give to him, besides our presence. He was a beyond gracious host to all of us. Coming back from the parcel we had a little down time before dinner so we walked around San Lucas looking at the culture and how it runs.

GOYO

Lake Atitlan

Ola Daytonians..

Time Keeps on Slipping

Wrapped like the eggs and beans in a tortilla I woke up in my blanket, to beams of light cutting through curtains and the sound of people walking by the windows of my room.  Looking at my watch it was eight o'clock.  "Cool" I thought, "it's exactly time for Lectio and breakfast".

Happy that I woke up exactly when everything was supposed to start, I laid in my bed for a few more minutes and talked to my cousin Billy and brother Carter.  

"Did you know you snore like a freight train?" drawled Billy 

"No one in my sleeper complains about it at school" shot back Carter

I listened to the banter and threw the occasional comment in and was met with, "you shouldn't be talking" from both of them...how true.

One by one, not in any particular rush we took our turns brushing our teeth.  Depending on the day we would grab our work pants and slide them on like wet paper turned dry along with the rest of our garb.

There was not a mention of, "ugh were late" or any worry of the sort.  We were on Guatemala time. The kind of time that's more of a guideline than a rule.  Not only was every morning like this, everything was like this.  Yes, things take longer.  Yes, it took adjusting.  Yes, everything got done and that's what matters.  

Departure Day

The departure would take place in three stages.  The first being a ride from San Lucas Toliman to Antigua on Saturday the day before we fly to Houston.  Signs of a stressed team begin to show, and there is literal talk of Guatemala time being lost.  At this point, I hang on to every thread of Guatemala time and refuse to look at my watch.  Why did I even wear it?

We come upon Antigua, the second stage.  The purpose of our visit to Antigua makes sense, although to me it all seems overwhelming already.  We must begin to re-enter.  Re-enter into a faster paced consumer society and transition from quite the opposite that we've grown used to in the San Lucas area.

There are major signs of Antigua being a tourist town.  A prominent one being vendors who barter- which is a method of sale held traditional in certain circumstances in Guatemala-looking shocked and even bitter when we go back and forth bargaining for a better price.  This is a sign that these vendors have realized many tourists just don't know about bartering and many times have the ability to name their price.  This may seem like no big deal.  However, two reasons to respect and observe the culture in terms of the bartering system are that it will be lost if people stop doing it, and to barter for the proper price is to recognize the true quality of the item compared to others.  So it's really a system of checks and balances.  This seemed to be on a decline in Antigua.

Sunday morning at the crack of dawn, 2:00am (Guatemala time, so who really knows) we woke up and made our way to the vans that would take us to the airport and then from Guatemala City to Houston and then Houston to Chicago.  The Guatemalan airport staff lives on Guatemalan time so of course that took a while, but when we landed in Houston, oh did we have a problem.

"This dude's ridiculous, it's not that hard," eyes slanted towards the man facing the wrong way at security I vented to Billy about my impatience.  I was stressed, what can I say?

"Put your hands above your head and turn sideways it's not that hard" I continued.

"Belt off, shoes off, laptop, no change in your pocket..." I couldn't stop myself.  We were cutting it close.  The plane was schedule to leave at 11:30 and we were well passed boarding.  Finally, Billy, Regan, Luke a number of others and myself made it through security.

"Let's go, why are you walking so slow?" I rumbled at Billy

"We gotta wait for the rest of the group."  You can always count on Billy to stand up for what he thinks is the right thing.  Something I'll always admire about him.

"This is a we get everyone on the plane that we can situation," I said.  "Those who fall behind, catch the next flight. Let's go."  We went back and forth.  Billy stuck to his ways and I wasn't about to leave my cousin so I settled to a medium pace.

"They called last call!  Taylor they called last call!"  Regan must've gotten a call from someone already at the gate.

The sprint was on.  Chacos clapping on the plastic floor past Luke, "last call."

"What?"

"Last call!"

Luke's face dropped and we all went "special ops" mode and navigated towards the gate.  I wish I could say no man left behind, but we left four...

On the plane I reflected on the literal change of pace and the exact time that they cut some of us off.  Some metaphors just write themselves.

Back Home

We're home now.  I'm home now.  I wish I could say I feel recharged from the my experience in Guatemala.  I wish I could say I feel fresh.  I can't.  I can only say the moment I was able to see the first family I ever worked with in Guatemala.  The first connection, the first relationship I formed in Guatemala.  The moment I saw them at the end of the trip in Por Venir and everything came full circle.  I remembered them, they remembered me.  The connection was still there!  Fernando and his brother Jov and their new baby sister with their Mom Dina.  The fact that I had an extra soccer ball in my bag that I was able to give to them, it was all meant to be.  I can say that in that moment, that was the most fulfilling moment of my life and that I will not let it be my last.

It showed me I was not just some "Gringo" coming into their home and giving them a stove.  Yes, the stove is important.  Yes, it improves their quality of life.  However, I think the most important function of the stove is bringing people together.  It is a tool for the fostering of relationships.  The stove is the platform upon which relationships between people from different parts of the world simmer and stew and cook to produce understanding and transformation.  Yes my friends, the transformation is one of thyself.  Something intangible, not something tangible and material such as a stove, but something that a stove can help create.