We're back at Semilla after an awesome time working with ANADESA at Lake Atitlan. We left here at 9:00am on Wednesday May 2nd after a relaxing morning sleeping in. The so called 3 hour drive actually took 3 hours this time. We drove to the lake and then took a water taxi across. It was beautiful to see the volcanoes through the mist and to feel a cool breeze (or what we thought was cool even though it was over 20).
After a ride in the back of a pick-up, we arrived at ANADESA where we got a tour of the area. We learned more about a massacre that occured because of the civil war, where 13 people were killed by the military. Some were as young as five. As well, we learned of the major mudslide that occured in 2005 where the damage is still visible today.
Next came the market. Since it was the least touristy, we ended up buying quite a bit. Some of us girls had difficulty saving our money, mostly because smalll children can be very persausive. Also, there was a certain old lady that refused to leave us alone. At one point she was practically running down the hill beside me, Rachel, saying how she needed the money for shoes and tortillas. It was especially comical because she barely reached passed my elbow. Even when we tried to lose her, she would wait for us outside of every store we entered. We took Tuk-Tuks back to ANADESA where we met our host families. Some people went to a different community that was started after the mudslide called Chookmook. A lot of the host families had kids, which were fun to play with. We ate two suppers and two breakfasts with them. Some were not the typical choice: spaghetti or fried cauliflower for breakfast.
The next morning, we met back at ANADESA for work. We split into two groups: one went to dismantle the provisional school (used while fixing the original one after the mudslide) to bring to the original, and the other leveled and cleaned the new land for the future ANADESA community center. The next time the school group showed up they had changed colour significantly, from white to RED. They had been in direct sunlight while swinging sledge hammers. Lucky that Sarah has aloe vera! The garbage pickers were in the shade and cool. Ahhh... We also got to see the REAL way to harvest fruit, avocadoes, from a tree, not the way Rachel tried....
After a sabrosa lunch, we split up into two groups again for the childrens activities. Half went to Chuk Muk and the other half stayed at ANADESA. We made crafts for an hour and played for an hour with 5 - 12 year olds. To some it was even more work than the morning was. Those kids have enough energy to power a generator for the whole city! After they left we got the low down on how to make tortillas the way they originally did it. They invited an old lady from the community to show us. Since she only spoke Tz-tuwill and no Spanish, it had to be translated a few times before we understood anything. The corn is cooked and soaked overnight, and then ground on a stone table with a stone rolling pin thing three times before it is ready to be made into tortillas. We all got to try and the verdict is.... Paul makes the best wife. We helped make the dough into tortillas as well, but ours were shaped anywhere close to a circle. Then it was back with our host families.
After a sad goodbye to our hosts we tried to meet at ANADESA. The Chuk Muk group took a half ton public taxi. We fit our group in it squishily, but there were 28 (Larry counted) in it this time. We sure didn't go very fast. Then we headed back across the lake to Panajachel for a few hours and lunch at the market. Not too much money was spent this time.
Once we reached Guatemala City, we went to the cemetery. It is very easy to tell who is the richest and who is the poorest. We even got to see the crypt of the richest family in central America (it is shaped like a pharoah's tomb). We also saw an execution site on the edge of the dump. We thought we had seen some poor people in the places we stayed, but the really poor ones, were the ones running after the dump trucks to sort through the garbage. It was a very changing experience to see. Next we saw the Civil Rights museum. It was really interesting to see Canada's treatment of the First Nations people right up beside the Holocaust. We probably could have gotten more out of it, but it was all in Spanish.
We're enjoying our choco-bananas and a relaxing evening back at Semilla before our last and hopefully glorious day tomorrow at Antigua.
See you all soon,
Raquel y Sarah
