Buenos Noches hombres y mujeres!
In this ever busy week and a half, every day is an adventure. On Monday we had an intense day of contrasts as we toured Guatemala City. We started off the day with breakfast at Semilla, and soon took off in our ever loyal Micro bus. We drove to the centre of the city and viewed a Catholic Church built by Spanish Conquistadors a few centuries back. It was a beautiful and awe-inspiring building that was reminiscent of those in Europe. We traversed over the centre plaza to check out a government building built by a self-centered dictator during the rise of fascism. It is used today for normal government business. We then hopped into the Micro (which we learned is affectionately nicknamed Mennonito, 'Little Mennonite') to visit a second smaller church where Father Gerardi was assassinated in the parking lot outside his church after the Guatemalan Civil War for his book that revealed secrets of his country. We went to a museum that told us of the history of this country, and the past of war and racism that Spanish colonizers and others bringing over African Slaves created. We learned a lot that we had never thought about in our safe North American way of thinking. We proceeded to eat a three-course lunch at a restaurant which cost less for 16 of us here than it would for all of us to eat at McDonalds at home. The financial contrasts here are crazy. After lunch we spent an hour in the main downtown market attempting to barter and use the few spanish numbers that we know. It is a hectic and confusing place. From life to death we went from the bustling metropolis centre to the Guatemalan Cemetery. We saw a gigantic Egyptian-style mausoleum for the powerful Castillo family right next to the slots in the wall for the 14 year renting spots for the poor who could afford it. This contrast greatly affected most of the group, for it was one of the most extreme contrasts that we've seen right next to each other. At the end of the cemetery was the city dump where we watched people crawling like ants to find riches in the garbage of the rest of the city. They struggled to live day to day searching through all of the trash. We directly drove to Cayala, which is like going from District 12 to the Capital. It is the place of the posh and the privileged. We saw stores full of brand-name things that could feed every person in the rest of the city for a week. We went back to Semilla with a new view on things, tired and conflicted with all of the drastic things that we had seen.
The next morning, we drove from Semilla to the Mayan ruins of Iximche (that's pronounced ee-SHEEM-chay). They were very impressive, and ancient, and made of stone, but that was the first time we didn't feel so much like tourists, due to the plethora of elderly folks armed with cameras and even less knowledge of Spanish than us. The people who inhabited the ruins back before they were ruins had a very advanced society, and managed to work the symbolism they attached to numbers into almost all aspects of their life. After the tour, and the half hour it took for everyone to use the bathroom, we drove to the market of Panajachel, where we enjoyed lunch in a small restaurant. Most of us ordered things like quesadillas or burritos, though Ryan had pizza, but the thing that was different about this restaurant was the glasses the drinks were served in. They were like wine glasses, except much bigger than a wine glass had any right to be. And they were full just about to the top. After our meal we strolled through the market down to the docks of the Lake Atitlan, where a boat and her captain were waiting to take us across the waters to Santiago Atitlan. The boat ride itself was a memorable experience, though in different ways for different people. For Daniel, it was one of thorough enjoyment, as was shown by how he put his arm in the water as the boat sped along. For others, it was telling Daniel to put his arm in the boat as water splashed off of it and onto the rest of the boat's occupants. The waters were a little bumpy, but we made it to the other side without incident, where we walked through the streets of Santiago Atitlan and beyond until we arrived at ANADESA and their work site, which at the time consisted of a medium-sized room which can function as a dining room or a classroom as the situation demands, a smaller room which is used as the office, store, and kitchen, and no other rooms but for a storage shed and a piece of land where we would be working the next day. We were introduced to the women who would be hosting us in their homes for the next couple of days, and were given a historical explanation of the Peace Park located next to ANADESA.
On Tuesday after we got our tour of the ANADESA facility and the peace park we got split into families for our home-stays. Some of our group is in Chukmuk a village/town 15 minutes away from ANADESA and the others are staying only a minute walk away from ANADESA. We are spending Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday at these homes. We have had so much fun playing with the kids, making s'mores, eating tortillas and talking with our hosts. They are so hospitable, kind and humble, they also never stop smiling! The kids are adorable and its going to be so hard to say goodbye because even as we write this out they are sitting on our laps. The food these women prepare is amazing and really you can't go wrong with a side of tortillas.
On Wednesday we spent our first length of time doing service work. With the money that RJC raised ANADESA was able to purchase the next phase of their building. We got to start the construction of this new addition, a classroom. The first step in the construction was digging trenches/holes for the foundation. These trenches had to be one meter deep and about half a meter wide. Within the first hour and a half the holes were good as dug and it was down to the fine leveling to make them exactly the dimensions needed. Even the people at ANADESA were surprised with how much we got done. So after that we had to move rocks from a pile near by to the construction area. After all that it was finally lunch time where we got to enjoy Coca-Cola chicken. After lunch it was time for the fun to begin. The children's group was meeting and we got the joy to sing for them and then have them sing for us. After this song fest we got to make a paper chain with the kids and share in snack time. Once the kids left we got to go on a walk around town and spend time in the market. To finish off the day we went back to our home stay houses and spent time with our host families.
Mackenzie, Daniel, Kenna, Matt and the rest of the Guatemala gang!
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