Guat it covered

Hola everyone!

I hope everyone is surviving the heat wave that passed/is currently passing through MN! I could not believe when I heard it was in the 40's and 50's, but that is great to get rid of all of that snow. We had a really busy week of traveling last week to Guatemala City, Tikal, Rio Dulce, Flores and some smaller places within those larger stops.

We left at 5 am on Monday morning for Guatemala City, capital of Guatemala. We began the trip with a surprise visit to the Cerveceria (beer company) of Gallo, which is the most popular brew of the country. We got to tour the establishment and we got to see the bottling and recycling process. They get back 80% of the bottles that they produce, which is huge and we were all very impressed by this fact. We didn't do much else in Guate because it is not extremely safe to walk around on the streets at night or during the day with valuables, so we had a card/game night and I found some other people to play 500 with, which I was really excited about. We toured a church and also a Human Rights Office, where we watched a movie about Nunca Mas, which is a series of books that describes the violations that occured during the armed conflict in Guatemala. It was very interesting to hear about because its something that not a lot of guatemaltecos feel comfortable talking about because it is still a sensitive subject. Then we got into the bus for a 10 hour trip to Finca Ixobal.

This Finca is all-organic and has grown basically because of work that volunteers have come to do over the years, such as installing bathrooms, electricity. The lady is originally from California and has lost 2 husbands in her almost 40 years on the Finca. One of them during the armed conflict when he witnessed a military action and, as a result of that, he was killed. She also adopted 2 Guatemalan children and raised them on the finca without many resources. I was a bit freaked out by the mosquito nets that covered the beds, and my legs did get eaten alive the first night, but after that I relaxed a bit more and really enjoyed the wonderful food and the beautiful surroundings. We stayed 3 nights there and then traveled to Tikal the next day.

Tikal is a site of Mayan ruins that have been partially recovered and reconstructed. We visited temples and walked for 4 hours around these ruins. Unfortunately, it rained. This would not have been a problem besides the fact that no one expected rain as we hadn't experienced it yet here in Guate. But.. we survived.

Then we headed off to the Rio Dulce to stay at Hotel Backpackers, which is actually a restaurant that helps fund an orphanage. This orphanage is called Casa Guatemala and it is not supported financially by the government, instead it just supplies the orphanage with children and they are forced to find donors to keep them going. It is an amazing establishment where they have learned to manage their electricity use and food with such skill for having to feed and support 250 kids. It takes about Q2000 for each child per year which is about $250. The kids were adorable and so ready to just play with us. One little boy that I talked to couldn't speak Spanish at all, and instead just knew an indigenous language, but he was full of hugs! We painted the kindergarten and library there, which was interesting and a funny experience. It was nice to do something to give back to the kids because other groups will come in and paint murals there.

After that, we stayed one night at a really nice hotel in Rio Dulce. Unfortunately, I didn't really enjoy this one because I ended up getting sick and didn't get to enjoy the rest of the trip as I became good friends with the bathroom and all the bathrooms which we stopped at! On our long 10 hour bus ride home, we told life stories. It's my goal to hear the life story of every individual on the trip because it is great getting to know people in our group better and we have such a united group.

Otherwise, we have started classes at the other university, Landivar, and I am excited to be back in my host family's house, eating real food that wasn't cooked at a restaurant. My body is finally healing, so big success there! This weekend, it is the 21st birthday of one of our group members, so we are going to celebrate that and also going to a soccer game, sporting our official jerseys! It is so hard to believe we are in our 6th week of classes, and that my parents will be here in Guate in less than a month! Time is flying by and I hope that everyone is enjoying life back in the States!

Abrazos-Sarita