Day 1

Today marks the first day of our Guatemalan journey! Upon meeting at Bradley International Airport at 4 am, the tired group of twelve anticipated a long day of travel. After a smooth flight to Atlanta, we anxiously waited to board our next flight to Guatemala City.

The flight to Guatemala City was an exciting one with a broad entertainment selection that included movies, music, Milano cookies, an active volcano, and the spectacle that was Dr. Rust spilling his drink (ever-so-intentionally) onto the unsuspecting Christina. Once in Guatemala, the group swiftly made it through customs, boarded a van, and began the winding trip to Xela.

Food seemed to be a main attraction today. On the way to our destination, the group stopped for lunch at a restaurant selected by our friendly tour guide, Jairo. The delicious meal was just what we needed to help us through the remainder of our mountainous drive to Xela. Many used the opportunity to rest while others took advantage of the chance to observe the scenery of the country, including Lake Atitlan! We arrived at our hotel in Xela and prepared for an evening out. We enjoyed helado from a local tienda and then had a family dinner at a nearby restaurant. Having dessert first certainly didn’t slow us down!

We are all thoroughly exhausted as we settle in this evening, but cannot wait to get started working more with our Guatemalan partners. It’s time to start using the skills and knowledge we’ve learned this semester!

-Cassie and Matt

Welcome to the 2013 Guatemala Blog!

Thank you for visiting our Guatemala Blog, 2013 Edition. This blog will document the travels of students and faculty from Western New England University as we visit Central America to learn about healthcare. We'll be heading to Guatemala in just a few weeks, so please check back to follow our progress.

-M. Rust

Day 12

Adios Guatemala!

We packed our bags this morning and made our way back to the States. After a 3 hour bus ride back to Guatemala City, we caught a 3.5 hour flight to Atlanta. Follwing a brief layover, we took a 2 hour flight to Hartford, where many of us were greeted by our waiting friends and family.

What a trip! We spent almost two weeks in Central America exploring various aspects of healthcare. Visits to hospitals and clinics, volunteering at co-operatives, and listening to the Guatemalan people were just a few of our activities. We also experienced the culture, food, and language of the areas we visited, and even managed to celebrate a soccer championship.

We hope you have enjoyed reading about our travels. If you would like more information about our trip or would like to get involved in healthcare in Guatemala, please contact us at any time.

Thanks for reading!

-M. Rust
-S. Northrup
-ILP 296 Students

Day 11

After breakfast at the mission, we boarded a boat called the “Karina” to go across Lake Atitlan, which boarders San Lucas. The views of the mountains and the villages were exquisite and cannot be matched in New England.

We landed in a town called Panajachel and rode in “Tuk-Tuks”, which are motorized tricycle taxis, to a resort where we were scheduled to do zip-lining. We hiked up to the top of the resort, and got to view the unique vegetation and wildlife. We experienced speeds as high as 40 mph, and we enjoyed the amazing views of the surroundings.

We then visited the shops around the resort and had lunch. Afterwards, we rode the boat back to a town called San Antonio and continued shopping in the local area. The level of poverty at San Antonio is much higher than that of any area in which we had previously visited. It helped reinforce the need for volunteer help, and how even a little effort can go a long way in helping the people of Guatemala.

For our final meal together we headed to the Hotel Toliman restaurant, which would match any fancy restaurant in the States in quality. The professors thanked us for our efforts and made it a point of describing in detail how we surpassed their expectations. We returned the sentiments and thanked them for giving us the opportunity to help.

-Pete

Day 10

Today our team was split into two separate groups. One group visited the clinic again while the other went to the women’s center to break rocks into gravel and dig out boulders from the side of a hill. We were given pickaxes and a heavy duty pry bar to take care of the boulders, and hammers to smash the little rocks into smaller ones. After roughly a half hour of digging out smaller boulders from the hillside, Pete, Tim, Dr. Northrup, and I took it upon ourselves to dig out the biggest boulder we could see. In order to get to the big boulder, we needed to first get out a few other massive rocks. We used our superior engineering skills to find the best points to pry from to make the large boulders come tumbling down the hillside into the pile that was at the bottom. As time passed, one by one the massive rocks came tumbling down, bringing us closer to getting out “the big one”.  After about an hour and fifteen minutes of trying to get it out of the hillside, we decided to take a 20 minute break to refuel for the epic battle. After the break we went back to work with only one more rock standing in the way of glory. As I was prying out the last rock before “the big one” could be reached, Alyssa noticed that it was not as stuck into the side of the hill as we had thought. With a little extra effort, it came right out, and the glory was ours.

After lunch we all walked to the reforestation project for our next job of the day. When we arrived, we were given the task of preparing individual bags of dirt that would be used to begin life’s journey for hundreds of trees. We were divided into three separate teams, and Dr. Northrup said that the team that bagged the most dirt would win an ice cream treat. All together we must have bagged at least 700 parcels of dirt. After we had completed that task, the leader of the reforestation project told us about all of the different trees that he grew on his farm along with their uses.

We finished our day with a talk given by the only doctor at the local health clinic. He talked about how the clinic was started, their major challenges, and how people can get involved in the future by helping out the clinic.

-Mike

Day 9

After breakfast most of our group went to the reforestation area. There is a large problem in San Lucas with deforestation from a combination of mudslides and infrastructure. We worked in a bucket line moving saplings to a new area where they can grow. Toribo, the gentleman who runs the reforestation area, took us on a special hike after working. He brought us to a Mayan alter and explained the many similarities between the Mayan religion and the Catholic religion of the mission. It was a very unique experience, and it was very moving. The Mayan religion is largely based on respect for the land. This makes the reforestation efforts not only good for their prosperity, but it satisfies their religious wishes.

After lunch we went to the Clinic in San Lucas. We worked as a team to sort through a supply of sutures based on their size and whether they are absorbing or non-absorbing. While not the most difficult task, it was a good learning experience to understand the importance of little jobs which keep a hospital running. Most of the sutures came from donations from large American companies, which shows the importance of giving back.

Our final trip of the day was to a local restaurant to celebrate Maureen’s birthday. Happy birthday Maureen! The professors were kind enough to treat us to dessert, and fun was had by all.

-Pete

Day 8

Today our class piled into a van and went to a village just outside of town. When we arrived we split into two groups. Each group went to a different home to construct an oven for the owners of the house. We began constructing the oven by mixing dirt and cement to place in between the cinder blocks for the oven's base. It took a lot of patience to make sure that the blocks were level and in place.  Some of the students used a machete to cut the cinder blocks to the correct size. Since it is the rainy season, it began to pour while we were working, which made us unable to finish building the oven. Everything was done by hand, and it was an eye opening experience to see and participate in all the steps to create the stove.

The trip back to the mission was one we will never forget. We all crammed in the back of a covered pickup truck. The combination of the pouring rain, the hot air temperature and the inability to see where we were going made us all very anxious of when we would hit the next speed bump.

Once we got back to the mission, we all explored the different stores within the town. The stores had many different colorful bags and scarves that everyone enjoyed. One of the store owners who knew professor Northrup from previous years invited us back to show us her home. Her family was very inviting and grateful that we went to her store. Her father took out his marimba and played a couple of songs for us. Being invited into her home was a great experience of the real Guatemalan culture.

-Rhiana and Haley