Day 6

Today was the day we left Xela to head to San Lucas for the second part of our trip where we will be working at the mission.  We headed out early to leave time to stop and explore the Mayan Ruins in the city of Iximche.  We got a tour of the ruins and learned some of the important history of the Mayans.

After visiting the ruins, we stopped at the Hotel Restaurante Albergues de Tecpan for lunch where we walked around and explored the park for a while to get a break from the long bus ride.  We had fun playing on see-saws, swings, and other playground toys (releasing our inner-child and our built up
energy from sitting all morning).

We then got back on the bus where we had 3 more hours until we arrived at our hotel in San Lucas. On our way to the hotel we passed an amazing waterfall.

 After getting through the thick and scary fog, we finally arrived where we had to say our goodbyes to the friends we had made over the past few days in Xela. They gave us each a present to remember them by and to show their appreciation for our visit. They told us to always keep a part of Guatemala in our hearts and that we will always have a friend in Guatemala.

We then quickly got settled in our hotel and headed over to the mission for dinner and to meet other volunteers. At the mission we were given an overview of our schedule for the week and a brief orientation.  We concluded the night by watching a video of remembrance of Father Greg Schaffer, who recently passed away.  Father Greg served the San Lucas Mission for 48 years and had an tremendous impact on the people of the San Lucas area.  Everyone was exhausted after the long travel day and headed to bed shortly after the video. 

- Kara & Carli

Day 5

Saturday was a day of leisure and tourism.  We started with a short trip to the Instituto Tulan where Victor Racancoj, the director, presented for about an hour on the present day issues of poverty and malnutrition in Guatemala and how it affects the indigenous population much more.  Next we traveled to the Baul, a park at the top of a ridge overlooking Quetzaltenango.  Here we took some nice pictures and had some fun sliding down a long cement slide.

Afterwards we returned to Quetzaltenango for a soccer match with the people from Tulan, some of Victor's family, our driver, and our translators.   While I knew that Dr. Rust is a soccer phenom, I was surprised to see how good our students were at soccer.   We had a lot of fun and learned that playing at 5000+ feet above sea level is quite tiring.

Next, we headed to the Fuentes Georginas natural hot springs for a few hours of relaxation in the pools.  Everyone seemed to have a great time.  The drive to the hot springs follows a winding road to a very high elevation where we are in the clouds by the end of the journey.  Along the way, the students see a lot of Guatemalans farming the fields adjacent to the road.  At times, entire families are working in the fields on steep hillsides.  Most of the crops in this area are root vegetables.   At the top there is some really interesting vegetation.  It reminds me of Jurassic Park - plants with huge leaves and thick foliage everywhere.  

Finally we had a banquet with our hosts and gave some gifts to all of the Guatemalans who help us with the Quetzaltenango portion of the trip.  Our translators, Jose and Jose (who we affectionately call Jos-A and Jos-B) were terrific,  our driver, Carlos, was very helpful, as was our Tulan coordinator, Rosa.

Saludos, Professor Northrup

Day 4

For most of us, our day began bright and early at 4:30 am with the pleasant sounds of the local policia sirens that circled our hotel several times.  For the rest of us, the day began at 8 am with breakfast, which consisted of panqueques and fresh fruit.  Afterwards, we went back to the hotel for a second before we got back on the bus. We left for the hospital in Toto at around 9:30am, where we met a few of the hospital workers who listened to a presentation by Dr. Rust.  Victor, the Director of the Tulan Institute, also gave us a brief introduction to the work he is doing in Guatemala. We are hoping to learn more about this during the lecture he will be giving us tomorrow morning. After the presentation we left the hospital in Toto and headed to the town of San Andres Xecul to learn some history about the Catholic church there.  We learned that the church was a mixture of the Mayan and Spanish cultures, and we also heard about the significance of the symbolism represented in the architecture of the building, including the colors used in the artwork.

The yellow of the church symbolizes the spirituality of the Mayan community and is the color of corn, which is their main crop.  The green of the church represents nature, which is a very large part of the Mayan culture.  Finally, the red of the church represents the blood of the Guatemalan people that was shed during the Civil Wars.  After taking several photos of the church and the surrounding areas, we went down the mountain to the largest cemetery in Xela. The cemetery was quite different than anything you would see in the States. As seen in the photo below, there are walls which contain numerous coffins cemented into these structures. The cemetery went on for what seemed like forever. The walls ended and a set of stairs led us up a hill to a more familiar cemetery with a beautiful view of the mountains. On the way out of the cemetery, we passed by a funeral procession. Jose, one of our translators, informed us that it was for a taxi driver and there were many taxis and cars beeping their horns in honor of the deceased.

We then ventured off to the market for another round of bargaining. All the girls absolutely loved this one store that consisted of jewelry and purses. The guys did not leave empty handed though; they ended up buying slippers. As we were walking around the main square in Xela, we took part in the celebratory activities for the 490^th anniversary of the city, which consisted of street venders and live entertainment featuring a Spanish band that covered Kings of Leon. For dinner we unanimously decided we wanted helado (ice cream) – an obvious favorite for everyone. Shelby got dinamita (chocolate brownie) and I got chocomenta (mint chocolate chip) which both of us thoroughly enjoyed.

Afterwards, we walked through the arcade. At first, we thought it was going to have games and prizes, but apparently it is a covering between the outside of two buildings that looks like an arch (go figure). Now we are all getting ready to go out for late night snacks and fun in the arcade.

 

 Buenas Noches

 
-Shelby and Emily