Day 6

Today we started our last day in Xela with our usual breakfast at El Centro. We checked out and boarded the bus at 8:30 am to head towards San Lucas Tolimán. On our way, we stopped at a lookout which had an incredible view of the two volcanoes.

Once everyone was done taking pictures, we got back on the bus for about another hour until we reached the Mayan Ruins of Iximche. Our tour guide was Alex, and he led us through the five plazas within the ruins. Five plazas once existed with four families presiding over them. We were able to see the remains of the royal palace, the aqueducts, and the ball courts that the Mayans played in. In plaza five, we were able to witness a real Mayan ritual where two chickens were sacrificed over a fire.

Following the end of the tour, we loaded up on the bus again to drive down the road to a restaurant where we ate chicken, steak, guacamole and more. We boarded onto the bus once more for the three hour bus ride to San Lucas. When we arrived in San Lucas, we were shown to our hotel where we dropped off our stuff, said our final farewell to our Xela hosts, and went to dinner. Our dinner was in a buffet style with the other groups that are also working with the Mission. After everyone finished eating, we had a brief orientation to learn about everything we would be involved with and the rules associated with the Mission. After orientation, we walked to a local ice cream shop for a treat before we headed back to the hotel for the night to relax, play some cards and prepare for work in the morning.

-Brianne & Jordyn

Day 5

Today was our fifth day in Guatemala, but our last in Xela. We started off the day by playing a fun game of soccer with some of the locals including our host's sons, Andre and Matteo. We split up into two teams and our team ended up winning the friendly (and slightly competitive) game 4-3.

After the game we stopped into a local bakery to get a snack for the road. The drive to the hot springs was about an hour and once we got to close to it, we had to take a very windy road up hill to get to the hot spring. On our way up we were able to see some of the crops grown on the hill and a few Guatemalans working on these very steep hills. Once we made it, we all quickly changed and went into the hot spring were we swam and hung out for a while. We noticed that some of the locals had black mud on their faces, and we found out they were using the water and scraping the rocks to get the special mineral mix. A few of us decided to try it. After a while of relaxing, we got out of the springs, had lunch, and went back to our hotel. Some of us hung out and played cards while others took a nap or went shopping.
 

For dinner we had a nice banquet at an Uruguayan restaurant to celebrate our week in Xela, while also thanking our hosts and translators for all that they have done for us. In general the food was great, but the steak was absolutely amazing. Overall it was a fun cultural day to end our stay in  Xela.

-Katie and Bri

Day 4

The plan for the day was to go to the University to listen to a talk given by Dr. Rust. Unfortunately there were protests going on at the University by the students and all the doors were locked.  So the location was moved to Victor’s institute, a couple blocks from the hotel. The purpose of the talk was for training the local hospital technicians in optimizing the use and care of instruments in the hospital to make them last longer. 

After the presentation we went to lunch with some of the technicians at a nearby restaurant. Then we went to the cemetery and explored for an hour or so. The cemetery was different than the ones we have in the United States. In Guatemala they were ornately designed and colored; they treat death as more of a celebration. After the cemetery we went back to the hotel for a while then some of us walked over to the local mall for some souvenir shopping. After that we all walked to a local restaurant for dinner. We ate on the roof of the restaurant and tried to enjoy the great view before it started raining and then took the fiesta inside. After dinner we went back to the hotel for some fun card games then got some sleep!

Adios!

 
-Sean and Cori

Day 3

Today began with a two hour beautiful drive to Coatepeque, a municipality near Quetzaltenago. The windy steep roads were mostly accompanied by dogs and cows grazing, with the occasional chicken and duck. Once we all arrived at the hospital, we promptly formed two groups and split up in order to be most efficient in the diagnosis of broken machinery. Each group explored a section of the large hospital and examined the tools and machines that were currently not functional. When an instrument was deemed broken, the students’ objective was to create a list of possible reasons as to why the equipment wasn’t working properly.

When we returned after lunch, we attempted to fix a few machines for which we had the proper equipment. Dr. Rust’s group was able to fix a cast saw and a compressor nebulizer system. Dr. Northrup’s group investigated surgical and anesthetic equipment. Once we had finished fixing as many tools as possible, we started our journey back to Xela, now driving up the steep windy road. We arrived back at Hotel El Centro at 6:30 pm and immediately started getting ready for dinner at 7:30. Once ready, the whole group walked a few blocks down the road to Utz Hua and enjoyed dinner and dessert. Afterwards we all walked back to the hotel for a relaxing evening of free time.

-Kalyn Robbins & Erin Farrell

Day 2

Today provided an opportunity for the students to learn a little bit about how different things can be in Guatemala. Our plan was to visit a hospital in Huehuetenango, including touring the facility and working with the technicians for maintenance/repair of medical equipment. However, the road leading to Huehue was closed due to a protest involving the lack of resources devoted to healthcare in Guatemala. So unfortunately, this prevented us from reaching the hospital to complete our work. While waiting in hope that the road would open, the students spent some time playing various ball games. Once it became apparent that we would not be able to complete our work, we headed back to Xela and spent the afternoon exchanging money, having lunch/dinner, and shopping at the market. The students also attended a lecture given by our host in Xela, Victor, regarding the challenges facing the people of Guatemala. Hopefully we'll be able to reach our hospital destination tomorrow!

-M. Rust

Day 1

The trip started bright and early this morning with our first team meeting at 4:00 am at Bradley International Airport. We checked in, went through security and boarded our first flight of the day to Atlanta. After a quick airport meal and a short layover, we boarded the second flight to Guatemala City. For a couple of students these were their first flying experiences, and for others it was their first time out of America. We all made it through Customs, claimed our luggage and met up with our tour guide, Jose. Then we strapped our luggage to the roof, piled into the van and began our road trip to Quetzaltenango.

On the way, we stopped at a local restaurant, Chichoy, and sampled some local cuisine for lunch. Students ate an array of different entrees like rabbit, pork, beef, fresh guacamole, and chicken and rice soup.  This was our first experience with the local food, but the consensus was that our first meal was a great success. When the meal was finished, we packed ourselves back up in the van and were on our way to the hotel. The remainder of the ride was about three and a half hours, and after a long hard travel day, we finally got to the hotel, checked into our rooms, showered and started to get ready for tomorrow!

-Steve and Jess