Construction/Teaching

Ok…so it didn’t seem I would have too much to update on the blog until I actually read the last blog update that is almost a month old now!  So here goes! 

I’ll roughly follow the order of the pictures below so I’ll start with the coffee at Tretto Café in Antigua that is simply outstanding!  The cappuccinos pictured are the work of Frosty who is a very talented barista who is very passionate about good coffee! 

On the weekend of Jan 28-29, we went to Lago Atitlan that is a beautiful spot!  We took the bus from here to Panajachel on the edge of the lake.  We didn’t spend much time there as it is a touristy spot and we took a small boat to a small little town called Jaibalito.  We stayed at a hotel run by a german fellow who has done a lot for that small town.  He supplies propane tanks at a cheap rate to the locals who before had to head to Panajachel if they ran out, recharges peoples cell phones with more minutes (a lot of the phones here are pay by the minute), and he roasts the coffee grown by the local farmers so they can sell it at a higher rate.  It was a great spot to hang out for the weekend as it is a quiet little town.

The house I showed pictures of in Santa Maria showing pictures of the family in need has indeed turned into another opportunity where we have been involved for the last two weeks!  Thanks to the generous donations of several families back in Canada, we are helping a local mason and his crew, build the house.  Oswaldo is the mason/contractor, his brother Hector, and another local Carlos.  They are great guys to work with and we’ve had a lot of fun with them!  They work hard but they have a good time doing it!  We wish we knew more Spanish and Quechua so we would understand more of their jokes!  Their first language is Kaqchikel, one of the local indigenous languages but they are fluent in Spanish as well.  It’s been a great opportunity to learn local building techniques and Oswaldo is a great guy to learn from as he is studying in Guatemala City to become a Master of Construction.  He has worked on big multi-story buildings, churches so he has a lot of experience. 

The kids at the house have been a lot of fun and they like to play with us or help us with our work when they get the chance.  They start school at 1:00 pm for 5 hours so we see them for a little while in the morning.  Oswaldo has also been showing us the town and surrounding area a little bit.  He introduced us to his family, took us to his local church (which he also built), and to the Country Club situated roughly 25 minutes by walking down a bumpy dirty road.  The Country Club apparently sees a number of Korean, Japanese and Chinese visitors along with the richer crowd from Guatemala City. 

They are expecting to finish the house on or around March 8 so we should be here to see the finished product!  The walls are finished and the roof will be the project for the next few days. 

We’ve been teaching with Luis in the schools on and off during the week.  Usually two or three days per week as we split our time with the house in Santa Maria.  Two weeks ago I gave a devotional on self-esteem to a school which was a good experience for me as it was something that I struggled with a lot in my past and a much needed topic in that school unfortunately so I pray that I encouraged some of them.  This coming Friday there is a bigger youth rally occurring as a number of schools will be coming together.  They are expecting roughly 900 students to be in attendance and Luis and I will each by taking half of the students and talking to them about dating and pre-marital sex. 

Luis also has a vision of starting a youth center in the Antigua area as there is no such facility in the area.  The vision is becoming closer to reality as there are some people in the U.S. interested in supporting the project and Luis has begun the search for acquiring land.  He has asked me to develop some drawings for a potential building to show potential investors what the vision is.  Not only would the facility be used as a safe environment for youth to come and hang out, but would also provide counseling for those who are interested/need it.  For example, it is believed that 40% of the kids in Guatemala have been sexually abused, and there is little to no help for any of them who seek help in how to cope with that.

So we’ve been staying busy and are learning a lot about the needs of this country and practical/respectable ways people are helping the less fortunate here.  We have just over 3 weeks left here and it will be bittersweet to return to Canada.  This feels like home now and I will miss it here.  But it will also be great to reconnect with everyone back home.  

Cappuccinos from Tretto Cafe

Lago Atitlan

We formed a team with our friends from the World Race group to compete against some kids from one of the schools...I think the score was almost close...

Construction begins in Santa Maria

View from the road heading from Antigua to Santa Maria

U-block channels lined with rebar tie the entire house together in a rebar grid to strengthen the house against earthquakes

Oswaldo the mason

Hector, Oswaldo's brother

Carlos the helping hand

Photo taken by Harrison, one of they boys of the temporary kitchen they are using

Laying my first concrete block

Oswaldo and his family

Preparing formwork to pour concrete in the corner

Entrance to the country club

Spanish/Volunteering

Wow time is really flying by down here!  I did not think that it was 2.5 weeks since the last post!  Sorry!!! 

So what have we been up to?  Well…we are currently in our 4^th week of Spanish classes and we have certainly come a long ways in our comprehension of Spanish!  It’s exciting to be able to understand what people are trying to say to us but we need a lot of practice!  We are undecided at this point how much longer we will continue to take Spanish classes as we are very realistic about the fact that we won’t be fluent by the time we have to return home and we would like to have the opportunity to spend more of our time volunteering where we will be using and stretching our knowledge of Spanish!  Currently having 4 hours of Spanish class in the afternoon and having to do homework after supper takes not only a lot of time, but energy as well.

We have started to be more involved with Luis Carlos as the school year starts.  It is definitely a different world here!  For the first two weeks of classes, most schools didn’t have a full schedule together yet and didn’t know when Luis would be teaching his class!  So that is why we’ve had a bit of a delayed start with being involved in the schools.  But Luis took us to some of the schools last week as he went around looking and asking for schedules.  Monday morning was the first time we stepped foot into actual classrooms with students.  There is a bigger group of individuals here who are taking part in the ‘World Race’ which is doing missions work in 11 countries in 11 months and Guatemala is their first location.  So we ventured with them to this school Monday morning, which was located in a very poor village roughly 1.5 hours west of Antigua.  We were in two classes – a junior high and a high school class.  The World Race team consisted of 13 people, so after we all introduced ourselves to the class and said a few words, we played a game with them and the actual teaching will start in the next visit.  It was sad to see that the stats are true in that the high school class had far less students than the junior high…but that I’ll get into at some other point.  But one comment I’ll make is that we heard a presentation done in a coffee shop by an organization called Familia Esperanza which works in educating the children of Guatemala and it was an eye opening presentation to the difficulties the kids face in obtaining education. 

I started to realize just how isolated these kids really were when some of the world participants talked about going to the beach and the one guy sings some opera and the kids had no idea what they were talking about.  Not only had the kids never seen a beach or heard opera, they had no idea what a beach was or what opera is.  The only reason these kids had the opportunity to be in school was that an American organization had funded and built the school. 

Yesterday we visited a family who we may have the opportunity to help by building them a new home they very desperately need.  The family consists of a single mother and 6 children ranging in age from 7 months to 15 years old.  The 7 month old had a very high fever and they had no money for a doctor or any type of medicine, and the 15 year old is in Guatemala City trying to earn some money for the family.  They live on dirt floors with metal sheeting walls and roof that leak and that community has no running water as the mayor stole all the tax money used to pay the municipality for water so the municipality has shut the water off.  This family like many others, are forced to buy water which they can’t afford.  This family hasn’t had fresh water in 2 months, and the only water they had was in a small wash basin which was completely black from overuse.  It was a very different experience to actually walk through their house and meet the kids than to simply observe from the street and acknowledge the poverty.  It was exciting to know that we may have an opportunity to actually help this family! 

I am being more heavily challenged every day in how I am spending my time and resources back home in the knowledge that poverty isn’t just some tourist attraction or result of a natural disaster that strikes.  The reality and complexity of poverty is definitely sinking in!  Examples like this community where the mayor stole the tax money so now they have no water are more common than I would like to believe!  Guatemala just elected a new president who took office a few weeks ago.  Some are worried about him since he is an ex-military leader and the first ex-military president since the civil war, which ended 15-20 years ago.  But most agree that a change was necessary as there was a lot of corruption in the last government.  And what is odd is that most people don’t seem to think that will change, but this new president has committed to combating violence and drug cartels. 

On Saturday we took part in Subida La Vida; which was an event to raise awareness about the problem of violence in Guatemala!  Chris and I joined 10,000 Guatemalans on a hike up Volcan Agua just south of Antigua!  It was a very early morning as we got up at 3:30 am since events starting happening around 4:00, and buses were set to leave at 4:30 for the town of Santa Maria de Jesus; which was the starting point for the hike!  Well…when we got to the line for the buses, we realized that everyone had already registered for the event!  We knew the event would cost us 50Q (roughly $6.50) but found nowhere to pay or register.  We asked a few people who didn’t know before coming across a group of individuals who landed up having 2 extra tickets they couldn’t use!  Everyone was organized into one of six groups and the idea was that the people in Group 1 would hike all the way to the top, Group 2 almost to the top and so forth.  Well it landed up that we were stuck in Group 4.  That also meant that we were the 4^th group to board the buses for Santa Maria de Jesus which was a painfully slow process!  We stood in line till almost 8:30am when we finally managed to board a bus!  Anyways, the idea was that a human chain would be formed from the top of the volcano! But others from our group continued on past the point that we were supposed to stop so we ventured on as well!  There were a few times when we were told to stop because it was too full with people above but we kept going anyways!  Well we didn’t make it quite to the top – we were finally turned around but we got really close!  We turned around at 1:00 pm and decided we should head back down and by the time we got back down and waited for another 1.5 hours to board a bus for the return trip getting back to the apartment shortly before 7 pm!  It was a long day but definitely rewarding!  Especially since it was likely our only chance to hike Volcan Agua since no agency will bring people up there anymore because at other times it is a 100% chance that you will be robbed on the way up!  We’ve heard stories of groups that have gone up with armed security and they have still been robbed!  So we were glad to have the chance! 

It’s again time to have some lunch before the next Spanish class so I’ll end here.  Sorry again for the long delay in an update!  I will try to be more conscious of how much time is actually passing in the future! 

Some pics around Antigua

Doing laundry in a community laundry area

School and church in a remote village (not the same one where we visited the school or potential housing project)

Starting point of the hike in Santa Maria de Jesus

View from Volcan Agua (the different colored hats show what group you are in)

A family observing the participants of the hike in Santa Maria de Jesus

President of the high school class we visited welcoming us to the school (every class has a president and vice-president)

Playing games with the high school class

Kitchen of the family we may build a new home for

Bedroom for the family

Bathroom (keep in mind they have no running water right now...)

Our New Home - Antigua, Gautemala!

So Chris and I have been in Antigua for just over two weeks now and we absolutely love it here!  Besides the weather, which is practically perfect (highs of 22 – 24 and lows of 12 – 14 every day), we have found the people to be very friendly and are looking forward to practicing our Spanish with them!  After only 2 days here, we found an apartment 4 blocks north of the main square and we love the location and our apartment.  It came fully furnished and is owned by a woman who also runs a laundry service next door so we get a good deal on laundry too!  We are spoiled with a once a week cleaning service of our apartment that seemed to be a mandatory part of the rental agreement (not that we’re complaining!).

In terms of our Spanish, we have completed one week of classes at Antiguena Academy for Spanish.  We each have a private tutor and we are really enjoying the lessons!  It’s certainly more time consuming and mentally draining than we thought it would be!  We are in class for 4 hours in the afternoon that includes a much needed ½ hour break after two hours!  The ½ hour break is just enough time to enjoy a coffee in a tiny little restaurant with only 3 tables close to the school!  We have already booked another 2 weeks and we’re hoping to continue with classes for our entire duration here.  We may not have the time to continue with full time study depending on how much time and energy volunteering takes.  So…volunteering...

            Through a connection that Chris had, we met with a man named Luis Carlos who started an organization called Nueva Generacion that is dedicated to working with the youth of Guatemala.  There are 13 million people in Guatemala, and 43% of the population is under 30 so the youth make up a large percentage of the population.  Their main focus right now is to teach bible classes in the public schools here in Antigua which is now a mandatory class that the students must take.  They have hopes and plans of moving their ministry beyond the classes to a possible youth center since there is no where for youth to go in the city, and to start up a youth group in the church he attends where Luis hopes kids from the classes can come for continued support in their Christian journey.  So he wants us to help teach the classes and to help start up the youth program at the church.  The church he attends which we have also been attending was only started a year ago and is strongly supported by people who commute from Guatemala City.  Many of the attendees are currently from Guatemala City so it will be a challenge to organize a youth night around getting the youth to Antigua and to spread the word here in Antigua that the youth events are happening and open to anyone.  Luis is hoping to start up the youth program in a few weeks.  Classes at the schools will start in a week so we have one more week to become fluent in Spanish!   

            In other news, definitely missing having Mike around!  He went home on December 31^st and managed to surprise everyone back home as he gave them a later date for his return!  He didn’t quite make it home in time for midnight but he was in Winnipeg airport then!  It took a few days to adjust not having him around!  We were glad that he could live with us in our apartment for a few days so he has a good context of our life down here!  But Mike and I have spent a lot of time together in the last 8 months since we worked together before spending the two months traveling together!  I guess university is important though too! 

            Hoping to put up a video or pictures of our apartment in the next day or two but no promises!  We would both like continued prayers for motivation and energy for studying Spanish, and more importantly for how we can be effective with our time here as we begin to build relationships with people. 

(Sorry I’m not posting more pictures of Antigua yet – we really haven’t played tourist here yet and are actually finding it quite odd to see tourists walking around with cameras in hand!  We are hoping to have a “tourist” day soon!)

Hiking Volcan Pacaya

We hiked Volcan Pacaya just to the southeast of Antigua on December 27 while Mike was still here.  Unfortunately no lava, but it is an active volcano!  We roasted marshmallows in natural little “ovens” which was a neat experience!  Someone had recommended that we bring a frying pan and some eggs but we had forgotten!  It was cloudy for much of the hike but it did clear up when we got to the top.  From the top we got good views of Guatemala City and you could see a part of Antigua hiding north of the towering Volcan Agua! 

It was a pretty easy hike and the inside of the crater was a neat place with roasting the marshmallows and taking turns sitting in a natural “sauna” which was really steaming hot!  The “sauna” was the perfect size to lie in!  

Arriving in Guatemala, Tikal and Semuch Champey!

Well it is exciting to be able to provide this update while sitting on the couch of our apartment in Antigua, Guatemala!  So a lot has happened and come together in the last two weeks!

It was very exciting to have Chris join Mike and I in the Miami Airport on December 20!  Chris brought new excitement and energy to the trip; which were welcome not only after backpacking for 7 weeks, but also after an overnight flight with little sleep!  We had an interesting flight from Miami to Guatemala City!  We were supposed to leave at 9:50 but originally had a slight delay of 20 minutes or so.  I saw originally because we had an “irate” passenger on board as we were sitting in line to take off.  So…the plane had to return to the gate and the irate passenger and his wife were removed from the plane by 6 police officers!  Since we were originally delayed and had to taxi back to the runway again, the plane needed to refuel and the bags of the removed passengers had to be located before we could take off!!!  So we finally got in the air around 11:40; which was 10 minutes after we were originally supposed to arrive in Guatemala City!  But we eventually arrived safely!

After walking out of the airport, we had no plan of what to do for the afternoon!  So we found a curb to sit down on while we ate some delicious Christmas cookies sent along by the Klassen family!  We grabbed a taxi to the downtown area where we wandered around for a while.  Then we headed to the bus station to buy tickets for an overnight bus to Santa Elena.  We arrived in Santa Elena at 5:30 the next morning, found a hotel for the coming night and to drop off our bags and headed off in a shuttle to Tikal!  Tikal is gorgeous!  A very different experience from Machu Picchu as the ruins are immersed in jungle and spread out over a large area.  We spent a good 7 hours hiking around Tikal before catching the last shuttle from the ruins back to the Island of Flores just off of Santa Elena where we spent the night!  We were definitely tired by this point after having an overnight flight with little sleep, an overnight bus with little sleep, and a day of hiking around Tikal trying to take in all that the site had to offer in one day! 

December 22 we headed to Coban where we spent the night before heading to Semuc Champey on the 23^rd.  Semuc Champey is a beautiful area that has a 300m long natural limestone bridge that tops a rushing river.  The bridge is stepped and has it’s own set of pools filled with clean refreshing water as the pools all slowly drain to the next pool below!  If you start at the top end of the bridge, you can dive from one pool into the next as you work your way down the bridge!  We had limited time there so we chose one pool to swim in!  We hadn’t organized a tour to get there because we wanted to save some money.  So we got to Lanquin from Coban from where we jumped on the back of a truck heading to Semuc Champey for 15 Quetzals per person ($1 = roughly 8Q).  It was 11 kms from Lanquin to Semuc Champey and we landed up walking the 11 kms back to Lanquin to catch a shuttle back to Coban for the night. 

December 24 we headed off to Antigua and this is where I’ll stop and start a new post!  We need to eat some lunch before our first spanish class this afternoon so I will post about Antigua later!  Merry Christmas and a Happy New Years to all!!!!

Tikal, Guatemala

Semuc Champey, Guatemala

Pictures of South America

Punta del Este, Uruguay

Buenos Aires, Argentina