The next big trip came up quite suddenly. Derek and I had tossed around the idea of making a trip to Southeast Asia to see Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. When we were back in Beirut- all settled and half way there- the trip seemed like a perfect way to kill time between the multiple wedding engagements we had scheduled. This mood seemed to change, though, once we hit the road. All of sudden Asia seemed REALLY far away, and pretty damn expensive to get to. We went back and forth for the most of the summer until we finally settled on something we both could look forward to- Guatemala! The best part was that while we were in Oregon, we met Josh's brother Aaron and his girlfriend Erica, who had been recently living in Guatemala. They worked at an organization called LONG WAY HOME. This nonprofit was started by Returned Peace Corps Volunteers a few years ago. It started with a park in a village. Instead of paying an entrance fee, children could gain admittance by collecting trash in a plastic bottle, hopefully encouraging them to take notice of the enormous illegal trash dumps polluting their beautiful countryside. Eventually they had so many bottles they needed a new project. With collaboration from the community and Engineers Without Borders, they developed a plan for a Vocational School that would be made from old tires and trash bottles, sand and clay. In the town of Comalapa, the lucky child goes as high as Grade 6. This new school would offer a practical high school education, with a strong emphasis on environmental awareness and sustainable living. Once Derek and I heard that it would be possible to go and volunteer for this group, we booked our tickets and left ten days later.
As soon as we arrived, I felt like I was home. By the end of almost 3 weeks there, Derek literally had to tear me away. I loved everything about the project- the education piece, the environmental piece, the spanish piece, the celebration piece. It was invigorating to wake up every day and get dirty working with my hands. We learned how to make cob, which is a mixture of sand, clay, manure and hay that is used to cover the walls made from tires and stuffed bottles. The buildings are designed to resist earthquakes, and to leave a relatively tiny footprint on the environment. The staff at LWH were incredible, extremely devoted, compassionate and endearing people. They live on $200 a month down there, which is not much, despite how inexpensive almost everything is. The organization survives in large part due to the steady stream of volunteers that come down for a week or even several months. Most of them are like us- lots of enthusiasm, but very little knowledge. Luckily, the staff are very patient and pretty well organized, too, so volunteers leave with way more than what they came with. Derek and I had the great pleasure of living up at the construction site. The volunteer house is about a 15 minute walk away (at the original park) but for a few logistical reasons, we got to stay up at the school. It was quite an adventure, a lot like camping/peace corps living. We loved it! The only downer was a bit of a run-in I had with the cow, Mariposa. Mariposa was a "gift"to the Guatemalan staff (there are 6 guys who work full time on the construction) from a second grade class in Australia. But since she is theirs to share, she lives at the site. One Sunday I was trying to pitch in with the chores and I thought I could relocate the cow so she would have more food and stop bellowing so incessantly. But I terribly underestimated the strength of a cows draw to the forbidden corn crops. Just as I was loosening her rope, she started to take off and before I realized what was happening, I was tumbling down the gravel hillside. OUCH! Luckily Derek caught her and we both used everything we had to pull her back. I couldn't really move too well for a day or so, which was OK because I ended up working in the office and helping with the newsletter! Plus I got some great battle scars...Like I said, I never wanted to leave, but the time eventually came and I had promised Derek we could tour some of Guatemala, and marriage, after all, is all about compromise, so off we went to see what the rest of the country had in store.
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Here is the shower that was built using glass bottles and cans. These materials
take up space so not so much cement is needed. It also adds charm and color! |
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| Some volunteers leaving in the truck after a night of festivities. |
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| That's me using a machete to chop wood for the fire! |
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An example of a wall made of tires. It will be filled in and smoothed out with cob later.
On top of the window are a bunch of glass bottles. Here they are covered with tape to keep them
clean, but when the tape is removed, it will allow more natural light into the classroom. |
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Here we are adding decorations to this wall using cob. We ended up sculpting corn cobs
and Mayan glyphs for the four elements. |
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The view from the school. That's a volcano! And if you look closely, you can see a plume
of smoke behind it, coming from another volcano. |
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| My wounds from the mishap with the cow. |
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| The cow. That's Genevieve attempting to control the cow. It's just not a good idea. |
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| Here's our room! And that's one of the 3 dogs that runs the place. |
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A clear example of why they need to do something about the trash.
This pile of garbage is falling down into the river. |
We decided to head north towards Tikal, the famous Mayan ruins. On the way we were told we should see Semuc Champey, the "most beautiful place in Guate". Day one: we took a bus to Guatemala City, then another bus to Coban for a total of about 10 hours of travel. This was just a stopover place for the night, but we ended up meeting another RPCV who had been stationed in Coban. We ate together at a local El Salvadorian place. Yummm. The next morning, we took more local transport to Semuc Champey. This is where it got interesting. First we took a minibus about 4 hours down the winding highway, and then off road for an entire hour of bumping along the downhill gravel. We arrive in a tiny town, yet still have another off-road journey ahead of us, which we take in the back of a pickup truck. A few locals jump in with us, one woman handing me her baby, which is asleep in a sling! The road (about 30 minutes, this time) is quite bumpy so it's better to stand up and hang on to the cross bar. We finally arrive at El Portal. Our room is in a grass hut on the second floor. We have to climb a ladder to get to it, and there isn't even a single light in the room! But the view of the river was beautiful. We went for a good hike and ended up in these gorgeous pools of water created by the various land levels in the river in between two waterfalls. You could see clear to the bottom and the little fish even nibbled on your feet! It was awesome. The next day we left and headed for Tikal . This was the longest day of the trip- it took us 11 hours to go roughly 200 kilometers. NOT FUN. But we finally arrived in the quaint island town of Flores where we found a simple family run hotel, a delicious meal by the water, and a good night sleep. From Flores we took a bus to Tikal and admired the Mayan ruins in the Guatemalan jungle. It reminded us of the movie "Apocalypto". That night, we took the overnight back to Guatemala city- piece of advice, this is the way to go! A comfy bus through the night, one stop, no annoying passengers, no unnecessary roadblocks and only 8 hours. We hopped onto a chicken bus (these are the public busses that we took the whole time, but many tourists are told not to take because they might be dangerous...we did it Peace Corps style) and spent the last couple days in Antigua. It's a colorful city that used to be the capital, and also where Bill Clinton once stayed, apparently. One day we had a great tour of a local coffee plantation. Another day we hiked up an active volcano. The rest of the time we ate scrumptious food and drank lots of rum and coke. After all, we were on vacation! Here's a few pictures to go along with my stories...
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This is our tour guide from the volcano hike. He is actually roasting marshmellows from
the steam that is coming up from the cracks. |
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| On the volcano. I'm standing on pure ash, yet some flowers are still growing. |
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| The famous view in Tikal. Apparently it had a cameo in the original Star Wars movie. |
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Tikal. We were the first people there in the early morning. It was eery, being in the jungle like that.
But it was also incredible to see such old towers! |
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| Our grass hut in Semuc. |
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This is Semuc Champey, said to be "the most beautiful place in Guatemala."
I might have to agree. |
