we drove out to a pueblo in the mountains. maybe 1.5hrs, maybe to 9,000ft? everyone had been displaced by Hurricane Stan last year, so they were starting from scratch.
They have no clean water, minimal sanitation, no electricity. Most everyone speaks Quiche out in these towns (one of the 26 Mayan languages in Guatemala), so it's all body language. Pop Wuj gives scholarships to some of the kids, and a doctor runs a weekly clinic with American medical students who are in Xela to learn Spanish. It's beautiful, so high up and really just forest and hills rolling out to the coast. We walked out to where the last house was situated and, we could hear music playing on battery powered radios in nearly every home.
Friday, August 04, 2006
el inicio
Our group is starting a project. There will be tecotours - technological (ecological) tours - that will serve as a fundraiser so that the organization doesn't live and die by its dependence on external funding. In our first week, we tested some projects. The idea is that a group of people will come for a week or ten days to volunteer on various development projects and get a good dose of latin american politics, history, culture, ect. in the process.
On the first day, we headed to Llanos de Pinal, a little town (incidentally, just at the foot of Santa Maria) to a visit a little guarderia, a community/day care center - this one especially for children from abusive families. The guarderia is funded by a local spanish school for extranjeros (gringos), and they were building a greenhouse in the back. Pop Wuj also does a lot of reforestation projects, and it can get expensive with buying young treelings. With a greenhouse, they can grow their own. The project lead was a young american woman who had been in Xela for about seven months. People stay here awhile - Xela is the sort of place that sticks. We worked with her until it was done, about two weeks later.
For an afternoon, we drove out to La Esperanza. The traditional way of cooking in Guatemala (without what one might consider to be a proper kitchen, something rare in many places), is to build a fire on the floor of your house which would be of dirt or concrete, and to cook over it. First, and most importantly, this causes quite a lot of respiratory illness. Secondly, it's a very inefficient way of using wood. The country has deforestation problems as it is. But when you are poor and have no other options, this is what you do. The family receiving a stove this afternoon was of pretty average size. Lots of relatives, lots of children. We all worked together, the kids helping to make clay to seal the bricks at the top. I got to cut cinder blocks with a machete. The most urgent reason for this stove was that the baby kept getting sick - something like pneumonia three times, something bad. This is common here. The (efficient) stove will use less wood, and the smoke will follow the stove pipe up through the roof.
On the first day, we headed to Llanos de Pinal, a little town (incidentally, just at the foot of Santa Maria) to a visit a little guarderia, a community/day care center - this one especially for children from abusive families. The guarderia is funded by a local spanish school for extranjeros (gringos), and they were building a greenhouse in the back. Pop Wuj also does a lot of reforestation projects, and it can get expensive with buying young treelings. With a greenhouse, they can grow their own. The project lead was a young american woman who had been in Xela for about seven months. People stay here awhile - Xela is the sort of place that sticks. We worked with her until it was done, about two weeks later.
For an afternoon, we drove out to La Esperanza. The traditional way of cooking in Guatemala (without what one might consider to be a proper kitchen, something rare in many places), is to build a fire on the floor of your house which would be of dirt or concrete, and to cook over it. First, and most importantly, this causes quite a lot of respiratory illness. Secondly, it's a very inefficient way of using wood. The country has deforestation problems as it is. But when you are poor and have no other options, this is what you do. The family receiving a stove this afternoon was of pretty average size. Lots of relatives, lots of children. We all worked together, the kids helping to make clay to seal the bricks at the top. I got to cut cinder blocks with a machete. The most urgent reason for this stove was that the baby kept getting sick - something like pneumonia three times, something bad. This is common here. The (efficient) stove will use less wood, and the smoke will follow the stove pipe up through the roof.
vale la pena
on a really sunny day, Xela feels something like a beach town. the sun is incessantly bright, and there's a haze over the mountains. long shadows. the air is dry. you do feel, you think, closer to the sun.
my face right now ought to be enough evidence. it's bright red, and (i think) a bit swollen. except around my eyes, and so i think i have a bit of a racoon look going.
yesterday, we met at 5:30am and drove out to the base of Volcan Santa Maria, a dormant but muy alto volcano about 15 minutes outside of town. We started hiking at around 6:30 and made it to the top around 10am. I had wrestled with going until just before I had to run out the door, and after about five steps, I knew I was in for it. From where we started, the base is at about 8,500 feet. At the summit, it's something like 11,500. The air is thin, and it's difficult to catch your breath when sitting still. We'd go for 20 minutes or so, maybe more, and stop for a break. I'd think, this is totally doable. no problem. We'd start again and within 30 seconds, I'd be sure I wasn't going to make it to the top. But we did, bit by bit.
Guatemaltecos don't mess around. It's pretty much a straight ascent at an angle of maybe 35 degrees. At the top, especially on the way down, it's basically bouldering. From the summit, you can see (when the clouds dissipate) Santiaguito, an active volcano with molten sludge running down one of its sides. You can hear it (feel it) erupt every half hour or so. We dozed and ate bananas and tortillas for over an hour before heading down.
my face right now ought to be enough evidence. it's bright red, and (i think) a bit swollen. except around my eyes, and so i think i have a bit of a racoon look going.
yesterday, we met at 5:30am and drove out to the base of Volcan Santa Maria, a dormant but muy alto volcano about 15 minutes outside of town. We started hiking at around 6:30 and made it to the top around 10am. I had wrestled with going until just before I had to run out the door, and after about five steps, I knew I was in for it. From where we started, the base is at about 8,500 feet. At the summit, it's something like 11,500. The air is thin, and it's difficult to catch your breath when sitting still. We'd go for 20 minutes or so, maybe more, and stop for a break. I'd think, this is totally doable. no problem. We'd start again and within 30 seconds, I'd be sure I wasn't going to make it to the top. But we did, bit by bit.
Guatemaltecos don't mess around. It's pretty much a straight ascent at an angle of maybe 35 degrees. At the top, especially on the way down, it's basically bouldering. From the summit, you can see (when the clouds dissipate) Santiaguito, an active volcano with molten sludge running down one of its sides. You can hear it (feel it) erupt every half hour or so. We dozed and ate bananas and tortillas for over an hour before heading down.
Wednesday, August 02, 2006
alright, photos.
It's slow going, but I'm managing to upload a few at a time.
check out: http://www.flickr.com/photos/spark3180/
check out: http://www.flickr.com/photos/spark3180/
san marcos la laguna
The main town of Lake Atitlan is Panajachel. On the weekends, it is brimming with gringos. It's definitely known for all the "stuff" for sale - there is a ton. I bought some really solid and beautiful little stuffed animals for the children that I'm living with.
Our chicken bus did switchbacks all the way down the hill to get into town. I think I did that once in a bus in Europe, but a chicken bus is quite another thing. We saw a car go up on the rail. Was there a rail? Probably just a rock.
We stayed in San Marcos, a tiny and quiet alternative where you could, if you wanted, choose to stay in a bungalow made entirely of recycled materials. We found this out too late. We did, however, get to see a tree house. It is made of a few old and sturdy tree trunks and sprawling branches that hold a two story wooden house (glass windows, electricity, etc.). You walk under it and past the spiral stairs that lead up to what must be the living room, I guess, to get to the sauna where we sat and sweated until I could finally breathe again. Still sick.
The lake is navy blue, as if the cool aquamarine color at its edges had been veiled with ash from the surrounded volcanoes. It is ominious. It is huge. There's this place with low, flat rocks and a cliff up above it. After I watched a kid jump off, there was no not doing it. 15 meters high. and there's an awesome picture of me plunging and looking terrified on my friend's camera. The adrenaline rush from that was pretty great, but I still have bruises from hitting the water so hard.
Our chicken bus did switchbacks all the way down the hill to get into town. I think I did that once in a bus in Europe, but a chicken bus is quite another thing. We saw a car go up on the rail. Was there a rail? Probably just a rock.
We stayed in San Marcos, a tiny and quiet alternative where you could, if you wanted, choose to stay in a bungalow made entirely of recycled materials. We found this out too late. We did, however, get to see a tree house. It is made of a few old and sturdy tree trunks and sprawling branches that hold a two story wooden house (glass windows, electricity, etc.). You walk under it and past the spiral stairs that lead up to what must be the living room, I guess, to get to the sauna where we sat and sweated until I could finally breathe again. Still sick.
The lake is navy blue, as if the cool aquamarine color at its edges had been veiled with ash from the surrounded volcanoes. It is ominious. It is huge. There's this place with low, flat rocks and a cliff up above it. After I watched a kid jump off, there was no not doing it. 15 meters high. and there's an awesome picture of me plunging and looking terrified on my friend's camera. The adrenaline rush from that was pretty great, but I still have bruises from hitting the water so hard.
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