Adiós Guatemala!

After 24 days of sharing with family, friends and students, I can say that this vacation with a purpose was full of fun, hard work, learning, laughing and amazing moments! The only thing I regreat is that I had to leave and I couldn't stay longer! I loved every moment of this visit and I am grateful for every single  experience I lived from June 1st until the 25th!

 GRACIAS a todos!

French truffles best with pure Guatemalan cacao

Señoras get a chance to practice their French in Antigua

Who would have thought that here we would be in Antigua Guatemala practicing our French, with a French Chef who was teaching us how to make “ganache” for our hand-made French truffles with pure Guatemalan cacao? 

Yes, las Señoras put on aprons and got their hands dirty. We learned from French Chef Claire Isabelle about truffles presentation and theory, how to prepare flavored ganache, to temper chocolate and to prepare chocolate coats. We each created and decorated 6 truffles, and also made six “fill” chocolates. 

Indeed, Antigua is a cosmopolitan international city with restaurants and chefs from all over the planet.   Just the night before, we dined at a French restaurant owned by an internationally acclaimed French chef, Jean Francois.  We enjoyed French onion soup and steak with Béarnaise sauce, and we could have not finished the evening at this amazing terrace overlooking the ruins with a very unique “avocado” crème-brulee and chocolate mousse.  Ooh lala! Tres bien!

 

Important Quotations of the Last 24 Hours

1. "Architecture is easier than food." -- Stephen Stivers

2. "Is there Wi-Fi here, Señora? I can't get a signal!" -- Sidak Grewal

    "In more ways than one!" -- Señora Enseñat

3. "Señora, Where is my lava rock?" -- Jack Scoot

    "It's right here, Jack" -- Señora Sharlin

    "Don't steal it!!" -- Jack Scoot

    "I am not going to steal it... I picked it up for you." -- Señora Sharlin

    "Oh, yeah. That was dumb..." -- Jack Scoot

Stay tuned! More to come on the plane ride home!

Kyle

A walk in the clouds -Up to Volcano Pacaya

"This is so cool, so awesome, señora! Can we stay longer?" - Collegiate students

Today's adventure took us an hour outside of Antigua to begin our trek on foot up the active volcano Pacaya.   Equipped with our walking sticks, the 2 senoras made the rather steep, and at times slippery ascent with the rest of crew up ahead with the guides.  Glimpses of the volcano's crater would appear as clouds drifted by and through us.  Nothing can compare.

"The Freaking Chair Moved!" -- Señora Sharlin

"The spirits are [angry] at Stephen!"

Today marked our second to last day in Antigua and our debriefing session as we shared memories and discussed our presentations. We talked about what we have learned from these experiences and about the water crisis as a whole. An interesting question raised by Chris was, "if you could choose one photo to represent your time here in Guatemala and to tell your story, what would it be?" The responses varied from the smiling faces of the children to the ziplines. Each told a deeper meaning -- showing eagerness for foreign visitors and willingness to step out of our comfort zones.

As our business with Ecofiltro:one drew to a close, our work on our presentations began. We started our rough drafts by answering the eight essential questions that must be in our final project. Here are the questions:

1. Why did you come on this trip?
2. Why did you choose _____ as your topic?
3. What did you learn about Antigua/Guatemala?
4. What are three things that you found memorable and why?
5. What was a difficulty for you on this trip and why?
6. What did you learn about yourself?
7. Include at least one anecdote.
8. What impact do you think you made on the people you encountered?

In the afternoon during our language classes, we attended two churches in order to see some early colonial architecture and see the differences between the current and antiquated Antigua buildings. The locations visited were the Catedral and San Francisco. Each offered a unique part of the history, from underground chapels and catacombs to massive courtyard fountains.

We returned in time for the break where we were able to eat pizza and relax for our last class at the language school. Many went to the market in order to shop around and learn outside of the classroom. Now, about the title. As the Señoras, Stephen, and I were talking about the blog and the importance of embracing a challenge, a strange noise occurred from a chair outside on the walkway or in the dining room. No cellphone or person was near the chair, but the distinct sound of the chair scooting across the floor could be heard. Who knows? Señora Sharlin famously gave us the title. Nonetheless, we are excited to begin our last day here in Guatemala tomorrow as we climb the Volcán Pacaya bright and early! See you tomorrow!

Kyle

The Final Presentation

Today marked our final of four presentations to various communities in need of potable water. We hiked about 20-30 minutes outside of Antigua to a village called "La Guardiania" to present to two groups -- one in elementary school and one in middle school. The journey up was a bit interesting, as Amy and Natania rescued a small puppy last night and tried hard to find it a home. They eventually were able to find a kind family to take it in. Upon arrival to the school, the children greeted us with smiles and "holas" to show their excitement to have new visitors. The first group came out and the children sat down on the concrete and began to chat amongst themselves until Lencho immediately captivated their attention. Soon, my group was up and we began to present. The first run went well, but some parts were a slight bit long. Nonetheless we quickly learned from this and corrected ourselves for the second group shortly after. In the end, it was a very good culmination to our hard work.

Soon after the presentations, the children were excited to play a game of football (soccer) with us in the large field across the road from the school. The children even have jerseys to represent their school and team! It turned out be a very intense game, as the Señoras assumed the role of the coaches and shouted directions from the sidelines. In the end, our team got destroyed with a final score of 5-1. We thanked them for a good game and began to walk back to Antigua.

In the afternoon, we went with our tutors to the local Jade Museum to learn about the different kinds of jade present in Guatemala, as well as the refining techniques. We learned that a statue of an owl made of green jade takes about three days to make and costs about $400! We were then able to look around the shop and see the high prices for the jade, as well as understand understand our own Mayan Zodiac signs. Some of us are fish, some are jaguars, some are sharks, etc. We soon left and headed for the chocolate museum.

Upon return from the jade museum, Ross, Even, Max, and I attended a chocolate making class at "Choco Museo" in order to help with our presentations of the Guatemalan food. When we arrived, we were greeted by Pablo, an enthusiastic Guatemalan who taught us the history of chocolate, as well as the processes of fermenting, roasting, shelling, grinding, and refining the beans. In the end, we were able to taste three different chocolate drinks -- a cocoa shell tea; a Mayan drink with paprika, water, and other spices, which turned out to be very spicy and bitter; and a Spanish version with milk, sugar, anise seed and black pepper. We made our own chocolates as well with a variety of ingredients, including coconut, macadamia, oreos, salt, and others.

Overall, today has been a great experience, both in our final presentations and in the jade museum. We were able to learn about the history of jade in the Mayan culture and experience the entire refining process of the chocolate bean. Tomorrow, we look forward to regrouping at the house in Chris's neighborhood in order to debrief one last time about our presentations and our work in the communities, as well as to begin our first rough draft of our presentations.

As the week has passed, we have had the opportunity to see such a different side of Guatemala and to have an impact on childrens' lives each and every day. See you tomorrow!

Kyle

Our new found "CHA'KS"

Children from coffee farm and co-op "La Voz"

Children from San Juan La Laguna, Lake Atitlan

Look at me! I can fly!

Watch Max flying, our "Karate Kid"!

"this is how FUERTE I am!"

Jack words tonight; "I am so bored that I needed to rip off the Delta headphones... ....this is how FUERTE I am!"

Last presentation at La Guardiania

Collegiate students gave their last "drink plenty of clean water daily" pitch for ecoFiltro this morning at a school a mile away from Antigua.

 

After their second presentation, the PE Coach invited us to play a soccer match with the school kids. 

Our Titans fought hard to maintain their dignity with a final score of 5-1.. we were happy that Collegiate score 1 goal!!!

 

The Appreciation of Water!

Over 12 hours without water!! Early this morning (before 6.30), three massive water pipes burst in Antigua and left the entire city with out water for much of the day! Walking down the street and seeing a torrent rushing down the cobblestone after no rain was certainly abnormal, as was turning on the faucet and seeing nothing come out. We were really able to discover a new-found appreciation for water after losing it for so long. It is interesting that to us this is a horrible event, but to the Guatemalans, as explained by a member of my host family, this is normal. Of course showering at Senora Sharlin's house was an option, as she was apparently the only one of everybody to have water throughout the day, but nonetheless, we got another unexpected taste of Guatemalan culture.

Today's presentation was certainly an interesting one! We arrived in the town of Esquincla, immediately burst into sweat from the heat and humidity, and were greeted by an overwhelming number of excited and noisy children in the school. They enthusiastically clamored to the windows to see who their new and foreign visitors were. We toured the school and ascended to the computer lab, generously donated by a company called "Telefonica" who chose Esquincla as the most in need out of 150 candidates in Guatemala. We then proceeded to descend back to first floor and noticed that about 100 children (of the 500 total!) had come out of class to listen to our presentations in the tiny courtyard.

We began presenting in front of the students, who were a very tough crowd to please. They were very immersed in their own conversations and were not quite as interested in our information as previous groups. This certainly made the presentations difficult and made us talk very loud, but we nonetheless saw it as a great learning experience that we can use to tweak our presentations, as well as another exposure to a different side of Guatemala. Every so often, however, the children would scoot closer and closer to me or Evan, indicating that they had some interest in the problems and solutions of the water crisis. 

After the massive presentation to the children in the courtyard, we decided that the reception was not what it should be, so we did two smaller presentations in classrooms where the children were much more focused and eager to participate. We made our presentations much shorter, which kept the kids from chatting with their neighbors. These went much better, and in the end, they were able to learn from us, we were able to learn very much from them, and, like always, they were sad to see us leave as we boarded the van to return to Antigua. See you tomorrow!

Kyle

Hike to The Cross

A view to remember!

We met at the language school to walk to el Cerro de la Cruz (the Hill of the Cross) with the students’ tutors. 20 other students and tutors joined us and it was a large and fun group from different parts of the United States and Guatemala. 

The wall on the "mirador" dates to the time of the Spanish Colony, but the monument to the cross was placed on the hill in 1961. The hill is located on the north end of the city and you can walk to the base of the hill from anywhere in Antigua within 10 to 20 minutes. The walk lasted less than 30 minutes, but was tough for those who are out of shape and cannot keep up. We spent 30 minutes on the hill and enjoyed beautiful views of Antigua and the volcanoes. Later we walked back to the school where the students finished their Spanish classes for the day.

A relaxing moment for Natania and Amy.

Back to the Old Schedule!

We have survived our first day back from the lake without a scratch! 

In the morning we went outside of Chimaltenango (Lencho's hometown about 25-30 minutes from Antigua) to present the problems and solutions of the water crisis for the second time. This presentation, however, was catered to little children about 5 years of age. This school, much like the one last Thursday in San Martin had already had Ecofilters for two years, so they enthusiastically knew and presented many benefits of water. When we arrived, they were very happy to see us and greeted us with an ear-piercing "Buenos Dias!" We proceeded to present, all the while giving out bags of "Silly Bands" as each child responded to a question.

When all was said and done, the children invited us to games of basketball, soccer, and many other forms of exercise. The street in front the the school was filled with goals, soccer and basketballs, and kids -- both from Collegiate and from El Tejar, the town. We played for at least 30 minutes before the children had to eat lunch. Much as they were excited to answer questions and discuss the importance of water, they were also eager to share whatever food they had with them -- bread with beans, cookies, crackers, etc. -- with us so we could have something to eat. When we left, they were certainly sad to see us go.

After lunch with our host families, we attended language school from 2-6 once again. From 2-4, we worked hard on our lessons, but toured the markets from 4.30-6.00. Many of us practiced our bartering skills with the help of our teachers and were able to buy goods from clothes to wallets for a fraction of the cost! It was very interesting to see the diverse selection of merchandise in the booths -- anything imaginable could be bought there!



We look forward to presenting to another community tomorrow in a village about an hour away in order to spread the knowledge of water to other children. In the afternoon during our language classes, we will hike to a large cross about thirty minutes up a mountain from Antigua to learn about its history. Look forward for more! See you tomorrow!

Kyle

El Lago Atitlan -- A Weekend of Adventure

What a wonderful weekend!! 

We are back to Antigua from Lake Atitlan amazed by the beautiful views everywhere one looks! When we arrived to Panajachel on Saturday, we had about an hour to walk around town before lunch. Some played basketball with locals and some shopped and bought gifts at the local stores.


Soon after, we stopped for lunch at a restaurant surrounded by gardens and tried a new fruit called a "Pitaya." This is almost like a kiwi, but very purple and much larger.

After our lunch, we boarded a boat with our luggage to ferry us to the other side of the lake where our hotel was located. During the 15-20 minute ride, we were able to see spectacular views of the mountains, the volcanoes, and the villages surrounding the lake.

At the other side, we arrived at our hotel -- an Eco-Lodge outside of "San Juan La Leguna" built on the side of the mountain and surrounded by lush vegetation. The feel was very rustic, as many of the walls and floors of the rooms were constructed from cobblestone; however, the soft beds were welcome upon nightfall after a day of hiking around town.

eco hotel Uxlabil - San Juan La Laguna, Solola

We had about an hour and a half to walk around the town, similar to Panajachel, in which we visited a local artist gallery selling magnificent paintings, hand-woven textiles, and wooden masks. As supposed to lower-level street vendor quality, these paintings were top-level, hand made by members of a community centered on painting and weaving.

A little later in the afternoon, we attended a tour of an organic coffee farm co-operation in San Juan to see how 143 families rent plots of land and export their top-tier coffee. The guide explained to us that 90% of the coffee grown in Guatemala was "shade coffee" -- a variety that requires 60% shade to grow. He also explained to us the many more uses of the coffee farm, including the cultivation of bananas and avocados from the shade trees, honey from the beehives responsible for the pollination of the coffee plants, and black beans from the plants planted when the coffee trees are regrowing.


We returned to the coffee complex to see the processing of the beans, and then to the restaurant where we had the opportunity to purchase coffee and listen to live marimba music. Dinner commenced shortly after -- a delicious meal of chicken, rice, and vegetables.




Afterwards, the dancing began as Lencho enthusiastically demonstrated his favorite dances to us. We returned to the lodge late at night, and everyone went to bed after a long day.

Lencho & Sra, Sharlin dressed like Sanjuaneros

We woke up the next morning and enjoyed a breakfast of pancakes, oatmeal, mango, peach, watermelon, cheese, preserves, and bread. Eager for a fun day of zip lining, we set off for Panajachel. Upon arrival, we quickly harnessed and began a 20-minute hike up to the first platform and zip line. At first glance, the cable did not seem very high until one looked over the edge once clipped in and saw the 200 meter drop. There were eight zip lines in total, one of which speeds of nearly 60 feet per second could be reached. The adrenaline certainly kicked in! After the zip lines, there were two small ropes courses over a creek that some people mastered and some people did not. Still hyped up on adrenaline, we de-harnessed and prepared for a lunch of lemonade and hamburgers. We said a final goodbye to the lake and departed back to Antigua in the early afternoon. Along the way, we stopped in Chimaltenango to drop off Lencho in his hometown. We returned at about 5.30 in the afternoon and prepared to eat dinner at Christopher's restaurant Micho's. It is unbelievable how fast the weekend has gone by, but we are excited to get back to the schedule tomorrow with a presentation in the morning and language classes in the afternoon! See you tomorrow!

Kyle