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
Yesterday was an action packed day full of excitement. We got the privilege of going to the ruins and let me tell you, it was almost a replica of being an Nicholas Cage movie. I could not believe how cool it was. There were these ancient basement rooms, that seemed like it was almost a place to store the dead bodies......creepy. I had a couple of chills going down my back, but other than that, it was one of my favorite parts of the trip. I love to fill my brain with knowledge and that was exactly what I did.. There is no doubt in my mind that I would do that again.
ReplyDeleteYesterday was really cool because we took two tours to church's which were pretty old but were amazing to look at. They reminded of me of action scenes of the Indiana jones movies because it looked very similar to it. My favorite part of the church's was the underground chambers located at the bottom of the church. The rooms were filled with old carvings and symbols which I had no idea what they meant. The church's were amazing overall. After the church's, I went to the market with my tutor to browse for a few things and that pretty much summed up my fun-filled day!
ReplyDeleteI loved visiting these two old churches. They were both hardly standing it seemed, but each had vast underground chambers with the bodies of old priests and saints. It was nice to eat pizza for the first time in a while, and later to visit the market with my tutor. I am really looking forward to climbing Pacaya, and seeing the view that awaits us at the summit.
ReplyDeleteYesterday was a really good day because we got a lot of things done and we visited some really cool ruins. After our debrief, we had to answer about seven questions that we needed to incorporate into our school presentations. This was important for us to complete because it would help us tell our story while we were in Antigua and would help with our presentation itself. Then later, we visited the ruins of the Cathedral and the Church of San Francisco. At the Cathedral, I followed a college professor around for a little bit and I learned a lot from him. He showed me some fascinating things that I would have not noticed such as marks left by the conquistadors to show that the church was part of the empire of Spain. I also saw a lot of great architecture that I could use for my presentation but was a little bummed when my camera died. After the tours, we all headed back to the school where no really knew what to do next. My tutor and I decided to go to the market so I could do some last minute shopping. Also, don't get mad Senoras, we were speaking Spanish to whole time because my tutor speaks very little English. Afterwards, I left the school and had some of the best ice cream that I've ever tasted. I ate a waffle cone with a vanilla scoop and a cookies & cream scoop with the cone dipped in chocolate. If I were you, then I would go and try it out now because you will not be disappointed and I also heard that the coffee and cappuchino scoops are great as well!
ReplyDeleteIt was fun to visit all the different cathedrals during our last day with our tutors. I was also happy to get a move on with our presentations for school. The climb up the volcano today was fun. It was still really cloudy. It will be nice to finally get home, but i will miss Guatemala.
ReplyDeleteIt was really cool visiting the two churches. I learned a lot and they were very old. I'm glad we visited theae churches so I could take pictures of the archatecture and staties to use for my project.
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