Everybody has arrived in La Antigua!

Sound and safe!

Sra. Enseñat and Collegiate students arrived in La Antigua this afternoon. We met at the language school for a brief orientation and then students went to their host family's home. Needles to say, they arrived really tired and I invited Sra. Enseñat to a "cortadito", a very strong, double expresso cup of Antigua coffee.

Sra. Enseñat and I are so excited and eager to work hard with our students!

Hasta luego!

The amazing & furious Pacific Ocean

We are visiting friends at the beach. Here the beach had black volcanic sand and you can't swim in the ocean, so we took a long walk, watch freight enormous ships going to Puerto Quetzal and we were amazed by waves 4 - 5 meters tall.
We are so excited that 10 Collegiate students and Sra. Enseñat will be arriving in Guatemala city tomorrow morning.

Ecofiltro:one in Jalapa, Guatemala

My andventure in Jalapa with "Lencho"

I left Antigua early yesterday for a two-day trip to Jalapa, Guatemala to install filters in two communities in need of potable water. Julio (known to past Guatemala and Perú veterans as "Lencho") picked me up at 8:00 am and then we picked up Andre, an MBA graduate of Notre Dame University, to head toward Monjas -- a small village in Jalapa. It took us about three hours to get there (including time to eat lunch) and we promptly met up with Gabor, Candy, their four children, and another five or six interns who spearhead the ecofiltro:one project in the area. After a quick staff meeting, we drove to the first village with 43 filters to distribute them to the people. Julio spoke to the women of the community about the installation, use, and maintenance of the entire filter complex -- washing the bucket, spigot, and top with water then with bleach water; not exposing the clay filter to the sunlight; etc. As each person was given her filter, she would line up and either Andre or I -- the "secretaries" -- would enter her personal and filter information so that she can receive the correct filter replacement in two years. 

The cluster of bananas! It weighs over 20 pounds!

The inside. Less sweet than the traditional banana, but delicious nonetheless!

After all the filters had been distributed, we returned to Gabor and Candy's house to eat dinner -- a delicious dish of chicken, rice, and steamed carrots with a dessert of a local specie of banana gifted to us by the people of the "pueblo" who received the filters.

We went to sleep in a cheap hotel close to the house -- not the nicest, but it did in a pinch -- where we ate a breakfast of black beans (frijoles), tortillas, cheese, and eggs with ham. After returning to the house and loading up the truck with 27 new filters, we set off to another community in the same area. The process went much more smoothly this time, with no errors in the data keeping! We finished with the filters at about 1.30 PM, so we hit the road to head back to Antigua after a quick stop to say goodbye to the crew. We were supposed to visit a second village in the afternoon, but due to a death in the community and the subsequent funeral, the delivery had to be postponed. On the way back to Antigua, we stopped for lunch at "Pollo Campero" -- essentially the KFC of Guatemala. 

The ubiquitous sign

A view of the interior

We continued to travel for another three and a half hours until we finally arrived at 7.30 PM. The trip should have only taken an hour and a half to two hours each way, but due to the traffic in Guatemala City, it took much, much longer! Despite the long travel time, the experience was very good in the communities. All were very happy to receive their filters and to begin drinking clean, uncontaminated water. This adventure gave me a very good sense of how the company functions and how each group of interns and volunteers interacts with the community. It was, as Julio would say, "calimax" (the maximum level of quality)! I look forward to continuing to work with Andre and ecofiltro:one next week with the rest of the students who are coming to Antigua.

¡Hasta luego!

Kyle

Theobroma cacao - Food of the gods

Chocolate history and making

 
Pablo at "Choco Museo" in Antigua Guatemala took us through 4,000 years of cacao and chocolate history... everything about "the food of the gods". Just a year ago 27 Collegiate students were taking this worshop in Cusco, Perú and celebrating Jake Nichol's 17th birthday!



Pablo taught us 4,000 of cacao and chocolate history.



Who doesn't like chocolate? This delicious treat, chocolate, has a fascinating story and is surrounded by infinite surprising facts. Have you seen a real cacao tree and try its fruit! At ChocoMuseowe took a two our workshop and dove into chocolate knowledge...  

 



     

Milk chocolate is poored into plastic molds.



Cathedral -  La Catedral de la Antigua.

Thursday was the first day that didn't rain in the afternoon. We enjoyed a cool evening at Parque Central..

 



Volcán de Fuego (left) & volcán Acatenango (right).

 



and a magnific sunset with a view of two of    the volcanoes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hasta luego!

Sra. Sharlin

 

Happiness - A lesson we learned today.

Hernan, a shoe-shiner at Parque Central in Antigua

We met Hernan, a 5-foot-tall Guatemalan man who has been shinning shoes at this location for forty-nine years. He told us, with great prime I may add, that he started shining shoes when he was 7 years old. He went to school in the morning and went to the park to shine shoes in the afternoon. When he started in 1963, he got paid Q 0.01 per pair of shoes (the equivalent of 1 penny). He told us, with a big smile on his small, tired face that now he has to charge Q 3.00 ($0.39) because the price of material has increased and is very expensive. We watched him work intensively without pause for 20-25 minutes shinning a pair of shoes. He was kind, courteous and happy...very happy. It has been said many times that those who have the least are the happiest people on earth. We can testify to that because of Hernan, this is so true. Now, we asked ourselves, how could we ever complain again?

The shoes look better than new!

We then went to the "Hotel Posada de Don Rodrigo" to visit one of the first hotels in Antigua. There, we took pictures and admired the gardens, the artist painting pictures, the antiques, and the colonial architecture. In addition, we went up to the "terraza" for hot chocolate and "champurradas", again. From there, we could see the three volcanoes on the outskirts of the city: "Volcán de Agua," "Volcán de Fuego," and "Volcán Acatenango." We were able to see the "Volcán de Fuego" erupt three times, and the accompanying cloud of brown smoke rising above the clouds!

Courtyard of one of the areas of the hotel. A couple of painters paint and display their art

A view from the terrace of the larger courtyard gardens

The eruption of El Volcán de Fuego (the peak is obscured) next to Acatenango

Finally, Gabe, Emily and I attended a salsa dancing class at the "Centro Lingüistico Maya" where we will be taking Spanish classes next week and the week after. 

¡Qué bonito!

I look forward to traveling to Jalapa with Julio tomorrow in order to work with ecofiltro:one on a project in a small community in great need of potable water!

¡Hasta pronto!

Kyle

4 de Junio en Guatemala

Although John Kerry, the Guatemalan President, and leaders from 34 Latin American nations are meeting 5 houses from ours to push at the Organization of American States Annual Meeting for the United States to try a new approach in drug fighting, an event warranting extremely tight security in the city, we nonetheless had a good time! In certain way, we also feel part of history in the making. Will the use of drugs be legal? In case you want to read more, here is the link:

http://www.windsorstar.com/news/Latin+American+nations+push+meeting+approach+drug+fight/8474152/story.html

After eating a breakfast of french toast, tea and Antigua coffee, we went to a jade museum and were able to get a tour and see many types of artifacts -- jewelry, masks, the natural ore, and even the refining process with several smiths.

Jade museum courtyard

Jade refining process

Afterwards, we stopped at "Café Barista" to recharge our batteries with champurradas (small vanilla cookies), other small snacks, and either orange juice or coffee.

Cookies and "pastelitos"

Café Barista

We stopped at a shop that manufactures and sells handmade candles both to buy and to relive old family memories. This business has been in the same family at the same place for 143 years.

A view behind the counter

One of the many racks of candles in the back of the shop

Two of the four registration books for the store. Each one contains about 500 pages!

Finally, Gabe and I attended a tour of the local hospital where he will be volunteering for a few days. It was 

very interesting to learn that the much of the medical service at this hospital are a fraction of the cost of what  one would pay at another care center. This is because this hospital is catered towards the poor and those who cannot pay for health care. Due to this, volunteers and donations -- from both citizens and patients -- are cherished.

A view of the facade with the connected church

One of the many courtyards to give the hospital a natural feel

A small portion of the row of the patients' wheelchairs

¡Hasta mañana!

Kyle

Walking to the market...

this is what I saw:

this is what I thought:

"We don't realize the potential that we have to change life around us. As parents and educators we have the greatest responsibility to help our teenagers to see and realize the best that’s within them. We can support them in living at their highest and best, to live as close to their unique potential. Provide them the opportunities and believe in them!"  Sra. Sharlin