A March for the Earth and Saying Goodbye to Guatemala

**This blog is late on purpose because I wanted to get the very end of our time here in Guatemala.  

I’ve been forgetting to update you on our projects with the Young Dreamers. Our main focus was the community clean-up campaign.  We had the march and rally last Sunday! We did it in both Vuelta Grande and El Hato. In Vuelta Grande we started the march in the school. Almost all of the young dreamers (33) went to the march so when we started off we immediately started with quite a bit of noise. We also had a microphone and a megaphone to make even more noise and attract more people. We walked from the school to the soccer field (45 minutes) screaming and yelling chants and slogans. We attracted a crowd with our noise, which was our intention because we wanted to teach as many people as we could about helping the environment. When we got to the soccer field we talked a little bit about what we were doing and why we were doing it. On the way back to the school we walked, still chanting, while picking up trash. A lot of the kids of the village helped too. When we got to the school some of the Young Dreamers talked about putting trash in its place, recycling, and the consequences of polluting our planet. After the speeches we had the skits. The skits also touched on recycling and the consequences of throwing trash in the street. I think the project turned out great. Especially, of course, the rally. Everyone was super happy and joyous. I think I never stopped smiling during the whole march. When you’re in that kind of environment it’s almost like you’re a magnet for joyful feelings. It was a success all around and I think we really managed to get across the message.

On Friday we said goodbye to the Young Dreamers, who are no longer acquaintances, but friends. We had our last gender specific meetings where we passed over the reins to some of the Young Dreamers so they could continue planning and executing them on their own. After that, we all got together to say our goodbyes... well after us boys had one last soccer match. We had some mini performances where some of the Young Dreamers danced and sang. People got up to say some parting words, both gap year volunteers and Young Dreamers alike. Everybody was sad that our time together had to come to a close, as all things do, but I think it was also a happy reunion where we recognized everything we did and accomplished together. Just yesterday we said goodbye to the school kids in Vuelta Grande. We started off by playing with all the kids, we did games and relays. I think that the last day was the best day where we really could have fun and connect with all the kids. The games lasted for a while and then it was time for a formal goodbye. All the teachers said thank you and bye as well as the principal of the school. We each got certificates and little cards from the kids. When we were done with that it was time for us to leave the kids and leave the beautiful school that we’d been working at for the past three months. Everybody who had gotten close over that time said goodbye promising to see each other again. We were especially sad to leave the school but we knew that of course it wasn’t goodbye, but so long.

We’ve wrapped up the second leg of our 9-month journey here in Guatemala and in just a couple of hours we’ll commence the third leg in Costa Rica. Guatemala has been amazing, from going through a cave full of water, to building classrooms, to visiting Mayan ruins, to having Spanish classes. It’s been a huge variety of great experiences where I’ve learned a ton. Here in Guatemala we’ve been on some awesome trips around the country. My favorite one was Semuc Champey where we got to explore both dry caves and water caves. We also got to go in the seven natural pools that make Semuc Champey famous. Even though that was my favorite trip, all the other ones were great too. Like a few where I could really learn more about the Mayan culture. In addition to the sightseeing that we did we also have some awesome memories of volunteering up in Vuelta Grande and El Hato. The first half of the trip we were volunteering alongside the Young Dreamers working on beautifying the school. When we were beautifying the school it involved a lot of hard physical work, but it was super fun when we wanted it to be. I learned a lot in that time about how to be a hard worker and to really believe we could do any project we wanted, from painting murals, to building a classroom. I also really got to get to know all the Young Dreamers really well for the first time because whenever we come for a week it isn’t enough to build friendships with them. The second half of the volunteering was a whole lot different than the first. We weren’t working with the Young Dreamers, but with the kids of the school since classes started on January 15. The volunteers were tutoring some of the kids that needed it. Instead of the physical labor we did mental labor to teach the kids language arts and math. I don’t think I told you this before, but my mom was actually teaching all of kindergarten pretty much since the first day of school. The real kinder teacher was pregnant so she had to take a couple of months off after only one week of school. In Vuelta Grande, there’s no substitute system, so my mom took over. We all took turns helping her and my cousin (who was staying with us for a while) with the kids. From this volunteering I learned that no matter how young or how old you are, you’ll always have something to learn and to teach. Guatemala has been truly special and amazing for me this time because I really got to delve deep in all of its complex layers. Goodbye Guatemala, thank you for everything you’ve done for me, I’ll be back soon. Bring on Costa Rica!

A Young Dreamer's Life and Tikal

            Lately we’ve been doing a project that involves filming some of the Young Dreamers and their daily routines. A week ago I tagged along to see the morning routine of Juan Jose, a 14 year-old Young Dreamer in Vuelta Grande. My dad and me, one of the volunteers, the assistant director, and a video production team went up to Vuelta Grande at 4:00 in the morning to see Juan Jose waking up and getting ready to go to school. When we got to his house he was already awake since he gets up at 4:30. Let me tell you that at 5:00 it gets very, very cold in Vuelta Grande. Juan Jose usually gets up and takes a shower. Before he takes a shower he has to heat up some water on the stove since there is no shower with warm water. Imagine having to take a bucket shower outside in the freezing cold at 5:00 in the morning. Once you imagine it you would think, I wouldn’t like to do that every day. After the shower he changes into his school uniform. A lot of times Juan Jose doesn’t have breakfast and if he does it’s usually a piece of bread and coffee. A lot of the families there don’t have tables or chairs so they either eat standing or sitting on the dirt floor. After breakfast he brushes his teeth and gets all his school supplies into his backpack (he does his homework the day before.) At 5:45 am he heads down a hill to wait for the bus to pick him up. I think that this was a great experience for me to delve deeper into the Young Dreamers lifestyle and the culture of Vuelta Grande. I hope you guys also understand more about the Young Dreamers life and that you’re learning as much as I am to be grateful, very grateful, for what we have.

            Last weekend  we went to Tikal! For those of you that don’t know what Tikal is, it was one of the biggest cities of the Mayans in the Classic Era, built in the middle of the jungle. A few weeks ago I talked about some ruins called Iximche. Tikal is much much, much bigger. It is estimated that only 30% of the whole city has been uncovered. The other 70% is covered by jungle. A lot of times you’ll walk by some huge hills that don’t seem to fit in with the rest of the jungle and you’ll immediately guess that it is some building that hasn’t been excavated yet. Tikal is huge so I won’t be able to tell you about all of it, (you’ll have to look it up) but I will explain to you some of the most important places. First of all, there’s the Grand Plaza, home to temples 1 and 2, a palace, and several houses. The most important buildings in the great plaza are the two pyramids, both were built by Ha Sawa Chaan-K'awil who brought Tikal’s rise to power. Because he had brought Tikal back to its position of power after a war with Calakmul that resulted in a hiatus in Tikal’s power for 130 years he built the new temples to add to the image that Tikal was powerful again. Ha Sawa Chaan-K’awil was actually buried under Temple 2. Another really cool place in Tikal is what they call the Lost World. The Lost World is believed to have been built in 500 BC and was the main part of Tikal before the Grand Plaza. The Lost World has some different style pyramids because when it was being built Tikal had an alliance with some Mayans in Mexico and the Mexicans showed them their architecture. I think the Grand Plaza and the Lost World were my two favorite plazas in Tikal because you could really see the Maya buildings. Not far from the Lost World is Temple 4. Temple 4 is by far the tallest temple and when you climb to the top you have an amazing view of all the temples and a lot of the rainforest. I think that on top of Temple 4, having a magnificent view of all of Tikal, is my favorite spot. The whole time I was on the trip I was wondering how the Mayans could have lived so long ago, been so advanced, and then suddenly disappeared. I'm really fascinated by the fact that a huge civilization could have fallen so quickly.

The Dump, the Beach and Women's Rights

Unfortunately, here in Guatemala women don’t get much respect. I talked a little bit about it in India and here it is much the same. One of the biggest problems is that they are often abused. Sometimes the husband has too much too drink, which is a whole different problem, and he comes home and abuses the wife and children. They also take out their anger by hitting. For some men, any time they are angry they let it out by hitting their wives, which is not the way to do it. Other than abuse, in some places, women are just not thought of as important, which is not true. A lot of times the women are left to take care of the house and the kids. Now don’t get me wrong, that’s a very hard important job, but they’re not really recognized for it. Sometimes they are not thought worthy or capable of having another job. Here, the women are expected to do everything at home, usually the men don’t do anything. In Guatemala there’s usually more household chores than back home. They cook, they wash clothes by hand, they have to fetch water(usually pretty far away,) they take care of their smaller siblings, they clean the house, etc. With the family, the girls usually get less preference with education. If for any reason at all the parents have to stop sending the one kid to school, whether because they need help in the house or because they can’t afford it, it will usually be the girl, which is unfair. With the Young Dreamers we’ve started group meetings just for girls and just for boys talking about these problems, among other things. We are talking about what the problems are and to how we can help fix them. It’s not cool at all that some women are treated in this way, but it can get better.

Last weekend we went to a beach called Monterico on the Pacific coast. I think it was nice nice relaxing weekend where we all got to just hang-out. We left on Saturday morning and got there about midday. We had lunch and then immediately hit the beach. I loved it because the waves in Monterico were huge and you could get thrown around like you were in a washing machine. One time a wave even took my shirt off! We all had a great time at the beach but we got out around 4:00 to go on a tour of a river that lead to the ocean that was pretty close. The tour was really nice. We got to see all kinds of awesome birds, one time we even saw one dive for a fish. My favorite part was when we saw hundreds and hundreds of white pelicans all in the same spot, it looked like the river had turned white. After the tour we got presented by an cool surprise, we got to free baby sea turtles to the ocean. All of us, among many other were each given a baby turtle to set on the sand and watch it make it’s way to the water. At once there were tons of little turtles slowly walking to their home. A lot of the turtles had trouble getting there but eventually all of them got swept away by the waves. By that time the sky was getting lit up in splendid colors as the sun started going down. There was blue, yellow, orange, pink, purple and even though I’ve seen a lot of beach sunsets they’re still beautiful. We slept in Monterico that night and awoke for being by the beach the whole day. This time I had even more fun since the waves were even bigger. Back home I go to  the beach quite a few times a year and I’ve missed going this year, so this was awesome, a weekend at the beach.

A few days ago we went on a trip to a dump. Actually we went to a community living in a dump, they call it Dump City. When I first heard about it I thought people would literally be living in trash. When I got there I was very surprised to see what was basically a small town. There were tons of houses made of tin as well as paved roads. What we found out later is that it used to be covered in trash but they cleared it to the side and live next to the actual trash dump. There are three leaders that volunteer to help run the town. The story that one of them told was incredible. She was the third person to get there and had come with her two kids. When she got there it was all a dump but it was space where she could live since she didn’t have anywhere else. Life was hard for them. They had to live in trash. In the night they could hear rodents running around. One time she woke up and saw a giant rat about to bite her daughter. They had to work all day, every day to try to clear away the trash and earn a little bit of money. The people living there paid 10 Quetzales ($1.40) a day for dump trucks to come and help them take away the trash. After two years they finally managed to move the trash and have space for 136 families. Almost everyone there works in the dump, finding and scavenging things that could still be used and selling them. Everybody, well most everybody, volunteers to help the community with different tasks to make it better and keep it up. The leaders had a list of who volunteered and who didn’t. When donations came in the people who volunteered got something as a reward but the ones who didn’t work, didn’t get anything. One thing I found really cool was that there was pretty much no crime or major conflicts. There was a mutual respect for one another there. Another thing that I find amazing that happens there (or rather doesn’t happen there) is abuse of women, which I talked about earlier. There have only been a few cases there which is amazing in a community like theirs. The organization and sense of togetherness there is incredible. Our group came out of it being thoroughly impressed that they could have a system that works so well. If it was like that in all the other poor areas in the world I think we would have a lot less problems. It was really, really great to learn about this community.

Parterning with the Young Dreamers & Some Mayan History

            Just like in India when we did the hygiene campaign and the community meeting about child labor we have now started planning a community service project with the Young Dreamers here in Guatemala. Actually, there are three projects. The first one, the biggest one, is an environmental clean-up campaign. In that project we have several smaller ones, we’re going to clean four of the pilas in Vuelta Grande and El Hato, do another rally through the streets, put up posters and signs made out of wood around the two towns to remind people to keep it clean, and we’re even going to do skits in the schools again. That’s the one we’re working on right now since it’ll take time. The second project is to fix and paint the playground in El Hato since nobody’s done anything with it in a long time. That project is the easiest and I believe that all of us working together we can finish it in one day. Our third and final project is to find kids who aren’t going to school and try to figure out why, and if we can get them in school. These three projects are all very important in their own ways and I’m looking forward to seeing them carried out. I’m especially excited for the rally and campaign. Hopefully it will be as successful as what we did in India. I’m in the skits group again. We’re doing one about the importance not littering, and keeping the streets clean. I’m really excited to do projects with the Young Dreamers here in Guatemala. I will keep you all posted on how it goes.

Over the weekend we went to see ancient Mayan ruins at a place called Iximche. Iximche means tree of corn, Ixim, corn, and che, tree. Iximche was the capital of the Kaqchikel Mayas in the post-classic era. Iximche was built in 1464 and was destroyed by the Spaniards in 1526. The Kaqchikeles had an alliance with the Quiches where they lived in the same towns and had the same capital even though the Quiches were kind of ruling over the Kaqchikeles. Eventually the Quiches asked them to leave, and when I say asked they actually asked since they had an alliance. The Kaqchikeles went searching for a new home. They started constructing Iximche and a few years later they moved in marching and celebrating all the way. Since during that time there was lots of tension between the different Mayas, they built the city in a super strategic position. It was all surrounded by super high cliffs except for the one entrance. The entrance was blocked by a moat that had crocodiles and snakes. Inside the moat in the capital part of the city only lived four royal families. There were 5 plazas inside because the biggest family had two of the homes. Basically all of the plazas had the exact same things. They all had the palace, two temples, the moon temple and the sun temple, facing east and west. There were altars for sacrificing animals and sometimes humans. And every plaza had a small stadium for sports. The sport that they played, at least in Iximche, consists of scoring the ball into hoops. They used their shoulders, elbows, hips and thighs/knees to hit the ball into the hoops. There’s been no evidence to show that they used their hands or their feet. Think about how hard it would be! Sports were very serious to the Mayas and a lot of times they sacrificed the players when they finished. Sometimes they sacrificed the losing team or sometimes they sacrificed the best player from the winning team as a great offering. One thing that I found very interesting about Iximche is that Guatemala is named after it. You’re probably wondering how that is. Well, when the Spaniards arrived to Iximche they were brought by the Aztecs who spoke Nahuatl. The Spaniard leader asked where they were and the Aztecs told them in Nahuatl, place of many trees and the Spaniards heard it as Guatemala. Actually, names of a lot of places and things are in Nahuatl. I found that very interesting that it wouldn’t be in a Mayan language. I really liked Iximche because lately I’ve been really interested by the Mayan history and culture. I just finished reading a great book called The Mayan Life.

Semuc Champey - A Paradise

This is a bonus blog because I just have to tell you about this amazing place we just visited.

Last week we went to Semuc Champey/Lanquin!  On Sunday we started our trip and went on a bus ride for about 4 hours before stopping for lunch. After lunch we drove for another hour and a half when we got to a quetzal reserve called Biotopo del Quetzal. We went on a two hour hike through the cloud forest looking for quetzales. Unfortunately, we didn’t see any. Even though we didn’t see what we were there for we still had a very nice hike where we saw a waterfall and some pretty cool plants and trees. My favorite part was the waterfall because at that time it was very, very foggy so it looked like we were at the edge of the world! I got a feeling of peace when I was standing there, almost as if I was really at the edge of the world. After the quetzal reserve we drove another two hours until we got to Coban, which is a big city in Guatemala where we spent the night. That’s actually where my dad lived when he was in Peace Corps. The next day we drove about another two hours until we got to Lanquin. Lanquin is a city famous for its caves and beautiful river. We went into the cave where we walked for a couple hours. We each held a candle so we could see the different rock formations that they had discovered inside. We also got lucky because even though it wasn’t the time to see them we got to see some bats hanging from the ceiling! That was the first time I had been in a cave (from what I can remember) and it was a really cool experience.

         That same day we made it to Semuc Champey. One of the first things I saw upon arriving was a beautiful river. If you know me you wouldn’t be surprised to know that I immediately had a strong urge to jump in. Luckily, my wish came true. Really close to the hotel where we were staying there was a bridge that was 30 to 35 feet high (like 10 to 12 meters) where some people were jumping off. When I first got to the bridge I felt pretty scared, especially when it was my turn to jump. Now, I’m not scared of heights at all but from that immense height I felt how people feel when they’re actually scared of heights. I was standing there while Juan, the assistant director of the gap year program, was battling the current waiting for me. Suddenly, I just jumped and was in a freefall. At first I couldn’t do anything but fall, but right as I was nearing the water I put myself in pencil form and plunged in. After the first time, I was perfectly fine and I went as many times as I could. What I learned after that was that even though something is scary to you (and I’m not scared of heights) sometimes you just have to jump, whether you’re scared of heights, you’re scared of failing, or you’re simply scared of spiders. Take the leap, face your fear head on, you might even pee your pants, but just do it.

The next day in the morning we took a thirty minute hike to a lookout point called “the Mirador.” The mirador looks out over the seven natural pools that are called Semuc Champey after which the town is named. When we got there I was the first one of our group to see it and I was awestruck. It was by far one of the most beautiful sights I have ever seen. When I regained my breath I called the rest of the group over and watched their reactions. We had to just stand there for a while because it was amazing. It reminded everyone that there are lots of beautiful places like Semuc Champey tucked into corners of the world that we don’t know about, or at least, I don’t know about. We then hiked down for another 20 minutes until we got to those same pools! They were amazing, with water as clear as glass. Each pool is separated by a natural barrier of stone and you go down pool by pool. Sometimes there’s a natural type of water slide where you slide to the next pool, or sometimes you can jump to the next one. I had a lot of fun going from pool to pool and just being in that amazing environment. I was sad to leave.

After lunch at the hotel it was time to explore some more caves. These ones were filled with water because of a river running through them. It was way different than what I imagined it to be. I thought it would be similar to the last caves where they were wide open just that this time there would be some water at our feet. Instead they were some pretty narrow caves where most of the time the water got over my head. There was a rope where we pulled ourselves along because it was hard to swim with heavy shoes. Also we had to climb ladders and jump off of rocks in a lot of places, it was like we were adventurers.  Surprisingly, about 1/2 of the way I was leading the pack. Carrying my candle, showing the way. I was well in front of everybody. That was super fun because I got to see everything first and then tell everybody what was coming. Too soon, we stopped to turn back. At the and there was a spot where you could climb to jump into a deep spot in the water and almost everyone did it. On the way back we got to go down a waterslide that was basically a hole that you fell through. It was weird because it was very short so when you got down you didn’t know if you were done or if you had to swim somewhere. When we finally got out everybody was relieved to get into daylight even though some people, not going to say names, wanted to do it again. We ended the day with a relaxing tubing ride where we freezed our butts off. The trip was amazing and I felt I could spend my whole life in Semuc Champey. I think I can officially declare it one of my favorite spots on earth.

On Friday, I’ll tell you all about our next work projects.

Goodbye 2015, Hello 2016! Continuing Our Work in Guatemala

    As you know, for more than a month now the group has been working at the school in Vuelta Grande, Guatemala getting it ready for the kids to come back from their vacation and see a nice, vibrant and lively school. I can tell you, it looks great. Just this last week two other groups came for a week or two to help volunteer. The gap year group had actually gone home for the holidays so we still had volunteering while they were gone and it was great. We’ve advanced a lot in painting especially. Almost the whole school has a fresh coat of paint and in most places brand new murals. The soccer field area has new murals of different sports all around it and the two classrooms we were working on are all painted with a bright green color and each have a mural inside. The playground area also had a major remodel. There was super long grass all over the area that we cleared with hoes, pickaxes and machetes. I used the machete and it was awesome! We also painted more murals. This time of animals, One of the girls from the week long trip even painted some beautiful quetzales. We also now have filtered drinking water for the kids in school. Another girl in the week-long program fundraised enough money to buy eco filters for every classroom. One of the biggest projects of all is to build a classroom! A group of engineering students from a community college in California called Cabrillo College came for about two weeks. They built the foundation and started building the walls. We’re going to continue working on the classroom (with a professional guiding us of course) and hopefully have it done when the kids come. The same engineering group also installed five new water tanks, adding to the three they installed last year, with 2500 L each (two of them with 1000 L.) They put these in two different spots, above the school and in the middle of town so that people could collect water from there instead of walking an hour to a natural spring. Trucks from Antigua come once or twice a month to fill them up. This last month has been full of great volunteering and one thing that I found really cool was that three groups of volunteers were here at the same time. That means a lot of people gave their time to fix up a school and in doing so, to help kids have a better time while learning. To top it all off, we have added 10 new Young Dreamers (all girls) to the scholarship group in Guatemala. There are now 33 in Guatemala.

    I can’t believe it’s already 2016! For me at least, 2015 went by very fast. It was a great year with a lot of amazing things, and I’m really looking forward to what this year has to bring. Last year I graduated from elementary school (5th grade), which was huge because it was the first part of my school career. Fifth grade was an awesome year where I learned a lot and had some really cool experiences. Looking back I want to thank my teachers from last year for making the effort to make school fun and also teaching so much to me. I also started this trip in 2015. This trip has taught me so much about different parts of the world, different cultures, different customs and traditions, different people, so many things that I wouldn’t ever have known without going to those countries. I definitely wouldn’t have learned all that in school (sorry teachers). Last year was an incredible year where I grew a lot.

    Now I’m just thinking forward to this year. We’re going to finish our work here in Guatemala, not to mention going to some pretty cool places like Semuc Champey (some beautiful rivers running through caves) and Tikal (the pyramids and ancient ruins of the Mayan capital.) I’m also excited to keep learning about the Mayan culture. Then we’ll head off to Costa Rica for the third leg of our journey, where I’ll learn about their history and their customs. Even though I’m excited to continue this awesome adventure I can’t wait to go home and see all my family and friends. I’ll also officially start going to Middle School in 2016! I’m looking forward to starting seventh grade and actually going to a school, sitting in a class with other kids, I’ve missed that. This year I have a whole lot of things to look forward to and I really am eager to meet them head on. I hope everybody had a great 2015 and I wish you a great 2016!
          This weekend we’re going to Semuc Champey and I’ve never been but I’ve heard it’s really beautiful so I’m excited to go.