Headed Home
All students are on their way home!
Lake Atitlan
This morning we woke up excited for the beautiful and scenic drive to Lake Atitlan. We took a short stop at an overlook for a once in a lifetime photo opportunity and then continued on our way. We then took a short and bumpy boat ride across the lake to the small village of San Juan La Laguna where we shopped at the local market. After, we headed back across the lake to our beautiful hotel where we had lunch. This afternoon we had more time to shop at a local market where we bargained and practiced our Spanish. We headed back to the hotel for a delicious outdoor dinner. This was followed by an eye opening activity which allowed us to learn more about one another.
-Lauren and Naomi
Service & Hot Springs!
Friday was a very long and tiring day. The day started out with wake up at 7 AM to a view of mountains, followed by a traditional breakfast of green beans and eggs. We arrived at our service site and we split up into our two groups: painting and cementing. We worked very hard on our second to last day of service, and were rewarded by playing with the adorable children. At 12:30, we returned to home base for our delicious lunch of chicken lasagna with homemade lemonade. After a quick lunch, we changed into our swimsuits and headed out to the hot springs. We drove up through endlessly winding mountains, but before we knew it, we were so high we were in the clouds! When we arrived at the hot springs, we separated into groups to go buy snacks, or to take our chances in the steaming springs. When we arrived back in Xela hours later, we had a nice dinner of a traditional Guatemalan dish. We then had a discussion in our mentor groups. By the time we are finally excused from discussions, we are all exhausted and beyond excited for our weekend trip early tomorrow morning.
-Max and Martine
Service and Chocolate
Today was the best day of GLA!… so far. We ate breakfast at 7:30 as per usual. A delicious meal of eggs and toast. Then, we left for service. A great day of painting, cement, and children. The weather was fantastic and the kids were happy as ever. After a wonderful day of service, we had a flavorful meal of chicken ravioli. After our succulent meal, we went to the Guatemalan form of heaven on earth. It took the shape of a chocolate factory named Chocolateria. We sat for hours enjoying tasteful chocolate treats including a chocolate fountain with fruit, yogurt with melted chocolate and Mayan hot chocolate. Once we finished our amazing snacks, we took a trip to the local shopping mall. There, we connected to wifi, bought more snacks from Walmart, and some of us even shopped for clothes. After an enjoyable time shopping, we headed back to home base for a traditional Guatemalan dinner. Once dinner was over, our evening workshop included “To Hell With Good Intentions” by Ivan Illich and we talked about the debated topic of whether volunteers are beneficial or not to third world countries. Finally, we all went straight to bed after such an exhausting day.
-Jess & Kylee
Changing Plans
We woke up this morning, had breakfast, and were all ready to go to service when we found out that a protest near us was preventing the drivers from getting to the home base. Then we were able to spend the time outside and enjoy the beautiful weather. Luckily, we were still able to go to service later that morning. Even though the kids weren’t there today due to a teacher conference, we still had a lot of fun painting and cementing. An adorable puppy at the cementing made up for the lack of cute kids. The protests continued through the day, so our scheduled trip to the chocolate factory had to be rescheduled. Instead, we played a group game of capture the flag. Thankfully, the salsa instructor was able to come to us and give us a lively salsa lesson, which was a blast! Later, a very moving speaker from the guerillas in the Guatemalan civil war came to tell us about the conflict and his personal experience. It was extremely eye-opening and inspirational. We finished the night with a leadership discussion where we addressed some concerns and all grew closer. Overall it was another great day in Guatemala!
-Gabby & Holly
Second Day of Service
We all woke up to the sound of roosters as we meandered down to breakfast. Many of us anticipated our second day of work the school. Some of us painted baby blue walls accompanied by friendly drops of rain. Others mixed cement to keep out water leakage and mold. Oh my. The break entailed playing copious amounts of duck-duck-goose with the little children. Their smiles made it difficult to return back to work. Today the afternoon fun consisted of a tour of a Mayan village. Churches painted bright marigold speckled with green and red designs was beautiful in addition to the landscape. We viewed a traditional Mayan dance where once dancer was the most revered jaguar along with a springing monkey. Hot coco kept us warm and content on the first rainy day in a month. None in the astonishing mountains of Guatemala. We returned home and enjoyed a great meal. Finally we all settled into bed with the sound of rain pattering on the roof.
-Christa
First Day of Service
Today we all went to our first day of service after a hearty breakfast. We were separated into two groups- one cementing walls and one painting them. It was amazing to see the children’s faces when they discovered we were there to help them. We all went into the classrooms and introduced ourselves to the kids, then we immediately went to work. We got a break to interact with the kids halfway through service. In the evening, we went to a marimba class, the marimba is a instrument that can be closely compared to the piano, although it has quite a different sound. The instructor had been playing the marimba since he was 4 years old so naturally he was unreal. After returning home, we watched an intriguing movie on the history of Guatemala, mainly focused on the rebellion. After dinner, we broke up into mentor groups, where we discussed our strengths, weaknesses, and goals. After that, we went to bed after having a sick first day of service!
-Ariel & Charlie
Pottery and Shopping!
Today we woke up at 7:30 at the home base. We ate breakfast and then after headed out to a pottery shop. The man who owned the pottery place demonstrated how to use the pottery wheel, and told us about how he came from generations of people who made pottery. He let a few volunteers try making little plates and it turns out that making pottery is a lot harder than it looks! After that, we went into his store and all had an opportunity to buy some of his work. All of his pottery was beautiful and really affordable. After, we went back to home base for lunch and had some free time before heading back out to go the central park in Xela. There, we got an hour of free time where we were able to go shopping and explore the area. The shopping was great and the street vendors had a lot of hand-made jewelry and clothing there and they were also selling delicious cotton candy and ice cream amongst other foods. After shopping, we walked around a beautiful church near the park. After our afternoon excursion, we drove back to the home base where we all worked together to make a beautiful group flag that we hung up on our home. After, we went to dinner and then rejoined as a group to discuss service and all found out who our group mentors were going to be.
-Arianna & Anna
Service
Today we all went to our first day of service after a hearty breakfast. We were separated into two groups- one cementing walls and one painting them. It was amazing to see the children’s faces when they discovered we were there to help them. We all went into the classrooms and introduced ourselves to the kids, then we immediately went to work. We got a break to interact with the kids halfway through service. In the evening, we went to a marimba class, the marimba is a instrument that can be closely compared to the piano, although it has quite a different sound. The instructor had been playing the marimba since he was 4 years old so naturally he was unreal. After returning home, we watched an intriguing movie on the history of Guatemala, mainly focused on the rebellion. After dinner, we broke up into mentor groups, where we discussed our strengths, weaknesses, and goals. After that, we went to bed after having a sick first day of service!
-Ariel & Charlie
A Busy Day!
Today we woke up at 7:30 at the home base. We ate breakfast and then after headed out to a pottery shop. The man who owned the pottery place demonstrated how to use the pottery wheel, and told us about how he came from generations of people who made pottery. He let a few volunteers try making little plates and it turns out that making pottery is a lot harder than it looks! After that, we went into his store and all had an opportunity to buy some of his work. All of his pottery was beautiful and really affordable.
After, we went back to home base for lunch and had some free time before heading back out to go the central park in Xela. There, we got an hour of free time where we were able to go shopping and explore the area. The shopping was great and the street vendors had a lot of hand-made jewelry and clothing there and they were also selling delicious cotton candy and ice cream amongst other foods. After shopping, we walked around a beautiful church near the park. After our afternoon excursion, we drove back to the home base where we all worked together to make a beautiful group flag that we hung up on our home. After, we went to dinner and then rejoined as a group to discuss service and all found out who our group mentors were going to be.
-Arianna & Anna
Quetzaltenango
Today at 6 am a road block of the indigenous sellers at the market in Quetzaltenango started a manifestation in a important road in Quetzaltenango. The road leads to the 14 day home base. The group went to work as usual to the rural school (it was not on the way of the road block) and Maria Isabel changed some activities for the afternoon.
In the afternoon the drivers went to speak to the indigenous leaders at the road block and explain that we understand their cause and made friends with them. At midday the indigenous leader went to talk to the mayor of Quetzaltenango. Just now they have started to listen to their demands, which are to have more space to sell their products at the market. They will open the road block at 1800 and everything will continue as normal.
A Long, Busy Day!
Today we woke up in Antigua at 7:30, and got to know each other before and during breakfast. We then played a name game to learn each other’s names. Afterwards, we all packed into two vans and headed to a place where five Mayan families contributed to a small store in an ongoing fight to keep their culture alive. Here, we reenacted a traditional Mayan wedding ceremony, and then learned to how to make traditional tortillas. We tasted coffee—made completely by hand—and purchased hand woven souvenirs. Once we were done with that, we traveled to a great restaurant to have lunch. After lunch, we drove a few hours to ancient Mayan ruins. At the ruins, we learned about the history and families that once inhabited the area. We got the opportunity to meet a Shaman and participate in an ancient traditional Mayan religious ceremony. We were each given a candle stick and assigned a day from the Mayan calendar, and when our word was called upon, we tossed our candle sticks into the fire. We then got back into the van and completed our journey to our home base in Xela. Upon arrival, we got acquainted with both our rooms and roommates, ate dinner, and lastly went over the Guatemalan GLA code of conduct. After a long and busy day, we all slept like babies!
-Abby Cook and Alix Zabin
We’ve Arrived!
All students have arrived and are ready for their program! Stay tuned for blog updates and photos!
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