TIME CAPSULE LETTER
Written by Katia
Hi everyone!
It’s been a bit since your journey to learn about Global Health issues began.
You arrived in Guatemala (early and late), traveled to La Antigua and had your first encounter with the típico breakfast of beans and eggs! The mayan wedding was a fascinating introduction to mayan culture and traditions. You were able to learn about the efforts to preserve their heritage and avoid mechanical reproduction of their intellectual property.
We then traveled to our homebase in Quetzaltenango (Xela) and got ourselves comfortable and ready for starting the service training the following day. You got to know how we would conduct the medical brigades and started practicing your Spanish. Did you imagine that you would learn so much?
The service work in the town of Xecaracoj was complex yet very fulfilling. Patients would flock the lines wanting medical care and you worked collaboratively and mastered the different tasks quite fast. A lot of energy and many cool ideas. We were impressed with your ability to learn and work non-stop every single day, that a few times we finished the work day before schedule! Those medical brigades were all so frantic, packed and precious! You experienced first hand the precious role of the healthcare workers and played your part in improving their lives providing medical consultations and free medicines, something you can be proud of.
Within two weeks you learned about the ancient mayan culture when you visited the women’s cooperative in San Antonio Aguas Calientes, as well as its religious syncretism and current customs of the people of Guatemala as you explored its towns, churches and weaving factories. The cold and rainy Xela nights could not stop you from enjoying time with your mentors and peers. You were sharing laughs, deep conversations, table games and popcorn. You all became close and made strong friendships.
We truly hope that GLA was far more than a leadership camp and that you became a conscientious person that is now able to see things from different perspectives, and that this experience helped you to actively engage in your home communities, sharing all the learnings you had while you were with us in Guate.
P.S. Read your letter to yourself, how is your One Meaningful Goal (OMG) going?
Thanks for the checking out the blog for this Global Leadership Adventures program!
PROGRAM PHOTO ALBUM
This blog is for the Guatemala split session starting July 1, 2023, which includes both the 14-day and the 21-day student group.
Here are a few things you can expect:
- We typically receive 2-3 blog posts per week here at GLA Headquarters from our program staff and students, so please don’t be alarmed if you don’t see a blog post daily – that’s totally normal.
- Blog updates sent on weekends may not be posted until Monday.
- Due to many factors, including but not limited to internet accessibility, photos may not always be available to post onto the blog. Sometimes onsite program staff are only able to send text back to Headquarters, where our team updates the blog.
Thank you for your patience and understanding, and we hope you enjoy following along on these unforgettable adventures.
Cell Phone Policy: The GLA cell phone policy is currently in place this summer to help foster meaningful connections between students. This means your student’s phone will be collected every day and returned to them after activities are completed to have with them through the night. Actual tech times and regularity will vary greatly by program location and time zones. During designated ‘tech time’, your student may use their phones as they wish. Please note that your student may not always choose to use this time to get a hold of their parents. If you are not hearing directly from your student each day, you can assume that no news is good news! We strongly recommend you follow the blog to follow your students’ experience without talking to them every day. If you are a parent and would like to get in touch with your student directly, you can call us at +1-619-758-3031 and we can set up a formal time for you to connect with your student.
For frequently asked questions about the blogs, please visit our Program Blog FAQ page.
-The Global Leadership Adventures HQ Team
Click here to jump down to the most recent posts!
BLOG POST FOR JULY 1
Dear parents, guardians and friends!
After a long day, many layovers and flight delays, we finally made it to the homebase in Antigua. Students started bonding at the popular Pollo Campero and then travelled together to Antigua Guatemala to find comfort in their rooms, have a hot shower and dinner at the local restaurant Doña Luisa Xicotencatl.
Mentors provided some general orientations and revised the schedule for tomorrow which will consist of a traditional mayan celebration and introductions to their program once in Quetzaltenango (Xela, in short). Wait to hear all about it from tomorrow’s leaders of the day.
We are still waiting for Cora, Cierra and Lorena (who have already made it to Guatemala city) to come to homebase along with Ludmila, Lauren and Aria who are on the air as I write this. A couple more students will join us tomorrow night to finally complete the whole group.
Everyone is now resting but eager to start their journey of learning in the land of the Mayas.
Warmly,
Katia Espalter -International director and the Guatemala Global Health staff
BLOG POST FOR JULY 2
Written by Kaya, Paulina, Manay – Leaders of the Day
Hi GLA family and friends!
We started July 2nd off by visiting a local association of five families whose mission is to preserve their culture. They do this by teaching others how to weave by hand instead of using computers to create the patterns and by wearing the traditional clothing throughout the generations. Four volunteers in our group took part in a roleplay of a traditional Mayan wedding where they learned about the roles of both the bride and groom families. They were dressed up in traditional clothing and one of the local women led them through what is typically a long lasting ceremony. After the wedding was finished, the families opened up their shop for us and volunteers were able to buy handmade goods to bring back to you all! Then, they gave us homemade coffee and bread that prepared us for our long journey towards our other homebase in Quetzaltenango.
We then ventured in the vans for about two hours and then stopped to eat an amazing lunch at a family-owned restaurant. The lunch gave everyone energy to keep on traveling for a few more hours to our final destination, QUETZALTENANGO!
BLOG POST FOR JULY 3
Written by Hannah, Aria, Ella
Hi everyone,
Today was our second full day in Guatemala and we have already had a blast! We woke up at our beautiful home base and enjoyed a delicious breakfast as a group. Next, we headed off on a tour of our homebase and got to see the playground, fish pond, and our official boundaries. After that, we trained for our medical brigades by learning from Nurse Diana. We learned key Spanish phrases, how to take patients’ vital signs, and about the healthcare systems in Guatemala. We had lunch all together and then headed out to Momostenago.
We visited a family’s home and their small textile factory. They showed us the process of turning sheep’s wool into blankets and jackets. They showed us how to spin the wool and naturally dye it. We were able to shop their products and a lot of the students came home with a special souvenir. The family even allowed us to try and make our own tortillas. After filling up on some beans, tortillas, guacamole, and salsa, we started the drive back to home base.
We had an especially American dinner of hotdogs and fries. Following dinner, we met with our mentor groups for our first session of the trip! We have had so much fun getting to know each other and this beautiful country better!
BLOG POST FOR JULY 4
Written by Rishon, Will, Sunil
We began our first day of service at the health post in Xecaracoj. At about 8:30 our vans arrived at the community, and we began setting up equipment. As patients started to trickle in, the pre established groups began gathering patient information, vital signs, and medical history. As the time went by, we took initiative by adapting to the situation as needed. At 12:30, we were scheduled to leave, after helping provide aid to 34 patients.
We then headed back to home base where we toured the El Refugio farm, which is located inside the premises of homebase. After the tour we took a trip to the Historical Downtown Quetzaltenango, and stopped by a local ice cream shop to get some delicious treats.
After ice cream, we took a trip to the Municipal Palace, a local government building. We stopped by Walmart for some snacks and then came home for dinner. Nayo, our local advisor, surprised us with fireworks and sparklers as a fun way to finish off the night and to celebrate 4th of July.
BLOG POST FOR JULY 5
Written by GLA Students: Vidya D., Dylan W., Iliana L.
Hello GLA families, we hope you enjoyed July 4th because we certainly did.
Yesterday we ended our day with a firework and sparkler surprise. Today, we started our day by doing a health brigade, which was revised from the previous day to make it more efficient. During our health brigade, students worked in smaller groups in order to ensure that care was provided to all patients. The students got to do blood pressure, glucose levels, as well as practice and use their spanish knowledge. After our medical brigade, we drove back to our home base in Xela and enjoyed an authentic Guatemalan meal.
We then took a tour of a nearby nursing school. We got to learn about local education and get hands-on demonstrations of work in the maternal wing as well as the rehabilitation unit. After that, we were surprised with an outing, and had the opportunity to go to a local soccer field. We played against our fellow GLA students as well as the medical counselors who we had previously worked with at the service brigade.
We then drove to home base and undertook a special debate activity concerning certain medical issues. We talked about issues such as indigenous and modern medicine and how they should be regulated. Students then took on roles as important members of the Guatemalan community and discussed these issues. After we ate dinner followed by our mentor groups. In mentor groups we discussed our day together and talked about improvements we could make in our health brigades. We also talked about our identities and future goals as GLA students and leaders.
BLOG POST FOR JULY 6
Written by Cora, Louise, and Maria
Buenos días!
Today was an exciting day! We started out by heading over to our service site in the small, traditional village of Xecaracoj. Everyone switched positions to experience different medical stations. Today was a little bit more busy since we had a line of patients waiting for us when we arrived. Overall it was a successful and fulfilling morning of check ins, vitals, medical history forms, shadowing doctors, and organizing medications. After the medical brigade, we headed back to our homebase to enjoy a yummy lunch with the group and a well deserved break.
Soon after 2 o’clock, we departed to the town of San Andres Xecul and listened to an incredible tour of the church and history about the community. We walked up and around the village and experienced the breathtaking views as well as witnessing a home and the making of a traditional huipil, which is used for ceremonies and celebrations.
As we got back to homebase we engaged in a game of Caballo, ate dinner as a group, and finished the day off with mentor groups.
Adios amigos!
BLOG POST FOR JULY 7
Written by Julian, Mila, & Mateo
Today was an excursion day where we started off the day at Chicabal. After a long ride to the base of the former volcano, we began our ascent to the top of Chicabal in trucks called ´Toritos´. It was a bumpy, muddy, but exciting ride to the top where we would begin our hike down to the sacred Mayan lake. The hike down to the lake included a steep set of stairs that was over 600 steps. At the lake, a man of Mayan descent performed a traditional Mayan ceremony in which he made offerings to various Mayan Gods. During the ceremony, we were all given candles to throw into the fire as we made a wish. Following the ceremony, we began our hike back up the mountain but instead of taking the stairs, we took a long trail which for many proved to be a challenge at 9000 feet of elevation.
After leaving Chicabal and returning to our home base, we met Doctor Gustavo Lopez and he gave us an intriguing conversation about his work regarding public health in Guatemala. Along with everything he taught us, we were able to share our experience working at a local clinic this past week with him. Following our talk with Doctor Gustavo Lopez, country director Orlando gave us a presentation about Guatemala and local director Nayo shared his story growing up in Guatemala. We then had an early dinner to take the night to prepare for an exciting day at Lake Atitlan tomorrow.
BLOG POST FOR JULY 8
Written by Cierra, Lorena, and Alyssa
Today we woke up around 6:15, ate breakfast at 6:45, then left homebase for our two day Atitlan lake excursion.After a 3 hour bus ride we arrived in the town. From there we took a boat ride to the town of San Juan La Laguna. After exploring there we headed back to the hotel for lunch. Next we played an intense game of fishbowl in the hotel common area. Although it was raining we still left to go for another walk around a new town called Panajachel for a few hours. Finally we came back to the hotel to eat dinner. Some of us went to bed early, and others decided to practice taking vitals so that they can be even more confident in service moving forward.
BLOG POST FOR JULY 9
Written by Veer, Rob, Brody
We started off the day with breakfast at The Paradise Inn, where we enjoyed an assortment of drinks and bread. Soon after we finished breakfast we traveled to Chichicastenango, which is the biggest open air market in Guatemala. We spent 2 hours shopping for an array of things including electronics, clothes, jewelry, and food. We then had lunch at the Santo Tomas hotel, the entree included a chicken leg, fries, and some boiled vegetables.
After shopping, we returned to Xela at around 4:30pm. There, we had around 2 hours of free time before we ate dinner. After dinner, everyone practiced their medical and spanish skills for the following day of service.
BLOG POST FOR JULY 10
Written by Amelia, Sahana, and Lauren
We are so happy to be here in Guatemala! Today was super long but that’s a good thing! We did 7 hours of medical service at the clinic. We had an amazing lunch break with chicken drumsticks or vegetables with rice. We had two shifts so we switched jobs in the afternoon. This gave us the ability to help a lot more people by having a longer shift than normal. We came back to our home base around 3:30.
When we got back to home base we were able to take a CPR class with the Guatemalan Red Cross. We got certified for the basics! This was a super fun class to take and honestly quick and straightforward. It was a lot of fun to watch our friends learn as well. This class showed us how to be prepared for a lot of situations with babies, kids, and adults. After, we got a good break before dinner where we played lots of card games and made friendship bracelets. We had dinner at 7 pm which was lasagna, salad, and toast.
After dinner we then celebrated Mateo´s birthday! He turned 17 today. We celebrated this by having a surprise pinata party followed by a delicious fruit cake. Overall this trip has been a life changing experience and the group of people we have here are all incredible. We love it here!
BLOG POST FOR JULY 11
Written by Alexa, Sanaaya, and Sabrina
Today was an eventful, exciting day!
We began our morning at 5am with abrupt wakeup calls echoing across Home Base. Then, sleepy campers piled into vans to begin the journey to our white water rafting adventure. Our first stop was for breakfast at a beautiful hotel. Meals varied from beans and eggs to pancakes and fruits. Then, our journey to the river began. Students were put into two different groups, one for white water rafting and one to learn all about water safety and whitewater rescue.
After about three hours in their original positions, students had a snack and then were able to try the other activity. We returned back to the hotel at around 7pm (meaning that our lunch plans were relocated to dinner). For an incredibly satisfying dinner, students enjoyed hamburgers, club sandwiches, and grilled chicken plates.
Once packed up, students loaded back into their vans for their journeys home. These journeys were happily interrupted by a gas station stop to buy more snacks – an excitement thoroughly enjoyed by all!
Arriving back at Home Base at around 11 pm, filthy students took showers and headed immediately to their cozy beds – ready to awake at 7 the next morning for service.
We bet your day wasn’t as eventful as ours, but we hope it was a great one!
Signed,
Alexa, Sanaaya, and Sabrina
BLOG POST FOR JULY 12
Written by Hannah, Amelia, and Sabrina
Hello everyone! Today was an exciting, but sad day.
After breakfast, we piled into vans to head to our last day of service at the Xecaracoj clinic. We were able to help around 30 patients today with our various jobs around the clinic. As a special treat for our last day of service, we were treated with pizza as a snack to tide us over for lunch and we shared a last meal with the clinic staff. How yum!
After lunch, we began our journey to the beautiful hot springs in Zunil – known as the Fuentes Georginas. The waters were warm, green, and surrounded by beautiful foliage on all sides. We enjoyed taking photos, swimming, and hanging out in the various pools around the property. It was definitely a highlight for many!
After, we piled in for the ride home where we were able to shower and get ready for our last dinner at this Home Base (for the 14-Dayers). Once finished, students were granted free time to pack and get ready for their different journeys home, plus other activities.
Overall, our last day at Home Base was full of everything that we loved from this trip – being able to participate in service, hanging out around campus, and adventuring to a new place!
We hope you´ve had a great day, as well.
Sincerely,
Hannah, Amelia, and Sabrina
BLOG POST FOR JULY 13 & 14
Written by Leader of the Day: Hannah
On Thursday, we began our trek back to Antigua.
We visited a beautiful coffee farm and got the chance to learn about the process of making coffee. Everyone had so much fun picking out souvenirs and tasting the different types of coffee. We then walked around Antigua and were so fascinated by our experience at the coffee farm that we had to make a stop at Starbucks. We rushed back to the hotel to get dressed up for our farewell dinner. At dinner, we received our CPR certifications and had a chance to make our final remarks about the trip. Soon after dinner, the first of the 14 day students headed off to the airport and we all said our final goodbyes.
A three AM wake up call greeted the 21 day students Friday morning. While we headed to the airport to leave for an excursion, the rest of the 14 day students headed home. We arrived in Tikal and met up with our tour guide Julio. He showed us all around the Mayan ruins and could not have been more knowledgeable about the sight. Tikal is a UNESCO world heritage site that works to conserve Mayan buildings and culture. Only about 1% of the Mayan ruins have been restored (dug up from under layers of plants and dirt). The group had a fun time exploring the grounds and even made friends with a photographer who took a great picture of the group. After lunch in Tikal we headed back to the airport. However, our flight back to Guatemala City was delayed so we were able to enjoy ice cream (and more coffee) on the beautiful island of Flores. I am writing this in the van on the way back to XELA and it is safe to say that we are looking forward to getting some rest!!
BLOG POST FOR JULY 15
Written by Sabrina
Good evening!
Today was our first full day without the 14-dayers. We had a later wakeup, thanks to our late night road trip, and for breakfast, we had our classic: beans and eggs.
Then, after a short break, we began service at a new facility! A school! Nayo gave us a tour of the property and explained all the prior work that GLA has done there, and then gave us different jobs we could work on to help out the school. The options ranged from tiling a sink to designing a new mural to repurposing an old mural – all very exciting and important jobs. Once split into groups, we spent the rest of our service time working hard to make progress on our roles.
After service, we headed back to Home Base for a lunch of a very special beef broth soup with rice, beef, and varying veggies – a yummy experience. There were also options of vegetables and a chicken for the non-beef eaters. After lunch, we got to Xela´s center again – to participate in shopping, sightseeing, and ice cream eating.
Once we returned to Home Base, we had a two hour rest break to catch up on sleep and hang out with our new roommates. Dinner consisted of spaghetti with meat sauce, spinach salad, and toast.
Signing off,
Sabrina
BLOG POST FOR JULY 16
Written by Sahana
Hello Everyone!
Today was yet another beautiful day in the land of Guatemala! We began the day with delicious pancakes with an assortment of fruit. This was followed by a day of service at the school! There, we broke up into three different groups where we continued our service projects from yesterday. We made tremendous progress on all of our endeavors, which we will continue to work on throughout the week.
Around noon we headed back and ate lunch. We ate jocon, which is a traditional Guatemalan dish, served with rice and vegetables. At 2pm we headed out to the El Baul mountain where we walked around and took in the gorgeous views. This was followed by a few activities. The first was a moral dilemma activity where we were given a set of five people with different backgrounds, ages, and causes of their current condition. From there we had to decide who was worthy of priority for a heart transplant that would save their lives. Although a circumstance such as this is unlikely to exist in the real world, we were able to analyze the factors that go into medical decision making.
Followed by this activity, we all participated in a group trivia! We were split up into teams of two and the competition began! The first round was trivia based on Guatemalan culture, history, facts, etc. The second round stemmed from pop and rap music. We were given a phrase from a specific song and had to establish both the song name, and artist. The winner of the trivia was Ella and Paulina!
We headed back down the mountain and all rested before dinner. At dinner we enjoyed a classic american dish of chicken nuggets, hash browns, and shredded carrot salad. After we played a fun game of monopoly to top off our night!
Until next time,
Sahana Duggal
BLOG POST FOR JULY 17
Written by Paulina
Hello GLA Families and Friends!
Today is Monday, July 17, and we have had a tiring, yet delicious day. After breakfast, we headed to service where we were finally able to meet and play with the children at the school we´ve been working on for the past 2 days. In between spackling sinks and painting walls, we played tag and soccer with extremely fast kids. While one group finished painting Central America in the back of the school, another finished painting a female president, a chef, and an agriculture worker on a different wall. Meanwhile, the school sink became more and more colorful as my group added tiles with cement. Once we ate lunch, we returned to service to continue working, before heading to my favorite afternoon activity: a chocolate workshop hosted by a local family business.
After we devoured the introductory chocolate fountain with strawberries, bananas, apples, and pineapple (yes, seriously), we toured the museum and learned about the importance of Guatemalan chocolate from different regions and the culture it carries. We then tried two different hot chocolates, one with ginger and one with cardamom, a tea made from the husk of the cocoa bean, and the meat of the cocoa bean. We headed back to home base for dinner, and had some down time after a full day!
Thanks for reading!
Paulina
BLOG POST FOR JULY 18
Written by Ella
Hello everyone!
Today is Tuesday the 18th and we had a great day today. We started the day off with some delicious omelettes, and headed off to service. Today was a holiday for the kids of Guatemala, so they had a day off school. We played music as we worked on making our mosaic and crafted GLA out of tiles. We also continued the maps and murals we have been working on these past few days. After a sunny day of service we went back to the base for an amazing lunch of Fried chicken to fuel our exciting afternoon!
We had some free time to relax, nap and read our books before an exhilarating afternoon of dance classes! We headed out and arrived at the studio. We all learned step by step the basics of salsa! We partnered up and worked super hard with lots of laughter to master the basics. We stepped and spent until our final competition. We all got very competitive because the reward for best dancer was extra phone time! Ella and Brody won best dancers. After we got back to the base we watched a movie. We decided to watch Saw. After a few scares we had some time to relax before dinner and there was a small earthquake, the first one we’ve experienced here. don’t worry it was very small, barely noticeable for most. Anyways we had dinner, taco bites, and we’re all currently playing a very intense game of monopoly! overall a good chill day full of learning new things!
Thanks for reading!
BLOG POST FOR JULY 19
Written by Kaya:
This morning we started the day off with a long awaited american breakfast consisting of a variety of different cereals that included froot loops, cocoa krispies and frosted flakes. After breakfast we left our homebase and headed to service at the local school where we completed painted murals, a renovated sink and taught the school children about oral hygiene and handwashing techniques!
Around noon we left service to eat lunch where we had lasagna with corn salad and a slice of bread which was amazing. Since we had a whole day of service planned we headed back to the school where we were greeted by high schoolers practicing one of the national dances of guatemala. Today was our full last day of service so we finished all the projects and finished the day by watching students complete a P.E. class in the courtyard and talking and playing with them!
At homebase we had some free time before having our last mentor group for the trip where we talked about our first impressions of Guatemala and the new perspectives we were leaving with. Dinner was around the corner so we ate and finished off the night by watching a movie and playing monopoly for the sixth time in a row.
BLOG POST FOR JULY 20
Written by Mila:
We started off the morning with a traditional Guatemalan breakfast which consisted of eggs, beans, plantains, and tortillas. Since it was our last day, the kids at the local school had a surprise ceremony to thank us for the service we completed. The surprise included a traditional dance and our names called out where we were given a pen wrapped around traditional fabric.
Lunch came fast and we ate breaded chicken with sliced potatoes where we talked about all the things we enjoyed from this trip and the impact we felt we made on the several communities we visited!
After lunch came lots of free time to say our final goodbyes to our fellow roommates and pack all our things to take back home. Farewell dinner came and we were gifted the walking tacos we asked with a strawberry and lime dessert that looked like a watermelon in a cup!!
We finished the night off with a bonfire and a
FINAL game of monopoly.
See you all soon,
Mila
