Trip day 6

Yesterday was the last day of work, today we are just driving to Antigua where we will have nothing but free time, then off to the airport tomorrow.

So the agenda said "reforestation," which is going to an area where a lot of trees have been cut down for the cooking fires (and whatever else), and planting little saplings in their place.  This project has two purposes; one is to obviously take the impact of the stove replacements one step further:  the old way was very inefficient, and we are trying to make up for that.  The other is to help support one of the Ama women's circles, who have chosen to start a little nursery selling these saplings to various organizations.  We didn't think we could get the last 1.1 stoves finished in time unless some of us skipped the reforestation and worked on the stoves instead.  Since Jim, Krysta, and I all did the reforestation last year, we didn't feel like we would be missing out by skipping that experience, and we went to work on the stoves instead.  Apparently it wasn't as nice a place as last year, and we didn't miss much except for poor Natalie getting sick (altitude sickness?).  Krysta and I went back to the site we were working on the day before and finished it up, which went way faster than we even expected.  The kids weren't nearly as chatty, but the older boy did mix the mortar for us, and he kind of hung out and watched us at least.  For that stove in particular, it felt very strange for us to leave, Krysta said she felt the same way.  I think it was because we showed up, worked really quickly, and then were out of there, as opposed to spending all day with the people.  Plus, not everyone was out there to say goodbye to.  Oh well.  So we headed back to Jim, who was working alone at this point, and helped him out, or at the very least gave him some company!  By the time we finished the second layer, it was time to go to lunch, at least we though.  Apparently my watch was dying and the time was speeding up, but we didn't figure that out until we had already hiked down the path and down some steep streets to get to the lunch meetup place.  Oops!  Ah well, some good exercise and some fresh air, since the stove area here was super smokey smelling.  By the time real lunch arrived, so had the rest of the group (except Natalie who was sleeping in the van), and with everyone's help we were able to get it all the way finished.  It was nice to have helpers, it freed us up to play with the little girl and the sweet sweet (well not if you ask Nhoj, who got his face scratched) baby.  Then we had a little closing ceremony where we all stood around in a circle at Donna Francisca's house (where my first stove was) and they all told us how grateful they were, gave us some blessings, and said they had nothing to repay us with, so they were making us a lunch.  They also gave us flowers, which they would normally sell in market, wrapped in cloth (placemat size) that they wove themselves.  Those they also could have sold in market, it was an awesome gift and more than any of us were expecting.  Last year we had the remarks and lunch, but not gifts.  Also, we did a prayer where Donna Francisca said (in heavily mam accented Spanish, then the Ama lady who's name starts with a C but I am blanking on right now translated it into Spanish, and Lucy translated into English for us) to just hold hands, close our eyes, and give the moment to God, which I think we all expected to just be silent prayer.  But we were awed when they all starting saying their own prayers out loud.  None of us knew what they were saying, even those who spoke Spanish because they were all talking at once and very fast, but we sure felt it!  It was amazingly moving, you could actually feel a change in the energy it that space, we all just stood there silently and let it rush over us.  Awesome.  Then they gave us the flowers and it was time to eat!

The lunch was great, and I had some of the best guacamole I've ever tasted!  But we didn't dally too long because it was starting to rain.....again.  We made it back to the van and actually all the way back to the Ama house before it rained, so we actually had one day where we were all dry!  On the drive back it started to hit me, especially when we all had to get out of the van for the deep dip that bottomed the van out (we did this every time we passed this part, coming and going), and someone said, "for the last time!"  Then I started to get sad, I think I will be really sad when I get home.  Half the group passed out in the van, but I was awake and feeling every sore spot on my body.  The day started out with so much energy, but between the hunching over, picking up heavy stuff, and hiking up and down steep, slippery paths, my body was ready to call it quits.  My knees still hurt this morning, but maybe that had something to do with the salsa lessons also!

When we got back, we all took showers then headed out to check out town for the last time.  Mostly we souvenir shopped, Krysta and I stopped at some little shop and bought some going out clothes (I got a cute red dress for $10, can't beat it), then we got back 5 minutes to dinner time, impressive since none of us were wearing watches.  Then after dinner was just some hanging out, Krysta, Natalie, and I were trying out all kinds of outfit combinations, just having some girl time, then it was salsa time!  We had 3 instructors come here to teach the 8 of us plus 3 of the Ama folks, and it only cost us $2 a person (except really $0 a person because Jim paid for us all!).  It was amazing; I was finally actually able to do it!  I got to try it for a little while with the main teacher, who is a professional, award winning salsa dancer, and seemed like a generally fun guy, and tried it with Nhoj the rest of the time.  Nhoj and I were both messing it up, but we were equally committed to figuring it out, so, although I originally wasn't even going to participate, we were the last ones out there dancing, even after the music was gone!  Good thing, I needed that 2 hour workout to burn off the last of the Xelapan cookies.  After that we went out, back to Pool and Beer, but they were having some event and it was crazy crowded, which I did not think was fun.  I did get to see Ashley's crazy dancing though, she was a hit!  Then, after much confusion and group wandering of the streets, I finally ended up back at the Ama house close to 1am.  The rest of the group (except for the two Ama people who escorted me home) stayed out; I don't even know when they came home.  Ah, well, good times in Guatemala.  We are definitely going out and living it up in Antigua tonight, I need to wear my new dress, so hopefully I can sleep in the van.

Trip day 5

My body is starting to feel all this hard work!  Today we had a house with quite a few kids running around, mostly the boys were brave enough to talk to us, but they sure had fun watching us, trying to talk to us, and having their picutres taken.  At one point we copied the rooster noises, then the kids started copying us.  We were doing all kinds of animals and seeing who could do it the best.  Then I groaned as I bent over to put some moartar in, and the kids started making that noise too!  I told them, no no, that is a Laura impression.  Then Dave stands up and goes, ¨Yea, Laura, ohhohhohh,¨ while holding his back.  Sad but true.  They all got a huge laugh out of that.  Jim had mentioned that at his site, they seemed to have a hard time saying Earl, the other half of his team, so they just yelled Jim all day.  That seemed to be the case at our site too, but my name was the easy name.  This did remember Krysta´s name at least, because at one point the little boys kept coming to the window saying, ¨Laura, Krysta, kisses!¨  They seem to like practacing their english on us, even though it seems to be limited to hello, goodbye, thank you, and you´re welcome.  That is much more than I have seen so far.  It was nice to have some fun kids or a change, makes the work more fun, and makes it easier to interact with the family.  Plus they did a lot of hard work or us!
The house we were in today was much more like what we were used to.  The house itself was made of cement, but very small and basic.  We were working in a stone kitchen with a dirt floor separate from the house, and it was very dark, covered in soot, and reeked of smoke even though there was no fire going.  Dave and Krysta spent some back breaking time trying to level the floor while I worked on mixing the moartar.  This family sifted all the sand for the mix, which took a while, looked very hard, and made it very hard to measure the sand exactly, because more was going next to the bucket than in it.  The first way they tried was to put it in a mesh potato bag and shake the heck out of the bag.  I helped with that a little, it took forever.  Then they came back with a box sifter and that went much better.  We rean into some issues later in the day where there weren´t enough bricks to finish the stove.  Too many had been broken and we were short one.  While we worked that issue out, we were mostly just sitting around.  It was very frustrating for us because, had it not been for that holdup, we would likely have finished the stove that day. Oh well, what are you going to do.  It´s probably better we didn´t finish just then, because that would have meant we had to carry the box of tools back with us, and I already had a hard enough time getting back up the steep slippery path in the rain.  Durying the day I slipped quite a few times but managed to stay upright, but I fell outright twice, making my hands and knees nice and muddy.  At least when I fell, I didn´t put my hands right in a pile of poo!  Today the sore muscles, rain, cold, and weird work schedules were getting to everyone, most of us were very upset about stopping early to go to the weavers demonstration.  In the end, I am glad we got to do it though.  The demonstration was canceled due to the rain, but we got a chance to buy some of the things these women were making.  It is sort of seeing the life cycle of the project here.  We build the stoves, the stoves make it much more efficient for the women to cook, so they have more free time to spend in their Ama women´s circle, the women´s circle teaches them new skills they can use to sell things, like tree sapplings, peanut butter, scarves, purses, tablecloths, etc.  Then they use this money to help better their family and boost their self esteem, heck, just having Ama want to help them, joining the women´s cirlce, and especialy having us come all the way from the US to build them stoves raises their self esteem.  So most of us bought a thing or two, and the items were labled with the name of the woman who made them.  I didn´t realize it at first, but that was so we knew who to pay, each woman handled her transactions separately.  Jim noted that the prices were a little higher than we could get at a market, but these were hand made, we were supporting the Ama project, and we got to thank personaly the women who made them.  Krysta and I got picutres with the women who made our items, well, one item for me, and the huge smile on their face was definately worth paying a little more.

There was no going out and partying for me once we got home.  I just wanted to get clean, get fed, and get to bed.  I was too tired and sore to even get up and get myself some tea, so Jim sweetly went and got me some.  Thank goodness we didn´t have any more presentations tonight, I definately would have fallen asleep!

Trip day 4

No welcoming ceremony today, just straight to work!  Yesterday we got what we thought was 90% done on our stove, and we told the woman of the house that we would be back tomorrow to finish it.  When we got there, we showed it to Don Pauli, our mason, and the HSP coordinator, and they told us that Don Pauli would do the rest, we were done with that stove.  I felt weird leaving it at that stage, and felt bad for telling the lady we would finish it then leaving, but they explained it to her and I guess everything was okay.  Honestly, she would probably rather have a professional finish it anyway.  So off we went to the next site.  We had to hike up this somewhat steep footpath that was very slippery and branches kept slapping us in the face, it felt like we were in the jungle.  Our next house was a shock to us, there was  big white concrete house, and we were building the stove in a corrugated metal shack in the courtyard.  It was explained to us earlier in the week that a lot of places have more than one family living in them, which was the case here, and that a lot of men go abroad to make money and send it home for a nice house.  It was also explained that part of their culture sometimes prevented them from moving into these houses until the man came home to Guatemala.  That seemed to be the case here, we went into some of the rooms to get  building materials, and they were finished but appeared to be used only for storage right now.  Some of the bricks were in the kitchen of this house, and although it was big and had lots of counters and a sink, there was no stove or oven.  So, I suspect our sove will still be in use even after they eventualy move in.  I didn´t notice until halfway through the day that the current stove was on a cliff right over where we were.  They took this slipery and treatcherous looking footpath up this narrow area between the white house and the side of the mountain to get to a shack with no roof and only 3 walls, hardly ideal.  My team got switched up a bit or the day, the teenager in our group realy wanted to interact with some of the local kids, and there were none on our site, so she traded groups, but it worked out great in the end.  We got Krysta, and boy did we need her!  She was the only one of us strong enough to carry the puma, the gravel we use to fill the middle of the stove.  It turns out there was some problem with the delivery to this house, and we only had half as much puma as we needed, so the girl there went off and about 10 minutes later came back with some more.  We told her we needed more still, and she looked horriied.  She made some exasperated motion up the hill and Krysta went with her, figuring she was asking for help.  A LONG while later they come back down the road, each with a bag of puma on their back, and the girl with a pitchfork type rake in her hand.  Krysta explained to us that they had to hike up the mountain, DIG the puma out of the side of the mountain, bag it up, then hike back down.  No wonder she looked so horrified when we said we needed more!!!!  I think Krysta was the only one of the three of us that could have handled that.  Plus she´s fun, so we were glad to have her.  She also was much better at talking with the families, which I tend not to do as well and is an important part of the mission here, connecting with the people and not just building something and running out of town.  Yes, I know I am Miss Social, but I let the langage barrier get in my way and get in the mode of working and forget to talk to them.We managed to finish our stove by the end of that first day with a few mintues to spare even, and that despite the puma incident and a little rain.  This year we split into 3 groups, and there are 8 stoves to go.  We have a day and a half of stove building to go, but in the first two days we have completely finished 4, and are 75% done on the other two.  I think we will for sure finish today, which may translate into more free time tomorrow.  Wonder what we will do.

Trip day 3

Yesderday was the first day we went into the village and started the actual work we are here to do: building stoves.  Last year we had more people in our group, and another group with us, so about 3 times the people all together.  We had a nice welcoming ceremony last year, but since there were fewer of us, we expected less of a to-do.  We were so surprised at what we got!  Last year we started the trip at someone's home, this year we started out at a school where it looked like the entire town had gathered!  They had a little PA type system set up, and a whole row of chairs for us to sit in while they gave us some welcoming speeches and a recital.  They had two different groups of children do some traditional dances for us, then follwed it up with some more remarks and gave us all flowers.  It was very moving, most of us teared up.  Poor Nhoj, his dreadlocks have been getting him a lot of attention from the locals, and yesterday was no different.  As we sat there, the kids kept coming up behind him and touching his hair, but he was cool about it.  I don't even know how to describe the way the kids were looking at us and acting around us, but it made us feel like royalty.

We headed out for the site, rather different environment from last year, more hilly, houses a little further apart, and built up a bit more.  I think I got a realy good team this year, another youth, but a good one!!!  I used a machetti to cut up a brick, and DIDN'T hurt myself, so I call the day a success!  The day flew by, I couldn't believe it when they told us it was time to pack up and go home.  I was dissapointed because we were SO close to finishing our stove, but we needed another batch of mortar to finish, and there just wasn't time for that.  Oh well, at least we get to go back and see our family again.  The woman of the house was very young, I would guess 16, and had such a sweet baby straped to her back.  That didn't keep her, and her mother in law who lived in the same lot (maybe compound is a better term?) from picking up and running with 30-50 pound bags of gravel!  Still amazed by these women, even after witnessing the same thing last year.

When we got back from the site we were all wet and dirty and tired, and calling dibs on the showers (2 showers, 8 people).  Just before we got back to the Ama house they told us we were to go straight to the dining room to hear a lecuture about myan cosmology, we were a little upset but just sucked it up and went.  We all had trouble keeping our eyes open for the hour and a half he spoke!  First of all, the chair are way too hard to sit in for that long, and we were exhausted.  I was upset that they planned it this way primarily because I thought our sleepiness was disrespectful to the guest, although we tried our best to look attentive, and I, at least, had trouble focusing on what he was saying with my tired brain.  I heard it last year though, so I didn't worry too much about that part.  Then it was straight to dinner!  We didn't have any free time yesterday, after dinner and showers some of us wanted to go out, but they basicaly said no, mostly for safety reasons, and it was raining anyways.  Oh well!  Now it is time for breakfast, hope today is super productive!

Trip day 2

Ahh, today was nice.  Today felt more like vacation than a mission trip.  We slept in a little (breakfast at 8 instead of regularly scheduled 7), and the only plan for the day was hot springs and a presentation after dinner.  The hot spring were so much cooler than I could imagine!  They were at almost 8,000 feet, so we had a long ride up the mountain, but these people took advantage of every bit of land they have and planted all up and down the slopes of the mountain, it was actualy very pretty.  We saw a lot of people out working the fields and harvesting the vegetable we just saw in the market just a few minutes before.  The higher we got, the more tropical the vegetation was.  That combined with mist, which was part natural hot spring steam and part cloud, made for a surreal view.  The springs were very cool, I was picturing just a pool in the ground surrounded by mud, but they actualy made it into a very nice place, with stone pools and changing rooms and picnic areas and everything.  There were three pools, the largest one was closest to the hot springs source, and hot enough to "boil a chicken."  I went in it up to mid-torso for about a minute.  It was actualy very relaxing, but I figured staying in it too long couldn't be too healthy!  The water from that pool flowed into the next one, and made it slighly cooler than a hot tub, then that water flowed into the last pool, which was just slightly cooler than the second.  We hung out in the medium pool for the most part, it was kind of a goldy-locks situation, I guess.  It started raining shortly after we got there, but it just made the whole experience better.  The rain cooled our heads and allowed us to stay in the warm water, and it allowed me to stand in the rain, which I am often wont to to, without getting too cold.  Oh, and the view of the mountain cliff with all that greenery and the steam going up it was AMAZING!

Then we moved down to the picnic area for soup.  They brought a huge pot of soup that they heated up on the fire pit.  It was perfect in the rain, and it was a veggie soup full of all the stuff we just saw them harvesting, which made it even better.

Then it was home for a nap and a quick trip to town where we went to a cafe for some mochachinos and cake, and just chillin!  After an amazing dinner (more traditional food than the spaghetti last night), we had a presentation about whata AMA (the group that we are working with) is all about, and even though I heard this presentation last year, I got a lot out of it and all the questions we asked.  But now it is time for bed so I have plent of energy tomorrow, when we start the stove building!

Day 1 drama

Oh, forgot to mention we had a little excitement yesterday.  We found out that the reason they were late picking us up from the airport is because there was some political drama in the city.  One of the politicians was shot and it closed down a bunch of streets.  Lupe was very anxious to get us loaded and get the heck out of the city, which was a bit disconcerting.

There were more problems with mudslides this year, we ran into this last year as well where whole sections of the road just washed away.  In fact, that is the reason we didn't go to the lake, the road was blocked by mudslides.  We were near the peak of the mountain when it started pouring, and there was a lot of water washing across the road.  I was afraid one of the car-sized boulders we saw from prevous mudslides was going to come down and crush us.  Obviously we made it, but it was a little nerve-wracking for a bit.

Trip day 1

Wow, 15 hours of traveling on 2 hours of sleep.  But, I am so glad we are here.  The plan was to go to Lake Attilian the first day, which is half way between the airport and the Ama House, and also what we did last year.  Last year we did some shopping in the town, and half the group went to see an old church, while the other half went to the coffee plantation.  I went to the church last year and was looking forward to the coffee plantation this year.  Unfortunately, there are more mudslides this year, something that caused some problems last year as well, and it blocked our way to the lake.  So instead we went straight from the airport to the Ama House, our base camp for the week which is about a 4 hour drive from the airport, and about 45 minutes from our work site.  Dissapointing, but at least we can unpack and relax instead of just staying for one night at the lake.  Also, this means we have an extra day in the itenerary, which is being filled with a trip to the hot springs, yay!  This should be fun/interesting, especially since I am the only one who brought a bathing suit.  We already made a trip into town and staked out the important places: ATM, market, bakery, and chocolate shop.  :)  Tonight most of us are just crashing early, but a few are going out to stake out the good nighlife for us!  There are some benefits to staying in town instead of at the "refuge" again.

Oh, and although I have already started with the injuries (cut my finger right before leaving home and slipped and fell in Polo Campero), I am NOT the most injury prone for a change!  One of the girls tripped and smacked the ground hard twice before we even left Virginia.