¡Hola! Today is day 14 of our stay in Guatemala. The diversity and culture in this wonderful country are eye-opening in the best way!
As you read these blogs, you most likely already know that we visit Violeta each morning and afternoon for food. Today was special because, for lunch, we had slow-cooked pork and rice, which was super tasty. To shine a light on the work that each group is doing, a highlight of our work days is provided below!
Group one (my group) is spending the week in San Antonio, where we are building furniture for local schools. We caught a chicken bus this morning, which is a privately owned public form of transportation. Because of this, the families that own the buses can decorate them and play any music they want! We were accompanied by Spanish pop music today, and I added a few songs to my playlist! It’s always nice to be engulfed in the Guatemalan culture without feeling too much like a tourist.
We are working at a warehouse-type building on the property of a beautiful home nestled on a hill behind a small garden of shrubbery in San Antonio. Today, we built bookcases for schools in San Antonio with the wood planks we sanded and insect-treated yesterday. We put up four bookcases with three shelves each that should hold enough books and textbooks for one class each. That project took up most of the morning, so we called it a day with plans to start a new project on the next workday.
Group two continues working at Santa María De Jesús at Jardín de Amor school. They finished tiling one of the classroom floors and started demolition work on another classroom floor to make way for new floor replacements. Putting in new tile will help protect the school’s second floor, saving the school resources and money. The group also played with the children at the school during their recess time and it’s heartwarming to see the gratitude the children and teachers have for the work being put into the school.
Group three is at Brio De Sol where they are engaged in outdoor earthwork projects to improve drainage in the schoolyard. This included building a gravel walkway with a brick retaining wall and spreading several yards of gravel in low areas. In Guatemala, there are only two seasons, wet and dry. With the dry season coming to an end and the heavy rains coming soon, this work is very timely. Group three also removed some of the rotting wood accumulating at the school and worked on building a waterproof roof for a storage shed.
Most of the students got two-for-one tacos at Tacorazon for dinner, a great deal if you ask me! For dessert, we went to a local restaurant called Cafe Boheme, which has a hidden-away terrace with the best brownie and ice cream combinations. The terrace is filled with different plants and flowers, and the liveliness of the restaurant was captivating! For 25 quetzales, we will definitely be going back.
If you are a future student interested in this amazing trip, I highly suggest this hidden gem!
As this trip comes to a mid-point, it’s important that I take a minute to reflect on the beauty of Guatemala and how fortunate we are to be given the opportunity to help communities in need.
¡Hasta Luego! -Matilda Laux
