Our last days and final post....until next year!

Teresa:

 

Our last day in Guatemala started much the same as others - some team time together.  I always appreciate these morning meets that we spend reminding each other of why we are here.

We had a breakfast of cereal and fresh fruits.  I am going to miss the fresh papaya!  Some Guatemalan coffee also got us all off to a good start.  We headed to Antigua for a day of tourist activities, namely shopping.  The veterans of the mission trips gave us amateurs some tips on bartering in the markets, which proved to be very useful the moment we entered the markets.  Each vendor had the “best price for you” and “many colors to choose from.”  Later, we would encounter several street vendors, selling either necklaces, scarves, or musical instruments, who not only let us know they had “many colors to choose from,” but also that we needed these gifts for our mothers, friends, mother-in-laws, etc.  We walked around the Central Park and had a delicious lunch at one of the restaurants near the famous Arch of Antigua. Otter actually tried some calamari in its own ink.  He gets the award for brave and adventurous food explorations!   We went walking all over town and found the ruins.  I also had a great time watching Kristy get attacked by street vendors because she bought one scarf.  It was quite funny.  They are very persistent despite our constant "no garcia" "no gracia."  Otter even composed a little song full of very gracious, sweet sounding "no gracias."

 

We headed back to Oscar’s for dinner with the elders of Los Olivos.  The meal was a collection of Guatemalan dishes; fried tacos, fried stuffed red peppers in tortillas, and chicken wrapped in some type of corn.  Like usual, everything was delicious.  Dessert was plantain tortillas with cocoa beans in the middle.  Even with all of the incredible food we had, the best part was not the meal we shared, but the gifts and gratitude after the meal.  It began with the elders of Los Olivos thanking the team for coming and doing the work that was done during the week.  It then went through our team members, thanking Karla for the cooking and hospitality, the elders and Los Olivos for being so warm and inviting our entire time here, and Oscar, for his hard work behind the scenes, hospitality, and vision that allows so many people to come together and work.  Oscar and Karla gave us beautiful Guatemalan tablecloths as tokens of their appreciation.  Our tables are all going to be dressed beautifully with the gifts we have received the past two nights!  The elders and Oscar were presented with gifts we had brought from Wisconsin, cow pie candy.  We had given Karla her gift earlier in the week.  She was given a chance to enjoy a nice day at a spa where she could put her feet up, get pampered, and relax after the hard days she has put in cooking 3 meals a day for us. It made me very happy to watch Otter as he walked around the table and served hot chocolate to everyone, all on his own!  No one asked him to and it certainly was not done before.  I followed suit and served everyone dessert.  It was great to be inspired by him.

I learned one of the most important lessons ever Saturday night as well, do not make your bus driver upset!  It was the first time during the trip I was scared!  That man was booking up and down the roads at at least 5000 miles/hour (ok, maybe not that fast).  I learned later that he was upset because we moved our Sunday trip back an hour.  Note to self, tell the bus driver these kind of things AFTER you get home safely!

Sunday we headed over to Oscar's again.  This time we went to Sumpango for their market.  It was great walking around the city market (which was NOT a tourist site, just the community getting together) and actually knowing a few friendly faces.  We met at the church for one last good bye. 

The time we have spent in Guatemala has been the greatest gift of all, for both the mission team and for Los Olivos.  The friendships forged through language sharing will continue to be a part of many of our lives when we come back home.  The inspiration and hard work that Oscar has demonstrated to meet the basic needs of those around him will be a motivation for many of us to continue to reach out and serve those around us, locally and globally.   The memories of the children in the village laughing and playing, waiting on the big stone each day for us to come by, will change how I interact with kiddos as I head back to our own families and neighborhoods.  While I came not knowing what to expect or in what way I was going to be able to serve, I definitely learned so much about people, relationships, and little things making a big difference. I am definitely going to go back home with a much bigger heart and a few new friends :)

Otter:

During my stay in Guatemala, I learned so much. I saw many kids that didn't have nearly as much as we do in the united states, but they seemed more happy with what they have and much more thankful. Instead of looking at the bad things, such as "Oh, to bad I don't have the new iPod touch," they think "Well, I may not have a iPod touch, but fortunately, I have this blanket to keep me warm."  This attitude towards life was greatly admired by me. I wish to have this attitude. Once we got off the plane, we hopped on the bus the plane. The bus seemed like a luxury one compared to the one that we traveled around through Guatemala. I was very thankful. After I got back to my house, I went straight to bed. I was too tired to think at all.

When I woke up, I walked into my parents room and saw my family happily laughing and watching my bros' favorite show. Super why. I sat down to watch with them, but I looked around the room. The TV would've been a sign of royalty in Guatemala. The room itself, so well made. A bed to sleep on. A bathroom. A closet. Multiple sets of clothes. Everything we have, we take it all for granted.

Look around you

Pics will follow:)

Teresa:

On Thursday night, Vincente and his daughter, Hilda, joined us for dinner.  Hilda sings “like an angel,” as one person described it to me. After we ate, Vincente played his guitar while Hilda sang to us.  I am hoping the video comes through for this.

We made our last trip into El Yalu Friday morning.  I stayed behind with the kitchen crew again while 3 other teams headed out to start new stoves.  In the kitchen, we cleaned the rice for the day and sat talking and laughing again.  Otter went out with Peter again, whom I asked to keep him away from the machetes this time.  When his team returned, Peter was all too happy to report he had kept Otter away from the machetes, but showed me a picture of Otter with a great big hatchet.  Nice.  Thanks Peter!

Time seemed to fly by in the morning and it was time for lunch.  We presented the women and gentlemen who work in the kitchen with a new microwave.  Some of the team members had suggested buying it the first day we had worked in the kitchen as the microwave that was there “sometimes worked and sometimes didn’t.”  We took up a collection and Oscar brought some team members into town on Thursday to buy it.  We were all excited to present it to them and they were excited to get it.  It was neat to watch them move the old one and put the new one.  I hope it makes their work easier for them! 

We served lunch to the kiddos one last time.  Otter, as always, was out there serving food, clearing dishes, and trying to converse with his Spanish.  I looked for my little buddies I had made over the last week and said goodbye to them.  I know at least a few of us had heavy hearts as we drove away from El Yalu yesterday.  It is odd that we had such good times in a short week and did such work, and now were leaving it not knowing if we would ever see any of those people or children again.  I left with the hope that the work we did helped empower some of the families and the children to live healthier lives and hopefully be an influence on other families in the village on the benefit of the stoves.  I also hope the time we spent here in some way helps give at least some of the children aspirations to learn and make their village better. 

We came back to the hotel and washed up a bit then headed out to Sumpango to just enjoy a few hours of free time.  We saw the house Oscar is building and I got a lesson on rubar (rebar?) and how it stabilizes concrete.  Now, I am equipped to go build stoves and houses with the masonry, electricity, and construction lessons I have had on this trip….ok, maybe not, but it was good stuff to learn and know.  We took Otter to get his hair cut.  At the cost of 15 quatzles (about $2), it was worth the cut and the experience!  We went to a hair cutting place and saw a sign on the door.  We thought it said something along the lines of “the door is around the corner.”  We spent about 5 minutes looking for the door for the salon and getting different advice from each person we asked.  Turns out, the sign we had originally seen on the door just said “ring the bell.”  Oops.  The boys lucked out as a Scooby Doo movie was playing in the salon Otter had his hair cut.

We went downtown to the market and saw the central park area.  We mosied on through and saw all the beautiful clothing the women wear for sale.  The bottom of the market had an incredible produce selection.  Krysta, one of the people who is going to live here, was telling me about this fruit that tastes kind of like a nectarine but had the texture of a pear.  We found a woman who sold them and Krysta helped me buy one.  Then she starts laughing as she says “you will probably get sick, remember the list says you shouldn’t eat the fruit from this market.”  Great.  I had completely forgotten about this and was trusting Krysta.  I should have known better as Krysta is married to Peter, the guy who lets Otter handle the machetes and hatchets and then shows me the pictures.  In fairness, she had part of one as well.  It’s the morning, and I’m still not sick, so I’m glad I could provide Krysta with that little bit of entertainment.  J

Dinner was delicious, as we have come to expect!  Oscar grilled steaks and pappas (potatoes), served alongside some of the best guacamole and salsa, nachos, and corn.  We headed off for our last night of EFL lessons, which were a blast.  We had quite the class clown this evening with Augusto.  His wife and twin children were there and I could only give sympathy to the poor woman married to someone with such energy J  He was a riot.  One of the groups had Augusto in their class the night before.  Roger from that group came in to our class at one point and gave Augusto a headband with reindeer antlers on it that jingled.  It was perfect for him!  After all of the classes were done, the students gathered all of us who had taught (4 teams in all) in the upstairs room and gave us beautiful tablecloths to bring home.  Everyone took lots of pictures and exchanged emails and names for Facebook.  Facebook has added a great dimension to our ability to communicate and keep in touch as now we will have the faces of everyone with the names and won’t forget them!!  We also handed out some of the gifts we had brought with us.  I gave Margarita and Veronica, the 2 older women from our first night of class, candles and Margarita’s granddaughter a doll.  We had a good time saying goodbye to everyone.  What an incredible opportunity those EFL classes were for us to develop friendships with some of the people in Sumpango.  I told many we would be back next year and I would be bringing my husband with me (right Joe?!?!?)  It was sad to say goodbye to everyone, but we were definitely a tired bunch and it was getting to be a late night for us all again. 

Back at the hotel, Otter watched a little bit of TV while I read.  It was nice to take a breather.  This morning, we get an extra hour before our day starts.  We are going to be doing some “touristy” stuff and hitting some markets.  I would almost prefer do a half day of work before doing anything touristy, but, I think my body will appreciate the break from work (not that cleaning rice was really hard work at all).  I think everyone needs this day as several in the group have started to get colds and in general are worn down.  Those of us with our bad legs, knees, or shoulders are starting to show signs of wear.  Others remain as strong as they were the first day!  It is great to see such different dynamics in this group and know that everyone has truly in their own way contributed to the work done this week.  Today will be a good day of just relaxing.                            

Otter:

Yesterday was pretty similar to most days. We woke up, got breakfast, and then got on the bus to go build ovens. We built the ovens, went back to the feeding center, and fed the kids. After we were done, we shot hoops/played soccer. Adam fell down and scraped up his knee pretty badly. After that, we headed back to Oscars, but we had so much time that we were allowed to walk around town. I went and got my hair cut for the equivalent of two dollars! It was cut for fourteen quetzales. One quetzales is the equivalent of fifteen cents. Anyway, once we were back at Oscars, we had steak and potatoes. It was very good. Once we were done with dinner, we headed over to the church, and did our last lesson. Everybody said his or her goodbyes when we were done teaching our last lesson. I got a LOT of emails. We got back to the hotel, and I stayed up till ten o clock watching kick buttowski in Spanish. It’s almost funnier that way. Then, I crashed.

Vincente and Hilda singing and playing guitar for us.

Adios mes amigos!

Bill and Peter bringing the microwave to the medical center.

Kristy, Adam, and Krysta at the produce market.

The new microwave!

Karla and Otter in Karla's kitchen.

This is how Otter has been writing his blogs each morning - on the bus ride in to Sumpango.

Otter pre haircut.

The last night of EFL classes with our amigas!

Oscar presenting the new microwave.

Wednesday night and Thursday day :)

Teresa:

I had a rough start to the morning when the guest next door left early.  He started his truck and then let it run for about 10 minutes.  Unfortunately, the bottom of our door has a grate, so within a minute, all of the exhaust had filled our room.  Bleh.  I have no problem waking up early, but I don’t think my system was quite ready for that morning dose of carbon monoxide. 

Yesterday in El Yalu, we spent time bringing materials to a new home.  Every time I think we have done some great feat of carrying bricks and sand over tough terrain, we find a new, even more difficult spot to carry to!  The walk was not long, but it was up an incredibly steep hill.  The view from the top was gorgeous.  The mother of the home was very sweet and appreciative of the work being done for the family.  Our first stove was being completed by just a few people and we also had the chance to see that project near completion.  We went to the village center and saw the church there and some vendors.  And lo and behold, behind one curtained room, there was a bunch of young boys playing arcade games!  Otter quickly jumped into the room to watch the games being played.  Our friend Kristi bought some yummy snacks and candy from one of the vendors and we worked our way back to the medical center (after prying Otter from the arcade games). 

One of the homes we visited had a handful of little kids standing around a sister.  She had apparently broken her legs or hips and was just lying outside the front of the house in a cast.  I could only imagine how difficult it must have been to get her to a hospital, get the materials for casting, and then transport the child back home.  The other day I had seen a woman with a sick child who must have been 6 or 7.  She was coming off the bus at the very top of the hill and was carrying the child in a wrap (similar to the one I carry Indie in).  There have been a few children in the village I have seen with eye problems (2 or 3).  We were told that services at the medical center cost 10 quatzeles (about $2) per visit.  The medical center has very basic supplies – some diabetes monitors (I’m thinking for gestational diabetes), a few bottles of antibiotic pills, and basic First Aid Care.  The doctor keeps a record of all those who visit. 

When we were headed to another home, I saw a large crowd of kiddos circled around something.  As I got closer, I saw a ginormous snake.  Bleh Bleh Bleh.  Apparently, the snake was headed out of the hill and some of the kids got him with a rock.  I am very glad I saw this towards the end of my trip rather than the beginning because I would not have been walking around so freely in the village.  Now, every noise I hear I am sure is a snake tracking me down.  I don’t mind the bugs, spiders, or even a rat or two, but snakes!  BLEH!  Not only that, but these are a common problem here in the villagers’ homes.  What’s interesting is it has been difficult for the doctor to convince the villagers that sleeping in beds is safer than sleeping on the floors.  I don’t think I would have to be told twice about that after seeing that snake. 

We had the chance to walk to the top of one of the hills and saw an incredible view of the area.  You could see 2 or 3 of the small villages and the city of Sumpango (or what we thought was Sumpango) from the top.  There were cocoa plants growing (coffee beans!  YEAH!).  There was also some top of hotel or something like that, which was gated off for everyone else.  It had a sign about price per person, I’m still not sure what it was.  What I am sure of though, is that once behind that gate, the quality of the road improved 200% and the buildings were immaculate compared to the village surrounding it. 

Our English lessons at night continue to be just as much a learning experience for us as it is for our students.  My favorite part of the evening is when our class is done teaching and we get to see the students we had the first two nights.  On Wednesday, Tony had spent 20 minutes with us teaching us Spanish.  Last night, Otoniel spent the same amount of time teaching us Spanish.  He is one of 9 kids and had 2 of his younger sisters with him for the EFL lessons.  He also had a niece and a cousin.  I learned a lot of Spanish words just from him describing his family.  When I asked him where he learned English, he told me he spent his evenings reading the English dictionary they had at home.  Wow.  He also let me know I should do the same J  I also had the chance to speak a bit to Alvaro and learn that he worked downtown in a laboratory studying blood.  Even further, I was able to learn that he studies glucose levels and enzyme markers for heart disease.  Alvaro did not speak English and I did not speak Spanish, but we both spoke science.  That was pretty cool. 

Karla, Oscar’s wife, has been making me vegetarian dishes of whatever meals we have.  What a sweetheart!  She is so warm, kind, and loving.  The meals are such a highlight to my days not just for the food (because we all know how much I love food!), but for the time we get to see Karla and sit with our teammates.  I have learned so much from the other team members here.  I have met a cattle farmer, an electrician, an agriculturalist who works for Monsanto, a physical therapist, a carpenter, a dental hygienist, an electrical engineer, a volunteer for Kids Around the World, the registrar of deeds for Dane County, a mental counselor, and a software developer; not to mention all of the younger adults and kids here.  I have learned from each of them a bit about the work they do. It is so incredible how we can “know” each other by names but here have been given the opportunity to really get to know each other and what their lives are like.  They have all also been so very kind (and tolerant) of the younger boys, teaching me how to let go a bit and let Otter be a 10-year-old boyJ  It has been such an experience to see him develop relationships with everyone on the team as well. During the mealtimes, I have heard great stories of families we miss and the work everyone does.

Today is our last day in El Yalu.  How sad it is going to be to say goodbye to the little faces I have seen, laughed with, and played with each day this week.  It will also be sad to say goodbye to the women in the kitchen.  Though I was not able to communicate much with them, I loved the days I had just to  be there with them.  Each of them have such beautiful smiles! 

Ok, we are at Oscar’s and it is now time for one of my favorite meals of the day – breakfast!!!

Otter:

Each day it gets harder to wake up. After I woke up, we headed up to build the oven. This time, it was really hard work. We had to carry one hundred and thirty-five bricks over a mile one a very bumpy and hard to walk on “road”. I got to bring the wheelbarrow. It could carry a lot of bricks, I took fifteen, but some people helped me by grabbing two each. I ended up with five.

Once we were done working, we headed over to where the snake was killed. As we got closer, I noticed the large crowd of villagers crowding around it. It was a very large snake. 

When we were heading back to the feeding center, we decided to take another route. This one led to a game room. Inside it, strangely enough, were only boys. There were games inside like football, metal slug, metal slug two, golf, and a bunch of others. The game room was actually very small. Only one game was being played and paid for, and it was metal slug. Almost everyone was crowded around it.

Once we were done looking at the game room, we all walked back to the feeding center. As soon as we got there, I grabbed a soccer ball and played a one on one with Sam. I used a soccer ball because all of the basketballs were flat. When he was done playing, I just shot hoops.

Pretty soon, we got lunch, then dinner, and then taught English. Our days go by super fast.

The smoke from one of the fires used for cooking.  That's all inside the home as well.

Otter with one of our amigas, Caroline, and her hermano, Kevin Manuel.

This is the great big hill we had to carry 135 bricks, 4 bags of sand, and 3 bags of gravel up.  I did not even attempt the gravel.  Kristie and Matt were the rockstars who did that.

Kristie sporting a lovely bag of sand. 

Matt helping finish one of the stoves while Otter supervises.  Our mason, Leonardo, was incredibly patient and tolerant of all of his extra "helpers" in the building process.

One of my other amigas, Salina, with her mother carrying water back to her home.

Otter hard at work....:)  Roger is pushing the 2 monkeys in the wheelbarrow.

Pig and chicken inside the home of one of the villagers.

Tuesday night into Wednesday

Otter with John and Sam.

In the kitchen at El Yalu, cleaning rice and singing songs.

Otter serving lunch at the medical center.

He has learned how to say "are you all done?"  "do you need help?"

Our 3 translators climbing trees, right before the ran out screaming because Oscar said watch out for snakes, or something like that....

Burbujera!  Bubbles! The one on the left is 6 years old - malnourishment is a huge issue here.

aahhh one of my favorite moments, finding the women in the kitchen doing needlework.

Carrying wood and the next picture shows the young kid also lugging the firewood.

The ladies men outside the church.

Teresa:

Tuesday night EFL was even more fun and rewarding. We taught our lessons on emotions “I’m good, I’m sad, etc.”  Otter led a full segment of the class by himself.  If anything, he would rather Kristy, Krysta, and I be gone completely so he could do the entire class himself.  After the class, a few students stayed behind and taught us some more Spanish.  It is so inspiring to see women in their 70s putting in such great efforts to learn English.  It was also fun to be on the receiving end of language lessons.  We met a young gentleman, Tony, who works in the fields during the day.  His company grows, harvests, and packages blackberries, baby corn, carrots, squash, and lots of different types of beans.  On Wednesday night, he brought in a brochure from his work to show me his company and he also had taken lots of pictures of the vegetables and fruits for me to see!  I asked him if he snacked while working at all, to which he laughed and made the motion of someone getting their toosh smacked if that happened.  The way those blackberries looked, I wouldn’t mind getting my toosh smacked for a snack here and there!

Wednesday at the medical center we met a couple (Brendan and Maria) who were the directors of the place.  They had originally come down to help build feeding centers and children’s homes throughout the Sumpango area.  They met the founders of the medical center (the couple from Seattle).  Unfortunately, the husband from Seattle died and this couple then became the directors.  Oddly enough, Brendan graduated high school with the brother of one our team members, Peter, up in northern Wisconsin!  What a small world!  At lunch, it was neat to listen to Brendan and Peter talk about the different things to think about when moving down here (I forget if I mentioned then Peter and his wife, Krysta, will be moving to Sumpango with their 2 kids, Bennie and Mariana, in February).  Small things like paying the bills can become daylong events. 

As my shoulder had finally decided it did not like how I was using it, I stayed behind on Wednesday with the kitchen crew.  We chopped veggies for the lunch and cleaned rice again.  We also learned some songs in Spanish so we could sing some more with the kids.  Otter went off with a group to work out in the village.  He initially wanted to go with the 2 younger boys on the trip, John and Sam, but I decided that he probably needed just a tad more supervision.  He went with Bill and Peter.  When the group returned, Peter came to me with his camera to show me pictures of Otter with a machete.  Hmmm…that idea about adult supervision might have been slightly off J  He was actually working with the machete though, chopping up bricks and declumping the clay to be used in the ovens.  I think he enjoyed his time thoroughly.  Otter was very excited to get back to the medical center to feed the children and play soccer again. 

Our afternoon was very similar to Tuesday, feeding kids then playing with kids.  It was so great to see a bunch of little girls come seek me out and saying my name.  We sang some songs, made some paper airplanes, and played with the bubble machines.  When it was time for us to leave, I was able to let them know I would see them on Friday in Spanish.  There were also a few girls who I knew lived in the house where we were building our first stove, so I told them I would see them tomorrow! 

We had the chance to see the land Oscar’s church, Los Olivos, had bought to build on.  We also went and saw some land that Kids Around the World was planning to build a playground on.  Kids Around the World is another nonprofit organization that goes to impoverished areas where children do not have a safe place to play.  They raise the funds for the playgrounds and have groups go out and build.  One of the challenges, as with the stoves, is keeping the playground available for the children to play and at the same time closed off from the people who steal pieces of equipment to sell later.

Morning meeting time again – more later J

Otter:

On Wednesday, we started to build the ovens. This time, I went to a different group. I got to use a machete. With it, I cut up clay, and slashed bricks to correct sizes. There were two boys that were at the place that we were building. Also, there was a small blond, brown, and black dog with a bloody scratched up ear. Cautiously, he cam and nestled into my leg, then laid down. I sat down, and stroked him for a long time.

On our way to the fire pit, Krysta, another missionary, and me spotted three puppies on the side of the road. There were two yellowish blond ones with black mouths and on white one with black patches. I sat down and held my hand out to them, and they gently tugged on my gloves.

At the feeding place, we fed everybody pasta. Adam and me sat out front with a bowl of vitamins and handed them out to everybody that passed the clean hands check. Once everybody was inside, we also fed them their vitamin drink. I walked around with a huge black bowl and collected all the cups that the drink was in. once I was done with that, I handed out bowls of the lunch. Adam and me were done pretty soon after helping clean, so we went outside and played soccer. After a little while of soccer, I decided it was time to try something else. I went and got a basketball, and formed the group of kids that wanted to play in a single line. What was the game? Uno, Dos, Tress, tap shoot.

When we were done with that, we went back to Oscars to get some dinner to eat. We had some stir-fry. With it, on the side, was a bowl of thick red liquid. I scooped it up and spread it over my stir-fry. Apparently, I t was really, really, really spicy sauce. Sam grabbed a piece of meat from my plate top try it. I was fine with that. Then, when it was about an inch from his mouth, I. noticed it was smothered in red, thick liquid. “ SAM! WAIT! THAT’S COVERED IN…” but it was to late. He recovered pretty easily, actually.

When we were done with dinner, we went and taught English.

After we were done teaching English, we headed to Oscar’s sister’s café. It was a small little shop, with an area of probably not even twenty square feet, with no doors. We all got fruit smoothies, and me and Adam even split a plate of fries. Sam had some too. The ketchup was very different from the USA’s, and, in my opinion, better. As soon as I was done draining my papaya smoothie thing, I was very hungry. My mom said in order to get more fries; I had to guess the currency of Guatemala. Now, I know it was Quetzales, but than, I didn’t. in fact, I thought it was the currency of Costa Rica. Colones. As soon as my mom let me go get some without guessing the currency, peter was paying. To bad.

After we to were done with the café, we headed back to the hotel to retain some very well earned sleep.

Monday night and part of Tuesday

The medical center at El Yalu.

preparing beans for the market

bringing materials up to the house

Monday night dinner was delicious.  After dinner, some of us helped Oscar’s mother with taking the tips off green beans.  She sells the beans to the Wal-Mart in Guatemala City.  This really was interesting to see and do – how many times do we see produce in our own grocery stores that is from Guatemala?  And here Otter and I were in the very first steps of that process, helping prepare the food!

Monday night we started the EFL (English as a foreign language) training.  We initially heard there were going to be about 20 people.  The Friday before we came, there was only 5 people signed up.  When we went to the church to meet our group, over 90 people were there!!!  I am learning Guatemala time is very laid back and everything gets done whenever, including signing up for classes.  We were all very excited to see so many people.  Our reception again was warm, lots of hugs, laughter, and incredibly poor attempts at Spanish on my part.  We split into smaller groups to teach the first lesson of the week – basic Hello, My Name is, What’s your Name, etc.  In our group, we had children around 7 years old all the way to woman in their 70s.  I was so amazed to see the older people in our group who came to learn English.  It was such a wonderful opportunity to teach a few phrases of our language to people genuinely excited to learn it!  I wish I could get my class back home half as excited as learning.  By the end of the night, we were wiped out.  There were no problems falling asleep.

Tuesday started out as Monday, delicious breakfast, quick meeting for the day’s agenda, and then onto the bus back to El Yalu.  Its amazing how quickly the new and exciting becomes routine and familiar.  Our ½ mile walk to the home we were working in was well known by all of us now, and we knew which homes had the little children that would come out.  We pass by the central water station where the women were washing clothes and greeted all with our “holas” and “Buenos dias.”  The dogs, pigs, and chickens on the path are all familiar sights now, though this time I did see a horse in someone’s yard.  Everyone here ties up the animals to stay near their house.  In several homes, we saw a chicken tied by its leg to a post and baby chicks milling around her.  The cows are also tied up on trees, as are some of the pigs.  Others just wander up and down the path.

When we arrived at the home, we literally took buckets of dirt from the dirt path to mix with some lime and mortar for the ovens.  Otter learned some basic masonry work and helped place the mortar in between the bricks with a trowel.  After a little while, a pack of children had gathered and Otter, Deb, and I were singing songs and playing games with them.  Otter does such a great job of trying to learn espanol and truly enjoys playing with the kids.  A bunch of the girls definitely got a big kick out of Otter, every time he appeared they would giggle and hid their heads behind each other.  The children love having pictures taken of them.  They will all of a sudden stop playing and say “una foto una foto!”  They all then gather around the camera to see the picture that was taken.  We made several trips back and forth to the medical center to grab bubbles and chalk and other fun things to do with the kids at the home.

Oscar took us to a home where a stove had been completed before.  Earlier, the gentleman who lived there was telling another group what a profound effect the stove had on their lives.  Cooking over an open fire takes at least 6 pieces of wood to cook one pot of food, not to mention the health issues of inhaling the smoke.  The stoves now take 3 to 4 pieces of wood for 3 to 4 pots of food and the smoke leaves through a chimney.  The decrease in wood and decrease in smoke inhalation improves the quality of life for everyone in the home.  Some agencies in the past had just given people the stoves up front for free.  Not knowing how beneficial the stoves were or how to use them appropriately, the people would take apart the stoves and sell the pieces.  One of the differences with Oscar’s use is that each family must put forth $30 and he provides not only training, but followup for each family.  His goal is for all willing villagers of El Yalu to have a stove by 2014.  His short term goal is 30 stoves a year.  Right now, Oscar and his teams have put into place 21 stoves this year.  Its amazing what a man and his vision can accomplish with enough gutspa. 

Time for morning meeting – as always, more laterJ

Otter:

Yesterday, we went straight to building ovens. In the middle of working, two young little girls came and looked at what we were doing. So, I played a game of hide and seek with them. Pretty soon, some more kids started to appear in front of the house that we were putting the oven in. we started playing Spanish games, like duck duck goose, and stuff like that.

My mom and me headed back down to the place that we fed the kids at and grabbed some of the toys we got to give away. Bubble blowers and chalk. The road was all dirt, so we didn’t have any cement to draw on. Lucky for us, the people that we were making the stove for were tearing up their porch to put some of the ripped up concrete in the stove. I grabbed a hunk and showed them how to use the chalk on it. Then, we found some large squares and drew on those. I drew piggy. I bet he’s still there. I also showed them how to play tic tac toe. Pretty soon, It was time to head back to the bus. The bus would take us to Oscar’s house. For dinner, we had some delicious ribs. For desert: ice cream.

We were soon on the bus speeding to the place where we teach English. We got up to our room and waited for people to come. Me and Adam, [one of my amigos down here] stood and greeted the students as they came in. I got to teach my own lesson to everybody. Once the class was done, one of the students taught me three new phrases in Spanish. Nessicitas a uda? Do you need help? o-s beados [ I had to put the – in between the  o and the s because it auto corrected it to Spanish. When we got back to the hotel, I was asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow. Today, we are going to be feeding the kids again. Oh! I almost forgot! After we were done oven building, Sam, another one of my friends, and me played basketball with a soccer ball with the kids that were just hanging around in the playground. See you tomorrow!

Our first day of real work

Monday was our first day of real work.  We started the day off right with a delicious breakfast of poached eggs, beans and salsa, tortillas, and the yummiest plantains with cream.  Oh and coffee – the most delicious coffee.  Otter and I were running behind and luckily ended up riding in Oscar’s truck to the village of El Yalu while the others were on the bus.  We had a great time talking to Oscar and learning more about his country, the city of Sumpango, and his vision for working with the surrounding villages.   We drove past several villages on the way into El Yalu.  The roads were paved for about a mile and then it was all dirt roads.  Less than 3 months ago, the roads were impassable as there were several mudslides in the area from all of the rain during their rainy season.  Even here, those chicken buses fly like nobody’s business!  I was very glad we were in the truck with Oscar and not on the bus!! 

We arrived at the medical center in El Yalu.  The center was started by the charity organization Manos Y Manos, which was started by a husband and wife from Seattle.  There is a doctor from Guatemala City who works there.  He welcomed us and gave us a brief history of the center and what they do.  They provide nutritious meals and vitamins for the children of the village three times a week.  They also provide prenatal care to pregnant mothers and medical care for the children.  They teach the mothers about nutritious foods and how to provide them to their families.  There is a learning center as well where the children are given some basic education.  They feed everyone first and then have the children go to a class.  The doctor explained the difficulty he has had in trying to educate villagers about safe drinking water.  They do not make the connection between the sick children with diarrhea and the drinking water because, well, the water looks safe!  Likewise, explaining the ovens and the needs to have smoke diverted out of the houses was also difficult to have buy-in from the villagers.

We learned that the stoves we are going to help build each cost $250.  The families that are to get them have to have paid $30 for them.  In this village, that equates to a lot and lot of saving, as well as a commitment to wanting the stove. In the past, other organizations have come and donated the stoves; however, since everything was free, some of the people would rip the stoves apart after they were installed and sell the various materials to people for money.  Having the initial amount of $30 is a way to bypass that and hope the stoves remain intact for their intent.  The ovens were designed with extra ledge space because the families sit around the fire and eat.  If they did not have the ledge space on the oven, they did not want the oven.  It was so neat to hear how this project has evolved and to be a part of this phase of it. 

The team split up into groups, one of which worked in the kitchen.  Due to a miscommunication between my little partner and I (well, not a miscommunciation, more of a someone playing with a dead beetle while the other one was asking which group said person wanted to join but did not answer….I won’t name names), I ended up in the kitchen group and said partner ended up working with the ovens.  They lugged bricks and concrete cinder blocks over ½ mile uphill (that is no joke) to get to the villager’s home that the first oven was going to be installed.  Then, even better, they got to ride in the back of a pickup truck across the dirt roads to the other villager’s house.  Behind in the kitchen, I washed dishes, cleaned beans and rice, and worked on my few phrases in Espanol.  I also learned that several of the villagers do not even speak Spanish, they speak myriad forms of a language from the Mayans.  One of the workers in the kitchen, Francesco, spoke this.  The Mayan language has several different dialects.  Our translator was from Sumpango and she had traveled to Stevens Point, Wisconsin to go to school.  She had not known any English other than “Hello, my name is Marta.”  A few years later, here she is sitting at a table telling me all about her adventures!  When she can, she helps Oscar out when he has groups from America come down to help.  Otherwise, she travels down to a different city to help her grandmother sell foods at the market.  She studied in America for 2 years as an electrical engineer.  In order for her to do anything in her country, she has to go to the University here and get a degree, which she starts in January. 

I was able to join in with the oven groups around 11:30 and had my chance to walk up the ½ mile road, but I did not have to carry bricks this time.  Those were waiting for us at the top of the hill because one of the truck’s was fixed (apparently it had dropped an essential part before we even got started and they were able to run to Sumpango, get it fixed, and be back in action). 

Walking along the dirt roads in the village was very neat.  Some of the animals just wander the roads – piglets, chickens, and of course dogs.  Several times we saw a mama hen with her little ones just bouncing along in the dirt potholes.  There were 3 little pigs wandering down the road with a very hungry looking dog following them.  I tried to pick one up (the pig, not the dog), but he said no thank you in pig.  That I could understand.  The villagers carry items on their heads wrapped in material.  Even some of the younger children had loads that were wrapped in these large amounts of material and then placed on their heads.  Some said “Buenos dias” and others were not quite sure what to make of this.  Otter had a great time and smiled to everyone he saw.  We were able to see the home where the first oven was being built.  The mother and children were watching as the masons were doing the foundation of the stove.  We stacked the bricks (about 130 of them – phew) and that was about all we could do for the moment.  Building the ovens takes a fair amount of wait time as there is curing of the cement that needs to take place.  I don’t think we are going to be able to see any of the end product of the ovens for this reason, but we do get to do a bit of the building!

We ate a lunch of beans, rice, and meat (we being Otter, I gave him my extra meat).  A delicious, simple meal that I was sure was going to keep us filled up for the rest of the day.  Then, about 100 of the village children came to eat their meal.  Typically, there are 200 children, but because school is out this time of year, several of the children go with their parents to work in the fields.  The kids first had to have a vitamin drink before lunch was served.  The doctor welcomed all of the children and then we served lunch.  It was incredible to watch my son going out to all of the children, serving them food, taking their plates, sitting at their tables trying to talk to them.  He smiled and was so genuinely excited to meet each and every child.  The rest of the team also helped with the serving and cleaning of the dishes.  Then the best part of the day began – playing with the kids!

Before I could even get downstairs to the soccer area, Otter was in a game of soccer with 10 of the village boys.  He did not stop playing until we left at 5 p.m.  Several of the older girls carried around their baby sisters or brothers and took care of them during the day.  This one was trying to swing and had her baby sister in a wrap with her, which made swinging difficult.  So, I grabbed the baby.  We played with the kids for a few hours while other groups finished up the oven brick carrying.  I learned muchos espanol!  The girls were adorable and I soon had a pack of little ones singing with me and I taught them all the balla a pollo (the chicken dance!!!).  The ride back to Sumpango in the bus was a bumpy one, but I think bumpy does not even begin to describe it.  Again, another time where you turn your head and look out one window rather than the window near the edge of a huge mountainside while other cars are headed towards us.  Two buses passing on one dirt road produces enough endorphins for one day for me.    

The evening brought one of the most incredible experiences of the trip - teaching English to over a hundred people!  We broke up into groups and had the best time with our first lesson.  There is so much laughter, warmth, and kindness here.  We are learning far more than we could ever hope to teach down here.  I wonder if Joe would be OK moving?  :) 

Otter:

Yesterday, we really started to work. One of the things we are going to do here, as mentioned before, is to build ovens, and that’s what we started. The objective: carry cinder blocks over a half-mile distance, and then return for more. How far did I walk that day? Four miles, carrying bricks. Fortunately, a small truck came, and we all got into the back with the bricks to bring them to somebody’s house. It was really fun. Every time you hit a bump, the back of the truck threatened to flip you out. It was pretty hard not to think of yourself flying six feet in the air, falling onto a bunch of uneven rocks. Ouch.

After we were done carrying bricks, we ate the lunch that was prepared for us by the other half of the missionaries, which included my mom. It was a meal of beans and rice, and meat. It was very good. T hen, the kids started to file in. we first gave them all a vitamin drink to drink, [of course to drink, what else could you do with a drink?] and then we served them their meal. I collected all the cups and dirty plates. Every once and a while, I sat down with a group and tried to talk with the little Spanish I knew. Dora the explorer really does come in handy sometimes.

After everyone was done cleaning up, we all headed outside to play with the kids. I joined in with a game of soccer. Everyone was very nice, and when someone was hit with a soccer ball really hard, they burst into laughing, followed by everybody else. There was no shouting or anger. I was goalie after a little while. I made some pretty good saves. Meanwhile, my mom was swinging some girls on the swings. One of them was attempting to swing with a baby in her baby wrap, so my mom took the baby so she could swing. After about three ours of nonstop soccer playing, except for agua stops, it was time to go. On the way to our bus, I saw a bus drive by, and a boy I was playing soccer with jumped onto a ladder leading to the top, meant for even more people to ride on. About nine or ten other boys were also clinging on the ladder on the back. I soooooooooooo want to try that.

We had a dinner of fettuccini with some meat inside, and some toast. For dessert, we had some type of bread that was very sweet, with some type of sugary substance on top. Anyway, it was really good.

That night,  at about five A.M., we were awoken by a truck driver attempting to start his truck, but failing.  More later – time to get off the bus!

Day 1

Teresa:

It’s 3 p.m on Sunday and we have just arrived in our hotel.  We left the church at 1:30 a.m. this morning in a nice chartered bus headed for Chicago.  While walking in to the bus, Otter stated that he needed to talk to the school about getting this kind of transportation.  Good luck with that one buddy!  We drove the bus for 2 hours to Chicago airport and our plane took off at 5:30 a.m.  The first flight was gorgeous as the sun was just rising in the clear sky.  Thankfully, our other flights were uneventful and traveling went smoothly.  We arrived in Guatemala City around 1 p.m.   One of the first, most immediate and obvious cultural differences was the family bonds in Guatemala.  There were families, from grandmothers to little babies, lined up outside the doors of the airport waiting for their loved ones to greet them.  There must have been over 300 people waiting for travelers.  The clothes of everyone were colorful, again, from the grandmothers down to the babies.  Bright colorful skirts and shawls worn by the women and colorful hats worn by the men. 

From the airport, we loaded onto a “chicken bus,” which is a school bus painted with bright colors.  They were originally named chicken busses because they would transport farmers and their chickens, a sight that is still common today.  We had just our group on the bus, no chickens unfortunately.  We drove through Guatemala City, which was crowded and busy with people everywhere.  We spotted plenty of Chuck E Cheese’s, Pizza Huts, Taco Bells, and even ACE Hardware that reminded us of what an influence (at least economically) our culture has.  We drove through many villages and up a couple of mountainous roads until we got to our hotel.  Along the way we were able to see some of the gorgeous volcanoes of Guatemala and lots of different farms that had various types of maize (a Native American type of corn), lettuce, and other veggies growing.  We also passed several villages.  When driving past a gas station, we saw a gentleman standing outside of the gas station with a machine gun.  Apparently, the crime in the evenings requires some drastic security measures.  Armed guards and barbed-wire happen to be 2 of the most commonly employed security measures.

We met our host, Oscar, who gave us some of the “rules” while we are here; 1.  Don’t drink the water.  2.  Don’t give toys or gifts away to the people we work with – let the church do this so the villagers do not learn to associate anyone working with them as someone who is going to give them free things.  3.  Don’t flush the toilet paper down the toilets because their systems cannot handle it.  We were then shown our rooms and given about an hour to rest.  Otter found Fairy GodParents (in Spanish of course) on the TV and has not moved since then.  He keeps asking if there are subtitles for English.  I think this week should be very eye opening for him.  I debated between a nap or staying awake for the hour.  With less than 2 hours of sleep in the past 24 hours, this was definitely a hard choice, but, I figured I would fall asleep better tonight if I skipped the nape.  Besides, there is a blog to keep up!!  

Otter:

Today, I woke up at one o’ clock, as planned.  I didn’t have any breakfast before I hit the road, so I was very hungry and ate a lot on the plane. I also read a lot. After we got of that plane, we boarded another.  We got really high in the sky up there. Again, I read a majority of the time. Then, we got of that plane. We had to walk a long way-lugging luggage till we came to our bus to take us to our stay with the other missionaries. Then we got to the hotel, and our rooms, which is where I am now, typing in the bed.

Its 1:30 a.m. - do you know where your Otter is?  Yup, he's on a bus to Chicago :)

Here is our chicken bus.

Arriving at the Guatemalan Airport

At our hotel; a bunch of weary but excited travelers.