Earth Lodge Day 2, Last Day in Guatemala

Hello from Earth Lodge. Today marked our last day in Guatemala😢 The whole day was spent reflecting on the trip and discussing how we can transfer our knowledge from Guatemala back to the US. Most of the morning was spent building our trust for each other through several activities, including trust falls and lifting each other off the ground, shown through the photo in which Alex is being supported by everyone as we hold him above the ground. This activity strengthened the trust which we have been building throughout the trip.




After a delicous smoothie break we were spilt into groups to make skits. Each group made a skit for each place we stayed in Guatemala. The skits were to include something fun we did, an activity we did as a group, the culture of the place, and what we learned during our stays. The picture below shows us lounging in hammocks while watching the amazing performances put on by our peers.




In the afternoon we were given two hours to reflect on the trip as a whole. We responded to two main questions which were: what is significance of what we learned in Menlo Abroad Guatemala and what changes occurred because of this new knowledge? You will be hearing two of these reflections on Wednesday during the potluck. Below is Sophia working quietly and diligently on her reflection surrounded by nature.



Can't wait to see you tomorrow!🎊😄🎊



Signing off from Menlo Abroad Guatemala blog, ¡Adios!

- Sutton Pinkus and Julia Deffner

Antigua / El Hato

The day commenced with a 3-hour bus ride from Pachaj to Antigua. The bus ride was gleeful as we listened to downloaded music from Ms. Vann’s childhood. Around lunchtime we arrived at the center plaza of Antigua. We divided into groups of 3 and 4, and had 3 hours to eat lunch and explore the area around the plaza, which was heavily concentrated with tourists and tourist-oriented shops. Then we took a short drive, including a short ride along the edge of a large mountain, and arrived at our next home, the Eco Village of El Hato. The village is absolutely gorgeous, immersed in a foresty area. After settling in our rooms and before eating a nice meal, we had a discussion about our latest homestay in Pachaj and read an article and discussed the potential destructiveness of travel. After dinner we had another discussion about aspects of Guatemalan culture that we each had been assigned to at the beginning of the trip. We finished with a game that challenged our ability to communicate with gestures and single words. Then we all went outside to a patio area and looked at the hundreds of vibrant lights that spread out cross the Antigua community. 

— Jabloomy and Lindsaroney ’n Cheese (same as yesterday)

Antigua

Antigua

Relaxing at Earth Lodge (El Hato)

at Earth Lodge

Activities at El Hato

Expressing yourself with someone else's arms

Evening activities

Day 2 - Pachaj

The day started very early for many of us. Lindsey and Sophia were fortunate enough to sleep through a pig slaughter, but woke at 5:00 am to the sounds of women carving the leftover meat, and then enjoyed their breakfast of beans with the aroma of the meat circulating through the air. Jason and Dylan drifted to sleep with the sounds of the weaving looms as their family weaved throughout the night. We all arrived at the Chico Mendes house at 9:00 am, enthusiastic to begin our day. We started our group activities carrying tree saplings and various tools up a mountain in order to contribute to the reforestation project of Chico Mendes. Once we reached the summit, we delved into hands-on labor and planted exactly 110 saplings. In the process we got our hands, legs, and faces covered with dirt. After our hours of toil, we marched down the mountain, collecting trash along the trail. We then parted ways to go to our homestays where we ate lunch with our families. We congregated again to continue a different but related project, shoveling, mixing, and stuffing plastic bags with dirt. Being experts at the task, as we had done this yesterday as well, we were able to indulge in the activity with some dirt and crab apple fights on the side. Afterwards, on our way to the soccer field, we scavenged the roads for a bomb panaderia, which we were unable to find. As we write this, we are about to commence in a competitive, bloody, battle of gringo futbol together with some local players. Later we will return to our homes where some of us will go out of our comfort zones and explore the bucket showers and hole toilets, while some of us will ignore the dirt that smothers their bodies and retire exhausted to bed. Over and out. 

— Jason and Lindsey

Day 1 - Pachaj

Today, we got to sleep in a little bit more than usual. We went to breakfast at Xelapan, which is a pasteleria-breakfast place. There, we had different types of eggs and smoothies, which were really good. Then we packed up and headed to Pachaj, which was a fifteen minute bus ride. We met our new homestay families, and settled into our homes for the next two days. Brynn's and Bella’s house is right next to a cornfield, like most of our houses. There’s a new baby in Brynn’s family, and a few other children that she hasn’t met yet. My (Sophia's) family is super sweet. There is a grandmother, who lives with her daughter and granddaughter. The father of the household works in LA to help support their family, and they have lots and lots of interesting farm animals. We also get to have a partner with us in our homes for this part of the trip, which is really fun. After lunch with our homestay families, we headed to the Chico Mendes reforestation project base, where we spent the afternoon shoveling, mixing dirt, and stuffing plastic bags with dirt. Those are some of the first steps to planting trees, and we really enjoyed it, even though it was hard work. We spent about two hours total, then had a discussion afterwards about what service and service learning means to us. Some ideas that stood out to Brynn and me were that on the one hand, service learning is about the personal growth that results from doing service, whereas service in general is about the impact on others and the community in general. Tonight we are having dinner with our homestay families (praying that the Warriors win — perhaps we’ll get to watch) and hopefully going to get a good night’s sleep. Stay tuned!

— Brynn and Sophia

Day 1 - Xela

Today is our first day in Xela, but we wanted to take the time to talk about the potluck last night. We haven't updated the blog in a while, because we were so busy with preparations for Maya's surprise birthday party (which included a piñata, a big cake, cupcakes, donuts, and candy - we surprised her two nights ago, pretty much right after she wrote the last blog).

So yesterday was our last day in San Juan, La Laguna, and all of our homestay families brought traditional foods for all of us to share. Needless to say, there was more than enough food for all of us. We all dressed up in the traditional clothing as well. For the girls, we wore traditional blouses that are really colorful and have patterns on them, which symbolize the different aspects of San Juan. We also wore skirts that were only secured with a belt that needed to be tied very tightly in order for the skirts to stay up. The boys wore traditional pants which are white with designs, colorful belts and shirts (and an occasional fedora). To begin the feast, the host families spoke to us and offered us delicious food. We  then thanked all of the homestay families for their hospitality and Maya's homestay mom gave her a pink blouse as a present for her birthday. Maya's fifteenth birthday was especially significant in the Guatemalan culture, because a girl's quinceñera celebrates her coming of age. We are going to miss our homestay families very much, because they taught us a lot about their culture, and welcomed us to the community throughout the past nine days.

Yesterday before the homestay celebration we also had our last Spanish class, where one of the candidates for mayor, Benedicto, came and spoke about his campaign and explained Guatemalan politics to us. It was very interesting, and we learned that because there are minimal anti-corruption laws regarding campaigning, there is a lot of bribery involved in the electoral process. Benedicto said that other candidates had even tried to poach members of his team offering large amounts of money. However, Benedicto said that he aims to change this, and that he was very anti-corruption.

Today we took a bus Xela, and did an interesting activity for lunch. We were divided randomly into groups, and were given a certain amount of money to purchase lunch with. For example, some people were given ten Quetzals for their entire meal among five people, and some ate a lunch worth 120 Quetzals per person. This activity demonstrated the unequal playing field that is Guatemalan society, and the restrictions of personal wealth in some cases. Those who were given two Quetzals per person ended up only being able to purchase four tortillas per person with some avocado to put on top. (Don't worry, they ended up buying more food later.) We concluded this activity with a discussion about the inequality in Guatemala and comparing and contrasting what poverty means here with what it means in the U.S.

We apologize for not updating the blog as much as we wanted to recently, but we hope to be more on top of it for the rest of the trip.

- Brynn and Sophia

scavenger hunt in Xela (today)

Day 8 - San Juan La Laguna

Tuesday, we met at Eco-Spanish Lodge for our daily Spanish classes. I don't think it needs to be said that we all learned Spanish (even though I just said it): Trent learned the past subjunctive. However, we also got to make tamalitos (mini tamales) using a corn-based dough, and then wrapped them in banana leaves. These ended up being our snacks for the end of our class. They were surprisingly good, making everyone impressed with themselves. My favorite part of the class was making bracelets using string, where we just got to converse and spend time together. Then, we all returned to our homestays for lunch. Before meeting up for the afternoon activities, I went with a few other people to a coffee shop, which had the best coffee I had ever had. We all agreed that we had to go back sometime before we left San Juan. When we met up with the rest of the group, we split into two and did the opposite of what we did the day before. Trent went to the school to discuss the films by the local film-maker. My group had gone to the school the day before so we went to a cooking class today. We made a Guatemalan dish called Pepían where each student got to take part in either cutting or peeling the vegetables and making the tamales. During the down time I really liked getting to just talk to the other people in the group and learning more about them. After the cooking class, my group went down to the dock on Atitlan to just talk and spend time together. We watched as the sun set during golden hour and then as the rain clouds came in. This day was particularly memorable for me because it is my 15th birthday! I was very surprised when almost everyone on the trip, including my homestay family remembered and brought me gifts, which was the highlight of my day.

Text: Maya
Photos: Trent

icebreaker activity with local students

Discussing a documentary with local students

Making tamalitos

Day 7- San Juan Laguna

Starting off with Sunday, we spent the entire day with our homestay families. Many of us went to church in the morning. My family wore the traditional Guatemalan attire, which included women in large, colorful dresses -- very interesting. Some of our families were related so we went to people's houses for family meals and spent the afternoon with them and the rest of the extended family. For example, Alex and I (Kamran) had lunch together. My host mother is the daughter of his host grandmother and Dylan's and Jason's host mothers are cousins. Monday morning we had Spanish lessons until noon and some of us had active lessons in the town at the church and at different shops and gardens. After returning to our families for lunch, we split up in the afternoon. Half of us went to a local school and the other half had cooking lessons. At the school, we watched  the two documentaries briefly described in the previous blog with the Guatemalan students and discussed the issues in them and their prevalence in our lives. We also talked to each other about our cultures and differences, which was an eye-opening experience. A lot of us learned about various aspects of the Guatemalan culture that we didn't know about previously and vice versa with the Guatemalan students. For example, I attempted (with an unknown degree of success) to explain insurance to them, something they had never heard of before. They told us about how when they are hurt or sick, they go to the village culandera (a kind of healer that was the subject of one of the documentaries we saw) to be cured of their ailments instead of going to a doctor as we do in the United States. And in the cooking class we learned to make traditional pepian, a Guatemalan dish consisting of boiled chicken and rice in a spiced tomato puree. On Tuesday, we are going to have Spanish lessons again in the morning and then switch roles in the afternoon (the school and the cooking class).

Text: Kamran
(Primary) Photos: Dylan

Dylan at home with host mom

Maya with host family

Sophia at home

Lindsey cooking

cooking class

Day 6 - San Juan Laguna - curricular update

Today, students are immersed with their homestay families for the whole day. Except for an individual phone call check-in with a trip leader, either Raquel, Tetox, or Nicola, each student is experiencing the day in whatever way the homestay family does. Basically, our students are on their own; however, I (Peter) just ran into a group of happy Menlo students whose closely-related families were about to dine together.

Given that we won't have any student blogging today, and given that students don't always choose to blog about particular aspects of our program anyway, we thought a curricular update might be in order. The interwoven themes of the last ten (or so) days come from the subtitle of the Menlo Abroad Guaté course: cultural survival in a changing world. We began with introductions to Guatemalan society in general (geography, demographics, history) and, once in-country, the Maya population specifically with student-translated lessons (guided hikes, slide presentations, etc.) on the knowledge and experiences of the ancestral Maya as well as challenges facing the Maya today. Students have identified individual interests and observations to note in their journals, e.g.,  gender differences and norms, fashions, cultural mores, etc. Local teachers and experts introduced us to some uniquely Mayan ideas like cosmovision, syncretic religious practice, and Mayan values like caring for the land. Then, we engaged with modern strategies supportive of ancient Mayan values like the ones we learned at IMAP in San Lucas Toliman. The focus, then, has been to highlight and note some aspects of Maya culture and strategies the Maya have used to adapt or to face challenges threatening their culture's survival.

Here in San Juan Laguna the homestay experience is the major focus and change, and thus we spend less of our days all together as a single group and less of a given day is scheduled. At the same time, students are engaged in extended and personalized Spanish language classes each weekday, and the group curriculum we do have is, in general, active and student-directed. For instance, students have worked in a garden and had direct discussions with local high school students (in Spanish) about women's empowerment. Tomorrow (Monday) or Tuesday, our intention is for Menlo students to meet and engage in discussions (again in Spanish) with a group of local students on some of the cultural challenges facing the Tz'utujil, the dominant Maya population here and around Lake Atitlan. Given a choice of doing a cooking or weaving class, our students have voted with their stomachs, so we will also learn to cook! In the next couple of days trip leaders plan to engage the students in additional discussions about politics in Guatemala and San Juan Laguna, where the political parades and fireworks are everywhere, anticipating upcoming elections. We also intend to have a more general discussion about the meaning of service.

Day 5 - San Juan Laguna

Saturday morning we did a little hike up to El Mirador, a viewpoint overlooking San Juan and Lake Atitlan, which was incredible. The pictures attached are from that hike. After the hike we walked down to the beach and spent 45 minutes enjoying the scene around the water. For lunch we went to Alma de Colores, a restaurant that was part of the farm that we worked on two days ago. It helps people with disabilities get jobs and creates economic independence for the disabled so they don’t have to rely on others financially. The food was great and we even got to meet some of the workers that the project was helping. We regrouped in the afternoon to watch two short films created by the filmmaker Cleida Cholotio, who was there to present them to us. The first one detailed the role of a curandera, or healer, in a traditional Tz’utujil community. The second one was more generally about culture, about the Tz’utujil (a native Maya) language and how it is slowly dying. In the village, some of the elders only speak Tz’utujil and not Spanish but the opposite is true of the youth, who only speak Spanish— that is the crux of the problem. We saw these films (in Tz’utujil with Spanish subtitles) and discussed the issues surrounding them in preparation for our trips to the local high school on Monday and Tuesday where we will be discussing these topics with local students. Sunday, we are going to spend the whole day with our host families. On the topic of host families, during our check in Saturday morning, some of us shared some anecdotes about our experiences: Whether it be playing soccer, cards (which has been very popular), or helping me solve a rubix cube, our homestays have been great so far.

Text: Kamran

Photos: Dylan 

Kamran, Lindsey, Alexandre, Trent, Julia (just behind Trent), and Tetox hiking El Mirador

The group atop El Mirador

Alicia, Brynn, Julia, and Tetox descending El Mirador