Guatemala

Introduction

I am sending this from Houston Airport as I wait for my buddies to arrive from Calgary in time to catch the 7:30 PM flight to Guatemala City. I plan to warm up in Guatemala as it has been so cold in Canada and go on my fourth international mission to Latin America. I have conflicting reports as to the country's stability and I know we need to be careful at night time when the gangsters roam the streets. Dana and two others left already to learn some Spanish and so I asked Dana to bring her AK-47 to the airport when she comes to pick us up so she can take out any guerrillas before we arrive! Apparently the Habitat management team has completely changed and so hopefully things will be properly organized upon arrival. Just as long as we have the material we need, we should be able to complete our job.

Itinerary

Once we arrive, we are to stay overnight in Guatemala City, then we take a private bus to Guastatoya for our work assignment. Guastatoya will probably tell us what this country is really like, is close to sea level and so we will be in warm conditions for our work. Our 'RnR' weekend following is on the other side of Guatemala City in Antigua. Then as a bonus, we fly to Flores to see the Mayan ruins. It will be interesting to see how grand the ruins around Flores are in comparison to those our family saw once in Chichen Itza, Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico. If you look at the map, Flores is close to the north end of Guatemala and therefore not that far away from Chichen Itza, just further into the jungle.

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As I head off I remind myself of the Eagle and Condor prophecy sent out last year (Nicaragua mission).  I can now add psychological wisdom. There is this University book I found at home which was all about how to be an ally of the oppressed (Breaking the Cycle of Oppression – Anne Bishop). When I was growing up, I was told that competition was good, but it is competition that is actually destroying the world since competition assumes we are separate beings and that there is a hierarchy of beings (or class). As per Anne, class is the layering of our society into different levels according to how much access people have as to wealth and power. When you travel to places like Guatemala, it certainly feels like the people in this region are of a lower class, and we call them third world. One of my own father's favorite expressions was that this is simply a 'figment of our imagination'.

Oppression can take on many forms, but the common denominator is always power and hierarchy, or in other words class. Anne states that “no one form of oppression can be ended without all ending (together), and this can only happen when we succeed in replacing the assumptions of competition, hierarchy, and separation with cooperation and understanding that each being has value beyond measure, and the knowledge that we cannot harm anyone or anything without harming ourselves.” Anne repeats this message by stating “all oppression is interdependent, they all come from the same world view, and none can be solved in isolation. We can either perpetuate a society based on competition, where some win and some lose, or we can work toward a society based on cooperation, where winning and losing become irrelevant. By volunteering in Guatemala, I am helping to fulfill Anne's vision of the world, to become an ally of the oppressed.

Note: these log notes are based on emails sent to an audience and were done during each day.  The notes are often short and to the point with choppy sentences.  I have not taken the time to edit properly since they still report my observations.

Day 1, November, 2016

Well, I certainly was not expecting what I saw when we flew into Guatemala City!  I suppose I could have researched but a surprise sure makes it interesting.  GC is a mega city of six million and the airport is super modern!  Not much sign of poverty around here!  No hassle getting out of the airport like how you can get overwhelmed anywhere else in Central America.  and no machine guns!  I know I have seen this place at its best, but still!  The Intercontinental Hotel is super modern and luxurious, with shiny marble floors like the airport.  Breakfast was very fancy, but I still need to be careful with the water.

There is a very big Mormon population here and they have had a very big influence over this city and even converting a lot of locals to their religion.  The Mormons came on a mission and just stayed.  I noticed from the air that there are a lot of modern organized straight streets because of their presence among other city that looks quite disorganized.  I saw two different sets of fireworks going off when coming in to land.  Guatemala country is the fastest growing in Latin America, up to 17 million with a very, very young population.

We were told not to wander around last evening after getting to our hotel.  As per Isabel, GC is the most dangerous city in Latin America.  We are in the tourist trap area but an excellent place to get mugged.  Two other Habitat friends from previous builds were mugged when coming through this area.  I have a wallet for US Dollar, one for credit cards, one for Guatemala currency, and another wallet to spread currency around.  Then there is the need to protect my passport and cell phone.

One volunteer, Christina, flew 24 hours from the Czech Republic arriving 4:30 AM this morning, then had breakfast with us.  She is in a daze but is young and will get over it.  This is her first adventure in life internationally.  Stuart from Calgary had to pay extra when checking his luggage in for some reason as opposed to all others at the start of his journey, and it was his luggage that got lost.  He is to receive later today.

I am really excited about this build and the experience we will gain.  Guastatoya (silent G) is supposedly a dry desert in a deep mountain valley.

Day 2

Dana, Lee, and Isabel all decided to work out before we left the hotel this morning for our bus trip.  Are they nuts?!  I told them that when they retire they will consider it to be too much work! 

On our bus trip looking out, Guatemala City and country is so incredibly rugged and scenic.  The whole city is embedded in the mountains.  There are very steep cliffs with shanty town along its edge.  If there were to be a strong wind some homes look like they would blow away!  I am sure someone has fallen off the cliff and died by now!  The road deteriorated the further we got away from GC, but still remained hard surfaced, although with lots of pot holes.   At one point we were in a traffic jam for a half hour due to a rock slide.

We are staying  in a hotel by the central park in the heart of the city of Guastatoya.  Rooms are clean.  Kids everywhere outside.  It is dry here because of the season, but not a desert.  Mid day temperature will be over 30 c.  We noted that people have a higher standard of living on average than they do in Nicaragua.  The main industry here is the mining and processing of cement, which no doubt is being used for our build.

We had our orientation meeting at the hotel and are to work on the foundations for two different homes being built starting early in the morning.  We met the families benefiting from our work and I will forward a picture of the kids hopefully later in the week.

As last Tuesday was All Saints Day, this explains the fireworks and today a lot of city people came out to a windy hilltop to fly colorful kites.  The event was sponsored by Habitat and they chose to make a kite look like the Canadian flag for our benefit.  It almost won the highest flying competition.  One kite climbed so high I completely lost sight of it.  Our kite came down and crashed in a tree several hundred yards away when we tried to reel it in and that will be it's final resting place.

This event was a great way to promote Habitat's cause in the community.  Any tall white Caucasian present came from Canada and so the whole city now knows of our presence.  It was so neat to spend a few hours with the community on the hillside.  The city is quite isolated and peaceful, nested in the mountains.

Day 3

We have two sites that we are working on.  Site 1 is like an infill home I suppose since the lot comes with three cement walls up against the property line from neighbors.  This does not make the best work location when it is sunny and hot as the lot heats up like an oven.  Site 2 is out in the country on the edge of the city where you at least can get a breeze.  I was at both locations today.

Site 1 was probably the toughest going for me ever as we were digging trenches along those cement walls so we can pour footings.  I just cannot seem to use the pick axe that well in the hot sun.  I kept to the shady side as much as I could.  i really could have used a bandana to keep the sweat out of my eyes.

There were all sorts of crispy crawly insects in the dirt including roaches, millipedes, ants, spiders, etc.  I saw a little black snake (not poisonous).  My supply of electrolytes is coming in handy so I do not get dehydrated.  I am the oldest volunteer on site and some others must sense this as they are looking out for me.  I am not that old yet!

There is a cashew tree on the lot that needs to be taken out.  the base of the trunk is probably two feet wide and is hard wood.  The only tool we have been using to cut up the branches enough to drag away is a machete that one would use to clear a path in the jungle.  Although the machete was sharp, we are insisting that Habitat go to a hardware store to purchase an axe, or better yet a chain saw since the main trunk is still to come out and this will be tackled tomorrow.  We will pay for it ourselves was our convincing argument.

Site 2 in the afternoon is such a peaceful location in the country.  There was a nice breeze glowing to keep things cooler.  The footings here were getting poured but I was working on bending and shaping rebar used to add strength to the walls.

We are staying in the Hotel Park (picture) which conveniently comes with a really good ice cream place by its entrance.  The hotel is completely loaded with Christmas decorations already, so much so that you cannot really use any counter space in our room, and so we are making good use of floor space.

I have not seen one American car here, only Toyota, lots of Mazda, and some Honda.  The most predominant mode of transportation though is the trail motorbike.  We all feel that we are getting immersed into their culture and way of life this week.

Apparently there are a lot of Israelis in Guatemala and the two countries have very close ties.

Oh and Stuart does not have his luggage yet.  He refused to borrow some of Dana's clothes like I suggested he do and a lot of other jokes have been generated from his bad luck.

Day 4

Our chat took us to the locals explaining that gringos are Americans.  They would never call a Canadian a gringo as they think of us differently.  The masons also commented that they got more work out of our team in one day that they received in one week out of last week's team!  They were in shock to learn the age of certain members to be in their 50's.  They seem to feel that Canadians are more fit in their 50's than Americans in their 40's and a 60 year old American acts like someone in their 70's or 80's from Canada.  My roommate Len pipes up that "well, after all, when you convert 40 American to Canadian you get 50 or 60!"  He is absolutely right, cannot argue with that!

Habitat builds are for a much larger and complex home than other countries in Central America.  We only will be able to accomplish a small portion of the complete build due to size and complexity and the fact that we are on two builds.  After we purchased Habitat's first chain saw, the Cashew tree on the site was taken out very quickly.

Miscellaneous Observations:

• Despite having a better standard of living, 50% of the children under five years of age are malnourished and will have health problems when older.

• Guatemala's population has quadrupled in size in the past 50 years!

• I know that Europe is a lot more popular for a vacation spot and safer, but never, never under estimate what there is to see in Central America complete with history, scenery, and culture.  

• The government backed by the US basically completed a genocide of the Mayan people in the 1900's.

• Mayan culture at its peak in the year 800 AD.  And to think in school that all we learned about mostly was European history.  Nothing from school days get me as disgusted as being manipulated for what we should learn to twist our thinking that aboriginals are second class.

• We all have treated the Mayans in the past as second class (oppression).  No culture has suffered more than the Mayans outside of maybe the Jews or the Cambodians.

• 43 percent of the prime farm land in Guatemala is owned by Americans.  This is disgusting.  I am sure you have heard about Chiquita bananas.

• I am sure glad I chose to wear long pants on the construction site because those wearing shorts digging trenches are covered in bug bites from small ground insects (fleas).

• A mason was too far away from his home to commute on this project and so he chose to sleep on the construction site in the dusty dirt full of crawly critters that bite.  This choice will help safeguard any crude tools from getting stolen.

• re: US election results - The walls in the hotel are quite thin.  A lady was crying in the hotel at 4 AM this morning and we found out later it was Alisson, the Jewish American working at Habitat here.  When we saw her for breakfast she was really crying.  I gave her a hug and she would not let go.  A Canadian giving console to an American.  We may need to do a lot of this now. 

• I am wearing my 'Proud to be Canadian' t-shirt this morning and others have Canadian flag stamps on their arms partly for our security.  Len's funny this morning is if we were wearing a US flag, the insects would be biting the shxx out of us. Maybe that's why the last group could not get any work done.

• There are 21 different Mayan languages, not dialects of the same language.  This shows how isolated they became in tribes.

• Len as a comic to demonstrate his favorite position while working was perhaps not the best choice to make, with critters crawling around the dirt.

Day 5

Some interesting facts learned about Guatemala:

• Security guards are hired by grocery stores to prevent theft.  The guards come with rifles but are instructed not to kill, but if a robber came with guns a blazing, he naturally will react.  The security guards work for a company that has its head office in...Israel.

• They continue to work on the Christmas decorations outside in the central park and they have this huge Christmas tree installed today full of big bulbs and lights, but they are not finished yet.  This is only November 9!

• Build status - site 1 - the deep trenches have been finished and we are busy making rebar support.  Site 2 - we have started the walls now that the foundation is in place.

• We visited a finished Habitat home since some wanted to see the final product.  Some upgrades have been made since and they have a comfortable home now.

• In support of our comment that Guatemala has a higher standard of living, we noticed that there are less street salesmen.  This is because they have more opportunity for paid work.

• Stuart finally got his luggage after several days of waiting!  His luggage still had a long ways to go once it arrived at the airport in GC, and so this would have caused some of the delay in order to get reliable transportation.

• Staple food seems to be cooked stew, and they naturally have tortillas.  I hate tortillas.

• One meal had pumpkin as a vegetable and it was really good.  Meanwhile in America at Halloween they showed on TV some yahoo shooting pumpkins using a makeshift cannon to watch them explode when hitting abandoned automobiles. Meanwhile 1700 kids in the world die from starvation every day.  Absolutely insane.  First Nations will teach you about the need for us to show more love, respect, appreciation for the plants and animals and how they work together in harmony, along with the elements to sustain a healthy environment.  Our survival depends upon it. This is not what this fruit was intended to be used for. 

• Earthquake is Guatemala's greatest worry.  There was a major quake 25 years ago and several hundred people died.  It was said at the time that the only homes that remained standing in an area hit was those homes built by Habitat.  The secret lies in how the rebar is tied in place with c-clips.

• I had this plant material all over my wind pants and it really was stuck to it like a burr, but without any spike.  I asked a mason and he showed me the chute plant (a weed).  He took a stem with a few leaves on it and gently touched my pant leg.  The plant stuck right away like quick glue.  The plant attracts to the material like a magnet.

• There are absolutely no safety regulations on a construction site.  None.  Proceed at your own risk.

• Where are all the birds?

• Water supply for Guastatoya is so incredibly unreliable.  People will fill up a sink with water one day when clean and use it as a supply for washing dishes in an adjacent sink for several days thereafter as otherwise they may not be able to get a sink full when needed.

Day 6

The picture showing following is of three kids who are going to benefit from the home we are building inner city.  Their names are Marie, Dora, and Robert.  I got a nice feeling today visiting with the whole family this morning when we took the kids to the local park.  Marie and I played hop scotch for a bit and I did not do well at all.  She is so self confident and easy to make friends with.  She has a cell phone, considered to be essential.  She took pictures of us that they will display in their home once finished,  including a 'selfie' picture of her with everyone else.  When I took everyone's picture, I said no selfie and they thought that was rather funny, a senior just not with modern technology, yet the young missus from a third world country was quite comfortable with it.

A father told me that if you are requesting utilities to a new home or service for existing,  the turnaround for service will be timely if you voted for the right political party; otherwise you could wait for months.

The wife of one mason has worked in the US for the past four years to help support her family, including daughters aged 14 and 18.  The mason is naturally concerned about the US electing Trump for president.  I know that she went to the US illegally, but she did it for survival and to provide her family with a higher standard of living.  The mason wants to go visit, but is hesitating now.  He is suffering from some pain in his abdomen and thinks it is related to stress.  The question is who is to blame with her being in the US since someone from there hired her as the price was right for business.  There is justification in limiting illegal immigration to protect job availability, but will those who voted for Trump do the job that she is doing at a price the business can afford?

We started pouring concrete today by pail at the inner city site, mixing the concrete on the brick street first by pail and shovel, which is better than mixing it in the lot on dirt.  The rest of the crew were busy building a wall in the country site.

Day 7

Current violence in Guatemala City is isolated and should not have an impact on us as it is far from the airport.  An area of the city feel they are getting discriminated against.  They have a similar mindset as Trump unfortunately as they think the establishment is against them.  There could be some truth to this since they supported a party that did not win the last election, while the party that Habitat supported was corrupt.  They feel they need to be destructive in order to get what they want.  But what they really need to do is take a step back, search within themselves for why they are doing what they are doing and figure out what they should do differently to avoid hostility.

It was boiling hot today and the wasps kept after us.  I was 'fired' more or less from one job carrying 100 lb. bags of cement mix on my shoulder from a truck for 100 yards.  I was a bit top heavy and wandering around too much.  Others were built more stocky and lower to the ground and let's face it, younger than me.  One Guatemalan just had the trucker drop a bag on his back as he did not even have to hang onto it once the bag was perched on its resting point.  The path was tricky maneuvering around mounds of dirt, not tripping over rocks or crashing into walls and avoiding trenches.

Going to the Habitat site inner city, there was a detour set up by the people on a street.  Apparently if someone passes away, the bereaved family are allowed to block off a street for nine days to have neighbours drop by and have some food and pay respect to the deceased and to remember.

The younger generation is malnourished due to a lack of education on the importance of eating vegetables.  They will even feed babies coca cola.  They always need their treats each day such as chips, chocolate, ice cream, and sugar pop.  Those young families that manage to go to the US before their teen years can grow an extra foot in height with proper nutrition.

School break is from November 1 to January 1 and this explains why the kids were all over the place this trip but not so much at our site.  This school break is the same as our summer break.

I had the pleasure of spending quality time with Dora and Robert and their mother today, and also another five year old daughter of a Habitat employee.  They were so adorable.  These kids are also quite happy doing nothing since they know how to play.  It was hard communicating with them, but we got a few laughs and smiles with our interaction regardless.

We gave the inner city family a Canadian flag with our messages of best wishes written on it.  At the closing ceremony this afternoon at the country site, the mother from inner city who is probably only four and a half feet tall was quite teary eyed when she gave thanks.

We flew kites again for fun afterwards and it was my turn to try.  I was able to control my kite quite well in the blazing sun until my string got tangled up with other kites.  Then I eventually lost control and it got caught on a power line.  I tried to free it from below in the rugged terrain, but the kite eventually fell onto a road only to get run over by a car!  I miraculously managed to get the kite back with its tail missing and then gave it to Dora so that we could head off after our goodbyes.  When leaving, I saw Dora head off with that kite still in her possession as she was on the back of her father's trail motorbike.

We are now finished our work and time for fun as we head off to Antigua in the morning.  As expected our group has really bonded.  Guastatoya is very noisy tonight as they continue to set up even more Christmas lights in the central park.  It is absolutely crazy here with Christmas and it is only Remembrance Day (which they do not seem to have).

Day 8

In Antigua, a very crowded tourist trap.  We are off just now to go hiking on a mountain still active with a volcano!  Six of us got a bit sick from our last lunch in Guastatoya, but we are okay and this did not slow us down much.

We had the most fantastic meal on top of a mountain at a personal hacienda last evening.  The road up was something else in the dark in a town called San Antonio, seeing the town lights below with a volcano rumbling across the valley once we arrived.  The Earth is alive!

There are so many people in Antigua as it is their busy season.  Lots of weddings for what appeared to be Mormon as it is a weekend and prime season.

The hike to Volcano de Papaya had to be the most awesome exhilarating hike I have ever been on!  The one in Nicaragua was probably just as good, except we were hiking in cloud cover the whole time.  In Guatemala, the sun was out to give us a perfect panoramic view.  The temperature was cool and windy once we got out of tree cover and so we needed a wind jacket.

We cooked marshmallow in the naturally warm lava bed.  Our guide picked up a rock and it was red hot still, two years after the latest lava flow from the cone top.  That's why you have lava rock in your barbecue.  The mountain across the valley from us blew enroute and I took a picture.  Ours just simmered a little.

On the way back along the trail, we came across a thermo electrical generator owned by a billionaire from Israel.  We could see Guatemala City in the distance from the mountain top.

We need to get up at 3 AM tomorrow so we can catch our flight to Flores, then take a but to Tikal.  We will spend two days in that area before flying home.

Day 9

We made it to Tikal, in the heart of the dense jungle in northern Guatemala.  We are staying at the Tikal Inn, such a lovely place with a swimming pool and I would recommend it highly.  Len and I have a cabin with a thatched roof.  Thousands of people come very day to visit the Mayan ruins but there is only one Inn in the park and this is where we are.

Now that it is evening and dark we can hear all the sounds of the jungle full of animals and insects, but nothing is biting. I told the group I wanted to see a black jaguar and probably could meet up with one if I walked straight into the jungle but I am not about to do that.

We had our first tour of the Mayan ruins here during the day.  The Mayans lived in this area up to 900 AD with the pyramid temples being built around 700 - 800 AD.  The ruins are a step up from what you see in Mexico.  It is similar, just more extravagant and well worth the trip.  There is more shade cover, cooler so far, the pyramid temples are taller, and you are still able to climb and walk on the ruins, supplemented by wooden stairs and walkways.  We saw some spider monkeys in the trees above us, exotic birds, and lots of army ants by our feet.

It just so happens (get this) that there is a full moon tonight AND it is going to be the biggest and brightest in the past 68 years AND the evening is starting off nice and clear!  We are getting up at 4 AM tomorrow to walk up one pyramid and watch the sun rise across the jungle, a good view point as you are above the trees.

Len and I had this big cockroach or whatever in our place this evening, just one big, ugly, crawly bug.  I tried to push it out the door but it resisted and so I had to kick it out with my hiking boot on!  You think it would knock next time before coming in instead of barging in!  It must have gone back into the jungle as I have not seen it since.

We all climbed Temple 4 in the night walking through the steamy jungle with the full moon giving us light needed unless tree cover was too dense.  The sky was clear despite the high humidity.  The howling monkeys were often making a racket as we walked along.  The jungle was asleep though when we made it to the top, climbing the 127 steps.  It was very quiet and somewhat eerie sitting there waiting for the sunrise and then we heard the jungle awaken when the sun came up over the horizon.  We had to contend with some dragon flies and a bat buzzing us, but quite the experience and well worth the cost.

On the way back, we saw an incredible amount of animals, birds, trees as explained by the guide, some looking rather strange and that I have never seen before.  You would think we were in a zoo!  We had to be careful to not be directly below a tree containing a spider monkey as they like to drop bombs on humans to warn us to stay away.

There is so much to see in Tikal that you could spend a few days here.  I saw the original pyramid built around 200 BC!  Every 30 miles in any direction will be another pyramid/ temple, most of which has not been uncovered as it is quite expensive to do so.  The pyramids are solid limestone rock with no cavities.  At its peak there were 60,000 - 100,000 Mayans living in Tikal around 700 AD.

Off to spend the afternoon in Flores where they have this small island on a lake completely covered in Spanish styled building. 

Day 10

Our last stop is in Flores, Guatemala and I think it is similar to some coastal areas of Portugal.  The buildings are very colorful (picture).  It rained hard today for an hour when we were having lunch and the lake is flooding in one spot.  This area maybe in trouble if it keeps raining since a high wind could cause waves to go over the walls around the island.

We are staying in the Hotel Isles de Flores, such a cute little clean hotel at a reasonable cost and is highly recommended.  We had a nice relaxing walk around the island and our last dinner together, but I am sure I will see these people again on another build, maybe in 2017.

Thanks for being with me on my adventures to Guatemala and for your well wishes.  Seems like my time away has been longer as we have been so busy!  I would definitely come back to the tourist areas for a second vacation.  It has been a little tough keeping up to this physically fit crowd.  This is the last chapter of my story as I head home tomorrow.