Adios, Guatemala

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Sorry we haven't blogged in a while! We are usually exhausted once we get home so we end up falling asleep before we are able to turn on our computers.

On Thursday morning we went to San Rafael el Arado, which is an indigenous village outside of Antigua. I visited San Rafael on my first trip to Guatemala back in 2011 and was pretty insistent that everyone get a chance to see the village on this trip. San Rafael is one of Common Hope’s newer affiliated villages and is on the opposite end of the spectrum from New Hope. In the town of San Rafael--which is about 1400 people—there is only one high school graduate (she went on to be a teacher). Overall, the village of San Rafael is mostly without running water (they have well water), electricity, and medical attention. The most bizarre part? 80% of Guatemala still lives this way. Renato explained that since the Civil War ended in 1996, Guatemala is really just starting to rebuild itself.

Common Hope has helped to get doctors to visit the local clinic more frequently, but since the citizens are Mayan, there is some skepticism of modern medicine. Renato told us a particularly unfortunate story about a young child who died recently from an infection. The boy had had a fever (which is a sign that the body is trying to fight off an infection). The Mayans believe that when one has a fever, the slightest breeze could kill them. They swaddled the boy in so many blankets, and wrapped them around his body so tightly, that he couldn’t breathe. The boy suffocated to death. Common Hope and the doctors that visit the clinic have had some success with explaining the benefits of modern medicine. This was pretty clear when we showed up to the clinic and there was a line out the door of women and children waiting to see the doctor. 

Hana in San Rafael el Arado

 

 Piglets

Renato gave us a walking tour of San Rafael, which lasted for about 15 minutes. The houses are made of cornhusk and scrap metal and look like they have collapsed and been rebuilt a few times. The people all wear traditional clothing and it is more unusual to see a car than a horse traveling down the unpaved road. We weren’t allowed to take any photos on the street because Renato explained that the Mayans don’t fully trust Common Hope yet. Apparently the first time the coordinators of Common Hope ventured into the town, a rumor was started that they were there to steal children and sell them to “gringos.” Obviously this didn’t go over very well. Adoption used to be an enormous business in Guatemala, so people began kidnapping children to sell.

 
We arranged to be in the school (which has about 450 children) for about an hour and a half. We brought along beads to make those lizards that we made with the children at New Hope too. The only problem we ran into was a slight language barrier…the language Mayans speak is called Kaqchikel and it sounds nothing like Spanish. Luckily a lot of the kids have picked up some Spanish, so our directions didn’t entirely fall on deaf ears. The kids were really fast learners!

Hana got some incredible pictures of the kids. They were incredibly sweet!

   San Rafael is relatively isolated, so the children were pretty shy at first. A lot of them seemed to have never seen a "gringo" before.

 ...But they warmed up to us pretty quickly.

 Jenner's futbol skills were definitely a good ice breaker

 Somehow John climbed this pole...the kids were pretty impressed (as were we).

 

Around lunch time, we headed back to Common Hope for lunch. From there, we split into two groups and went on “A Day in the Life” visits. Hana, Lindsay, Brian, and Tyler went to the house of a man named Don Francisco where they learned how to shave down and shape jade.

Jenner, John, and I went to the house of a sculptor named Marco Tulio. Marco specializes in making handmade birds. We were all blown away by how quickly he was able to shape an incredibly realistic bird, just using his hands and a smoothing tool.

 We got the chance to try to make birds and elephants too, but ours didn’t turn out as well...

My elephant, Sam. Sam's life was cut short after I dropped him off the kitchen counter last night.

  Marco Tulio's birds make beautiful Christmas ornaments. My parents bought 30 last year...our tree this year was covered in Quetzals and Cardinals! Each bird costs 25 Q (which is equivalent to about $3). Feel free to email bellabirds@sbcglobal.net if you'd like to order some!

Linds is going to write some more about the closing ceremony we received from the kids yesterday. I can't believe the trip is almost over...John left this morning and the rest of us head home tomorrow. I can honestly say this has been one of the best experiences of my life. We learned so much about ourselves, about each other, about how to live in a big group of friends (it's harder than it sounds), and about life in Guatemala. Leaving this country, these people, and my six new best friends is going to be way harder than I thought it would be.

--Care