Well hello everyone, and we hope you are well. Pat just got home from class and I am still here because I managed to get my first Guatemalan sickness (a cold) and decided to stay home from the project today. Don�t worry, nothing terrible at all but I think the kids probably have a lot of germs that I�m managing to pick up. In any event, today you get an update from what I�ve been up to while Pat�s been in class.
I�ve been placed in a classroom with the 4th, 5th and 6th grade girls. Some of the girls did not begin school on time or were held back because they were working with their parents in the dump, so the age range of girls is anywhere from 9 to 16 or so, which is a wide range for one class. I spend half the day with a class of about 10-15, get lunch, and then the afternoon group comes, where there are about 20-30 girls in a tiny classroom. It feels quite a bit like I spend 7 hours of the day at one of my girls� clubs (Zulma and Danika, I know you can appreciate that!) Needless to say, it�s a lot of girls, but they�re starting to connect with me and feel more comfortable with me, and I with them. The teacher, Flor, is an amazing lady who is the latest in a string of teachers the girls have had�they have a bit of a reputation and have run the last few teachers out with their antics and attitudes. But Flor, who�s been with them just over 2 weeks, is shaping them up and they�re learning to respect her boundaries with them.
On Wednesday I had the chance to go on a tour in Guate (Guatemala City) of the cemetery, which borders the dump. From there the other volunteers and I saw a clear view of the dump and the world the kids we work with live in.
The first thing you notice is the hundreds of vultures circling overhead�the closer you get, the more there are and the bigger they seem. The stench of rotting dead things and waste fills the air�.there is no system to separate the human waste from the biohazards, the recycling from the biodegradable. The dump fills a huge ravine and has 3 levels�the oldest has filled the ravine with garbage and landfills, the newest is still probably a good 10-20 feet over what would be the ravine floor. And from our view on the hillside above the dump, you could see hundreds upon hundreds of people engaged in their daily battle to find the most recyclables, which can be returned to the center next to the dump for a small sum of money. Dogs and vultures work alongside the humans, and the vultures perched in the cemetery had no fear of us�you could walk within 5 feet and they�d barely flap their enormous wings. Dump trucks arrive and dump new garbage periodically, and the people swarm behind the trucks to get the first pickings of the recyclable plastic, cardboard, tin and glass, as well as any clothes or even food that they can use. It�s truly one of the saddest, most shocking sights I�ve ever seen, to see the mothers and a few of the fathers of the children I work with clambering through piles of used toilet paper, food waste etc. Many of families are single mothers and their children, who live on the $1-3 US they make a day at the dump over the 12 hour span of a day. Many of the women have bacterial infections, viruses, cancer and injuries from working in the dump. The way the trucks careen through and with all the waste, it�s little wonder. And before this spring, children from babies to 16 year olds were in there, too.
Back in January, the entire dump caught on fire, burning toxic chemicals and making many ill. The city took the opportunity to impose a new rule that prohibits children under 16 from entering the dump, which keeps the kids out but leaves them on the streets to fend for themselves if they aren�t in our program or at school. I guess the most amazing, horrifying part of all this for me was that I would never have known all this if I hadn�t been here. The government doesn�t want to be seen in a bad light so unless you really do your research, you could go your whole life without knowing the things I�ve written here. To come from somewhere so safe, and clean, and peaceful, and catch a glimpse of this environment really shakes you up and makes you think about your own life. I hope I never forget how it felt to see all this and know that really, that could have been any one of use if we�d been born in different circumstances. It motivated me to keep trying with the kids we work with and help them get the education they need to salir adelante (get ahead with their lives).
But on a lighter note, we�ve been enjoying the fun and beautiful parts of Guatemala too. I�ve made friends with some of the other volunteers, from the states, Germany, Canada, and this weekend we went to the beach with a few of them.
Our New Friends
The beach is called Monterrico, and it was soooo hot and sooo humid! We took a 5 hour chicken bus ride to get there, with about 70-80 people crammed on a school bus (3 per seat and people all the way up the aisle at some points!!) But Monterrico is also a beautiful tropical paridise. We were in the ocean, pool or shower as much as possible to deal with the heat, and had our first experience with mosquito nets over the bed.
Here�s Pat in the Ocean
I still got eaten alive, but at least not at night. There were lots of creepy crawlies in our hotel�.fortunately none in the bed! But because the rooms had open windows, we had cockroaches, ants and geckos in our room and saw an iguana out by the hammocks. I guess we couldn�t be too surprised though because the hotel only cost $12 a night.
Our Hotel
We obeyed the signs...
"Please, Drunkenness is not permitted"
but I don�t think that the pigs could read.
Looks like they had one too many!
We were able to see the wildlife refuge there with a sea turtle, caiman (think mini crocodiles) and lots of iguanas (Jered, I thought of you! ) I actually was really bummed because we missed the baby sea turtle race on Saturday by a half hour and I didn�t get to see one. ?
The Sea Turtle
Also, at 5:00AM on Sunday morning we got up to get a boat ride tour of the mangrove swamps and canals near Monterrico. The local who operated the boat used 15 foot long stick to push us everywhere we went, and we went through tunnels/holes in the mangroves to various lagoons. Here�s a picture of the three volcanoes that surround Antigua that we took from the boat. Off to the right you can sort of see a 4th volcano. We plan to climb it at some point because it supposed to be more exciting than the others to climb.
The Scenic View
But maybe if we get to all the other places we want to go, we�ll come back and enjoy the beach here again. After a fun, restful and HOT weekend, we�re back in Antigua and will have a busy week, as Thursday is Independence day. The marching bands have been practicing, people have been setting off fireworks at ungodly hours of the morning and you see groups of school kids running down the streets with torches as part of a country-wide marathon to celebrate their independence from Spain in 1821 (I got a history lesson from the kids last week). And it�s only Monday!
Last Updated: 13 SEPTEMBER 2005
We'll be trying to update this weekly, so come on back and check it soon.
