Group 2 - Day 5: Is there a Guiness record for pouring concrete?

Squares completed: 13.

It was another record-breaking day for the Team 2 Concrete-Pouring Machine. We poured 8 squares before lunch, which was one more than we got done in the entire first day. As a result, we were all exhausted after lunch and took a break to share the joys of bubbles and face-painting with the kids.

The big adventure for the day was dinner at a traditional Mayan restaurant. It was a family owned business and the father shared their culture with us while his wife cooked and his three daughters played songs on marimbas.

He shared the Mayan creation story with us, as well as the traditional methods for creating a marimba with bee's wax and membranes from pig intestines. Sorry if you had an appetite prior to reading this. He also held a competition for who could make the best tortillas. Jacob won the grand prize of one free drink.

After our fun dinner and hard day of work we were all exhausted so we rushed back to the hotel for a restful night of sleep. 

Group 2 - Day 4: Rock Hard Slabs (of concrete)

Concrete squares completed today: 10.

Today began the right way: banana pancakes at the fire station. Nothing can go wrong after that.

Once we finished our breakfast we headed straight for the work site and got down to business. We owe the first team a debt of gratitude for providing a great framework for us to work efficiently. As a result we shattered their record for squares of concrete filled in a day.

Okay, we beat their record by one, but this was progress from pouring 7 squares the first day. It's not that we feel the need to brag or compete with the first team, but it's like a tree falling in the forest when no one is there to hear it-- it's not much of a victory if no one knows you won.

The kids in the village seem to have a sixth sense for telling when the work and the heat are getting to us. Right when we start to feel stressed out or exhausted they come up to hold our hands, sit on our laps, or just give us hugs.

A little affection from them is all you need to relax and keep going. Two of our team members got to take a much needed break for a field trip with some of them. They hiked about a mile down a trail with a whole class to a spot with quite a view.

After our much needed lunch break a few of the group members spent some time coloring with the kids (which turned out to be more marker management than coloring) and playing with those that stuck around. A few of the girls even got flowers braided into their hair.

Before dinner Erin headed to the Bomberos to help prepare dinner. Her and Marcy even got to witness the bomberos birthday tradition of filling the birthday persons pants with water and then continuously dumping buckets full of water on them.

Group 2 - Day 3: Our First Day on the Job

We came to Guatemala expecting to learn a lot from this incredible culture-- lesson one: how to mix concrete by hand.

It involves a lot of heavy lifting and an incredible amount of patience to smooth it by hand. As Americans, our first inclination might be to ask where the mixing truck is, but there's something fascinating about accomplishing the task with nothing but honest labor and some piles of sand, rocks, concrete mix, and a hose.

Along the way we learned about more than concrete. If there's anything Guatemala has to teach us, it's to slow down and take a breath. Maybe it's okay to get one less square of concrete laid today and stop to spend time with the kids instead. We can barely talk to most of them, and yet they treat us like beloved family members.

   

The day began with a trip to see the broad range of programs Mission Guatemala runs to help the local community. We visited the clinic and got to meet the doctor in charge, see the dentist's office, and check out their impressive stock of medicine. The doctor even stopped to check on a few sick members of our group. We saw an example of the stoves that the Mission provides to families to replace the open fires many of them cook on, which are notoriously dangerous. The clinic also houses a preschool and we had a blast getting to be a part of the joyful chaos that is their classroom.

After seeing everything at the clinic, we drove up the hill to Nueva Esperanza. The village gave us an awesome welcome as all the kids and staff from the school gathered to welcome us and tell us about the history of their town. After that, we started laying concrete for the soccer field and got our education in construction. By lunch time we felt like we had thoroughly earned our food. School ended at lunch time so we had the kids around for moral support in the afternoon, which mostly consisted of them climbing on us and running around laughing. It's hard to be stressed out when they're around.

We timed the end of the work day perfectly as the rain started to fall. The rain shower made for a nice atmosphere as we sat under the umbrellas around the pool sipping coffee and recuperating from the day's work. We had dinner at the fire station and it was, as always, delicious. It's rude to not finish your meal here, but that's not too much of an issue with the motivation of getting to slide down the pole to the ground floor if you clean your plate-- it never gets old.

If we lose our passports and never come home, don't worry about us. We'll be happy here.

P.S. -Jacob's take on the day (not entirely factual)

We started the day with a rousing chorus of "Oh What a Beautiful Morning" from the beloved Rogers and Hammerstein classic, 'Oklahoma!' Following this wonderful adventure down Broadway's memory lane, we all piled into a van. A small van. Okay, more like a clown car of guatemalans, Americans, and a donkey, two chickens, a goat, and a stray Cuban smoking, oddly enough, a Swiss cigar.

Después de nuestra trabajo al sitio, empezamos regresar al Hotel Cacique Inn. Nuestra hotel es muy grande y los cuartos tienen todo que necesitamos. También, Jacobo compraba mucho cosas diferentes porque él no puede decir "no" a una persona.

Late Start, Later Finish - Group 2 visits Chichi

Group 2 started their second day with breakfast at the hotel, then we were off to exchange money for our trip to Chichicastenego.

The road to Chichi is a long, uphill, windy battle-- the kind of drive when you're sure the van is on the verge of breaking down every time it shifts gears.

After making it to Chichi we had lunch at a local restaurant then went off to explore the market.

Lucky for us Sunday is a big market day in Chichi. It is typically when the local people will go buy their fruits, veggies, and whatever else they may need for the week.

Unfortunately about 10 minutes after we left the restaurant to start our adventure through the market it started raining... But we all still had fun bartering for our treasures, and much to our surprise the boys ended up being the big shoppers in the group. Perfecting our bartering skills made for great practice remembering how to translate numbers into Spanish.

After our fun in Chichi we headed to the Church for an extended Guatemalan service. Outside the church we met a cute little girl named Jackie. She was very attached to Jacob and even found a friend in Erin.

Unfortunately our extended service caused us to be behind a crazy amount of traffic. We ended up sitting in a line of traffic for about two hours but we finally made it home to have dinner at the hotel.

Group 2 Arrives in Guatemala!

On Saturday, July 21st group 2 arrived in Guatemala City and we were so happy to make it with no problems after the early morning departure.

We were greeted by Tom at the airport and started our journey toward Panajachel (a long, bumpy and curvy journey...)

After about 2 hours we took a little pit stop for bathrooms, water, and lucky for us snacks!

This friendly guy was selling macadamia nuts, cashews, roasted (or fried?) lima beans, and some other nut I can't remember. They were some tasty nuts.

   



















We continued on for about 1 more hour before reaching our final destination where we were greeted by the members of group 1.

After some time to catch up with everyone we went to dinner at the Bomberos (firemen for those non-spanish speaking folks). After dinner it was time for bed!