Saturday Excursion to Guateque

1. Watching the World Cup live on the ol' chicken bus!

2. Teaching the Safe Passage teens how to play 'War'.

3. Watching the U.S. vs. Ghana World Cup game live.

Chicken Bus here we come!

We decided to take the chicken bus to San Antonio because it's only 20 minutes from Antigua and Esperanza will accompany us. The Cape chaperones consulted earlier in the week and decided that one has to experience a Central American chicken bus ride at least once in a lifetime. So, here we are, 23 of us, heading to the bus area.

Friday morning

Friday we started off with another 7 a.m. breakfast with fresh papaya, cantalope, watermelon, and pineapple, eggs, beans, fried plantains, bread, jam, cereal, granola, yogurt, juice, milk, Antiguan coffee. We met Esperanza, our guide to San Antonio, at 8 a.m., and headed towards the public bus area on foot.

Thursday photos- Projects, volcano, and dinner

Thursday, June 24, at Camino Seguro

Thursday was our last day at the Guatemala City Safe Passage project. Soy yo group spent the day at the Guarderia and Playground games was split between the two buildings, Guarderia and the Edificio. Cape students are pros now...they jump right in to interact with the Safe Passage students and their projects have been successful. Some frustrations along the way but we've been learning as we present the lesson to different groups and learn to adapt and change directions.

Today, Friday, we're off to a small village outside of Antigua to learn about life in a small Mayan town. It will be new for all of us and this trip is in lieu of the Pacaya Volcano excursion. Rachel, our team leader from Safe Passage, will go with us. Students will learn how to make tortillas, see a mock traditional Mayan wedding, a Quinceanera celebration, weaving and other traditional customs. Esperanza works at the front desk and after talking to her, she invited us to her village. Rachel says it's safe and Esperanza has taken other groups before. Her family still weaves in the traditional way and they sell their goods in the local markets. We'll have more to report after today. We'll leave at 8 a.m. and return by noon. Students have the rest of the day in Antigua. They are excited to explore Antigua, hit the markets for bargaining, and just relax a bit.

I'll load a few photos from yesterday. Playground games did Skit in a Bag with some Agatha / shelter victims during the afternoon. They laughed and were enamored of our students, especially the tall guys. It gave them a respite from a stressful time of living in temporary shelters until they can return to their homes in the Highlands.

Will save this post now and then upload photos in the next. Have to work quickly with internet connections! Also, excuse typos due to the speed with which we have to save messages.

Thursday volunteering, Team 2, Playground Games

Playing Dodge Ball with the Safe Passage teens!

Team 1- Helping with shelter victims

Photo by Mike T.
Team One was asked to help with families who are victims of Storm Agatha so they implemented their SOY YO book project with them. Various NGOs in Guatemala City have offered shelter and aid for families who lost everything in the mudslides and storm damage from Agatha. Safe Passage has invited families to use their facilities for showers, meals, and a quiet, safe place to rest during the day. Team 1 took photos of the families and children, printed them out, and then helped them as they decorated a book about themselves.

Team 1 Photos

Team 1 Projects

Team 1 with Pedro's class. They did the Soy Yo and Skit-in-a-Bag project.

Guarderia one-year olds

Francesca worked with the one-year olds. They are adorable.

Guarderia Team 2

Caroline helping out on bath day.

Playground duty

The children loved being pushed on the swings and they giggled and giggled. I think that Chris was at the swings pushing for about 1.5 hours straight. He, Alex, and Griffin were the "swing men".

Wednesday Projects and Volunteering in Guatemala City

It's Thursday morning and we're preparing for our last full day of actually volunteering at Camino Seguro. I want to post a few photos from yesterday's activities.  Team 2 spent the day at the Guarderia and Team 2 spent the day at the Edificio, the main building. I'll post a few photos of our students working at the Guarderia. Their favorite part was working and playing with the children. Caroline got roped into helping out a bath day and I saw her chasing little boys around to try to put their shoes on. Some helped with weeding the garden, others in the kitchen to prepare lunch and wash dishes and most helped out classroom teachers.

More Safe Passage Team volunteering

Project Implementation- Playground Games group

We started Tuesday morning working as English tutors in the main building. Soy Yo (Team 1) and Games (Team 2) worked separately all day but we did meet up for lunch.

Here students from an older class are playing Four Square. Cape students modeled it and then Safe Passage students rotated in to play. It was very successful for our first project. Lots of laughter and giggles.

 Photos from this post today will be of Team 2. I have to download photos from cameras of Team 1 because I was not with them all day.

Team 1, Soy Yo book, volunteering

Making the Appreciation Bags for Safe Passage staff

 

CE Students put together 130 goodie bags for the Safe Passage teachers, staff, and long-term volunteers. It turns out that the Friday of our week, June 25, is Teacher Day in Guatemala and the teachers have the day off! Students handed out the bags on Thursday during lunch.

Hotel Casa Antigua, our hotel

Monday night dinner at the Rainbow Cafe

Dinners have been good these first two nights. Rainbow Cafe has great smoothies, all made with fresh tropical fruits. Lots of nachos, quesadillas, huevos rancheros, and other typical fare. There are a number of vegetarian offerings at the restaurants so that's good.

After dinner we had a team meeting in the courtyard, under the night sky. Kind of different from the CE Community Services building! Tuesday starts our first day of implementing our projects so we had to prepare them. The vans leave at 7:30 a.m. on Tuesday so students have to shower, get packs and project materials ready, make lunches and be out to the buffet table by 7 a.m.

It's 6:58 a.m. and the first people in line are Benson, Mike, Peter, Griffin, Alex, Timmy, Jackson, Sam and Daniel. Go figure...all guys! Madeline and Laura T. are here too. Time to drink some Antiguan coffee.

Students are doing an incredible job and we've had some nice compliments our group.

Next installment...Ben, Timmy, and Peter on their way to earning a Guatemalan MBA while marketing World Cup t-shirts! They've conquered the concept of bargaining already.

Touring the Guarderia, Early Childhood Center

Team 2 is touring the Early Childhood Center. (Playground Games group)

Ben met up with this sponsored child, Maria, and she was SO excited to see him. She jumped up into his arms and gave him a huge hug then asked her teacher if she could go with him on the tour.

Lunch provided by the Cape Elizabeth Team

Facility Tour - El comedor, the dining hall

Rachel is explaining the lunch /nutrition program and the importance of access to good food for the children. They feed 600 children and staff everyday. Our team donation pays for lunches this week. If you look above Ben's head you'll see a display and it posts who is donating meals that week. You can see Cape Elizabeth on the yellow paper. Will upload a close-up.

Lunch in the comedor, Monday

We brought our own lunches to eat. Safe Passage children are not in the picture because this is between sessions.

Safe Passage Program Tour, Monday, June 21

After breakfast we loaded into two vans at 8: 30 a.m. and headed out for the day. We stopped in the Antigua office first to pick up our t-shirts then off to the city. At 10 a.m., after picking up a security guard to accompany us, we went to an overlook to see the dump. We are in large cemetery and it offers a vantage point. You can see the vultures overhead and some trucks down below. The vastness of the area is hard to capture in a photo. It's extremely deep and it's 14 acres in size. The land is very unstable and they've lost entire trucks in sinkholes. This is the only dump for a city of four million people so you can imagine the tons of trash that are hauled here everyday. The guajeros, workers in the dump, earn between five to fifteen quetzales (40 cents to $2) for every 100 pounds of recyclables that they turn in. 80% of the guajeros are women.

Approaching Guatemala City

Photo of flying into Guatemala City. You can see a volcano in the distance. I think it's Volcan del Agua but have to inquire to verify. Spectacular scenery as we flew in over the mountains and valleys of the Highlands.

Tuesday morning update

It's 5:30 a.m., there's an internet connection, and students are still sleeping so it's a good time to update. These will be short because I want to save and post every five minutes or so before the connection is lost.
The first photos that were posted are:
1. Breakfast the first morning in one of the two courtyards. When you look at Jackson and Daniel, you'll see a door behind them, hidden amongst the flora. That is their room. All the rooms are clean, have TVs (World Cup!), and it's a very tranquil setting although we're only one block from the Plaza Central.

2. Buffet breakfast includes fresh pineapple, mango, papaya, orange juice, granola, eggs, beans, cereal, bread, fried plantains, and delicious Antiguan coffee!


3. Guatemala Airport Arrival. As soon as we left the aircraft, prior to Immigration, Customs or Baggage claim, students noticed a World Cup game being broadcast in a cafe below and they are rushed to the window to watch. Could have been in Cape Elizabeth or Guatemala...World Cup fever.

4. Last two photos are baggage claim area and the restaurant on Sunday night.

Sunday arrival & dinner, Monday breakfast