Cabón

I only stayed the night in Guatemala City because many of the things that I had read said get out A.S.A.P. To be fair, the hostel guy told me that the archelogical museum is one the best muesums in the country and that there are plenty of things to do in the capital. On the otherhand, another hostel guest, who was a bit questionable himself, advised me to be careful. Regardless, I took a morning bus to Cabón, about 4 hours north, which is set in a higher altitude and is famous for coffee growing and Semuc Champey, a limestone formation over a river.

I visited a coffee farm, which was conviently right next door to my hostel. It was originally started by some Europeans, which transformed the region into a major producer of coffee. I opted for the Spanish tour, hoping to practice and it ended up being not too confusing. Most of the coffee plants had been there since when then farm started and they just keep trimming the plants.

Originally, I was planning to cut across to the west to Nebaj after Cabón, but there had been some major mudslides recently and the road was no longer open. Bummer, but part of traveling is going with the flow and I decided to travel up further north to Tikal, a major Mayan site, instead of going there at the end of March.

This left me with an extra day to explore the surrounding area. Since I was short on time, I went with a tour group to some local caves and Semuc Champey, which was gorgeous.

More pictures here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/semaj187/Guatemala

Estoy aquí

So I never formally finished my blog. I had been meaning to post that I returned to the U.S. and am finishing up my last year of school, but things got in the way and I was too lazy to let you know that I made it back home. For all I know, you might think that I´m still in Bangkok, since that was my last entry.

The past several months have been great, reconnecting with friends, making new friends, living with my mom for a while, and continuing my education. I´ve been fortunate to make it down to Guatemala for a little bit of travel and a medical Spanish rotation in Xela.

I flew into Guatemala City (which is shortened just to Guatemala by the locals) last Thursday and stayed in a hostel 5 minutes away from the airport that is run by a Guatemalan woman and her American husband. He and I chatted for a while, telling me about some of the interesting stories of running a hostel. I thought that one in particular had a good lesson about doing work abroad that I´d like to share with you. A Canadian church group came down to Guatemala with huge bags of gifts for a local village that their Pastor had arranged. They were all excited about the upcoming week and ready to share their gifts. A week later, they returned to Guatemala and the preceding energy had clearly dissipatedand many members of the group were quiet and reserved.

The hostel owner asked one of the members what had happened. She recounted the week´s events with disdain. She explained that they held a big party in the local school, had a nice cake, and gave out all the markers, books, pens and other gifts to all the children of the village. While the Canadians cleaned up after the party, the families left for the weekly market. Upon leaving the school, the Canadians were shocked to see all their well-intentioned gifts spread out on blankets with families haggling over the items!

The church member proceeded to express how disappointed she was that they were selling the gifts and not using it for their education. He pointed out that many of these families are more concerned with eating, rather than learning. She replied that education is important.

All in all, I think while this group had the best of intentions, there´s something to be said about finding out what the local needs are before coming down, instead of imposing what we think is best for them. More often than not, we base our humanitarian actions on our own beliefs and experiences and assume that everyone else also has the same needs and desires. But, as this little story points out, the families pointed out their priorities.