Welcome to 2009! I hope you all were able to celebrate Christmas and New Years with those you love. A lot has happened that I need to catch you up on. First of all, I spent 8 days, including Christmas, in Guatemala with my friend from the office in Belize, Kevin. On Christmas Eve we got Samac, a village in the mountains outside of Coban, where we met up with Kevin’s friend Jonathon and his wife, Concepcion, who is from Samac. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect since I had never been to Guatemala and all I knew was that we were going to see some of Kevin’s friends in a rural village in the mountains of the middle of the country. It turned out to be so much fun and such a great learning experience. We stayed there four nights and during that time we attended a midnight Christmas Mass, ate about forty tamales each at four different homes, explored a huge cave system and 19th century hydroelectric power plant ruins, played soccer in the dark with the kids, and spent hours upon hours hanging out with the wonderful people there. Most people in the village spoke at least a little Spanish, although their native language is Q’eqchi’, but no English, which left me completely unable to communicate verbally the whole time. This was a little frustrating at times, but for the most part we were able to communicate appropriately, although very limited, through body language, namely smiles.
Despite the lack of verbal communication, they were still able to teach me so much. I was constantly observing their way of life and trying to get into it as much as possible myself. They have very limited electricity, no running water, an elevated fire pit for a stove, and a diet limited to corn, beans, and occasionally a little meat or vegetables. Hearing it put that way makes it sound like a miserable existence, and like I would not have enjoyed my time there. But they seem to have something there that a lot of people in the developed world do not have – contentedness. They seemed so genuinely happy and at peace with their lives, with who they were, with what they have, and with the people they spend each day with. Extended families representing many generations live together on the same land, sometimes sleeping 6-8 people in a small, dirt-floored room with a thatch roof that may also serve as the kitchen, dining room, and living room. The women spend nearly all day in the kitchen cooking, cleaning, and preparing to cook again, and the men spend all day working on the farm, if they are lucky enough to have land of their own. They have a couple toys for their children, who usually just end up sitting on the dirt playing with a stick or rock or empty corn cob, or running around playing with the animals. Through all of this, the very little they have seems like so much more than all the excess we have in the states. I have always considered relationships to be the most valuable possessions in this world, as many of you do, and they were living confirmation of that, and also living motivation to follow their example.
On my way back to Belize, I stopped in Flores for a couple days so I could visit Tikal, a huge collection of Mayan ruins that everyone here had recommended I visit. What an amazing place! There are hundreds of structures that were built well over 1,000 years ago by hand. I joined a group with a guide so I could have some structure, otherwise I knew I would just end up running around in amazement and not actually learning a whole lot. We left at 4:30am so we could get there for sunrise, which ended up being clouded over, but I’m glad we got an early start anyway because it was cool most of the day and not very crowded until we were leaving. It was so amazing to climb some of these structures and know that I was standing where kings and others stood thousands of years ago when the city of Tikal was a thriving regional center. When I got back to Flores, I spent the afternoon speaking very broken Spanish, reading, eating tacos, and preparing for the undoubtedly long journey back to Punta Gorda the next day.
Now that I am back, I’m excited to get back to work in the villages around P.G. On Saturday the 3rd, a group of visitors will be in town for a week for the Smaller World Chocolate Tour, which I get to be involved in daily to offer any assistance and insights that I can. This is so exciting, especially since a family I got to know in Seattle will be joining the group. Next week I also hope to learn how to build a thatch roof and help put it on at the research center we are currently building in a village near the office. In the coming weeks, I will be spending a few days and nights with a farmer in one of the villages in an effort to personally understand the life of a poor farmer in Southern Belize. This is something I am really looking forward to because it will not only give me a chance to experience his life, but also to talk to him and get answers to many questions I have, that I would like to have answered by someone in his position. I know time will fly, so I want to take full advantage of the time I have here and walk away with the best and most complete understanding of life here, as well as sustainable agriculture practices and programs.
The top photo is of me holding a baby in Samac, Concepcion’s niece and Goddaughter. She was so adorable, and she made me think a lot about Lilli. Apparently most men in their village don’t get too excited about holding babies, because they laughed every time I asked to hold her. The next one is of the scene in the kitchen while all the ladies were making special Christmas tamales, which went on for literally the entire day on Christmas Eve. They had to have made at least 200 of them, it was incredible. While I was eating dinner at the little restaurant next to my hotel in Flores with some friends from New Zealand that I met along the way, I suddenly felt little claws on my head. The lady who was cooking all the meat put her pet parrot on my head, it was such a nice bird, and a great extra companion while I ate my tacos. Next is Temple II at Tikal. It is in the plaza, which was the center of town and where all the entertainment was. The little door opening at the top is the place where the King sat to watch the sports and other entertainment below. Finally, this is me standing in front of Temple V, the tallest (and scariest to climb) in Tikal.
I hope 2009 is a great year for you all, let’s work to make it the year that the world saw love and compassion lead the way to positive change. My new year’s resolution is to learn Spanish and participate in the first race for Team ERACE.
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