HANDS.

(Monday)
The texture of my hands have changed. Not that they were particularly soft before, but now they are dry and VERY rough. Laborer’s hands. The result of digging, cobbing, weeding, mixing…no amount of lotion can sooth them, but it’s definitely a true testament to how much I’ve grown, in some way, over the past several weeks. But I still have a long way to go.

This past weekend we worked on a project that really showed me why the work that LWH is doing here is so important. A few of us had originally planned on going to Antigua for the weekend, but we scrapped those plans on Friday based on the need for workers to build a “Tinoco.” A tinoco is a huge, 400 gallon water tank that is attached to a drainage system to catch and store rain water for everyday use. We awoke at 6:00AM on Saturday, which is usually one of our two days off after a 40 hour week, grabbed our tools and began our walk to the house across town where we would be building. After walking a while and up a STEEP hill, we arrived. House is used loosely here; the single 30-year old mother of 4 lived in small room with dirt floors, no running water (the closest pila is down a steep hill), and wooden planks covered in blankets for a bed. The 3 children greeted us because their mother was in town at the market, but they immediately came out and helped in whatever way they could. We spent ALL day sifting sand, mixing concrete, stuffing the form for the water tank, covering it in cement, and all the while the mother graciously fed us with all she could. Of course, it started POURING around mid-afternoon, and as miserable as I was at that point (I hate being wet!), we continued to work through the rain! 10 hours after beginning, we finally finished and walked away tired and cold. Initially, the mother was apprehensive about the tank because she was worried about what others would think of her having one and no one else, but she obliged, and rightfully so. While collecting water and carrying it up that hill was part of her daily life, hopefully we have removed some of the strain from her routine. The goal of the water tank project is to not only provide a necessary resource for those without water, but also to teach the techniques to others so that they can the process over and over again long after we are gone.

Today, I worked in the tire house kitchen. We are building a stove using rammed earth, cinder blocks, bricks and tile. It was a nice change to be part of the construction thought process, and I even learned some useful masonry skills at the same time! With all the gardening and building skills I’ve been learning, I think of the endless possibilities of things I could do at home for my mom (maybe we’ll start a garden next summer?)!

I can’t believe it’s already the end of June! I have 5 more weeks here, and I’m trying to think of all the things I would like to accomplish during the month of July. I want to learn to play Rebecca’s ukulele. I want to continue to learn more about Guatemalan history. I want to master making ROUND tortillas (so far, mine keep coming out in odd shapes). I want to speak more Spanish. I want to travel with the little money I have. I want to hear (and understand) more stories of the people of Comalapa. I met a man and woman in a Tortilleria yesterday, and while eating the most delicious El Salvadorian papusas (the woman is from El Salvador), the man told us about the time he spent in the US doing roofing and working at a Chinese restaurant in Los Angeles. He told us about his several attempts to cross the border, the first time being rejected because he tried to use someone else’s passport (“we weren’t quite twins”, he said). I was just so impressed with his determination, and no, life in the US is tough and not nearly what anyone would expect it to be, but when you’re goal is to make money for your family, that hard work and American money can get you pretty far.

This week I will be moving into a homestay! There are a lot of volunteers coming in throughout the month of July, and while they were discussing where to place everyone, I finally owned up to my thoughts and confessed that I had an interest in doing so. My roommate, Abi, and I had casually talked about it last week, and it turns out that one of the host families can house several volunteers, so we will be going together! The family lives in town, so I will be able to spend more time taking in daily life outside of the program, and will also be able to speak (and hear) WAY more Spanish! I feel like the family lives on the better end of things because Rebecca says that they have cable and a refrigerator, but living with them will still be a completely different and valuable experience. Apparently, the father and son have a love for the discovery channel, so I can most definitely benefit from that! Although living in the volunteer house has been convenient, my Spanish hasn’t been improving as much as I would like because all the new vocabulary I learn is quickly forgotten with the amount of English we ALWAYS speak here. I can’t wait to pack tomorrow! Hasta luego, pues

Week 3.

(Thursday)
It’s been a mildly frustrating week. Working with an NGO definitely has its high and low points. High obviously because the end product of the work we are doing is going to be infinitely rewarding to those who will benefit from the school, or the park, or the water tanks, and also learn about the green processes so that they can continue these methods. Low though because money is short, and the day to day communication and organization is not always there. This week I’ve felt pretty lost as to what I was supposed to be doing. Work up at the school has been stalled for the time being because the final courses of tires on one of the technical buildings was completed last week, and the next steps are hard to complete in the rain. ALSO, most of the staff has gone to the states to work on projects with Earthship, and the staff still here can’t be spread too thin. While it’s nice not to have to dig everyday right now, I would almost prefer it. Currently, all of the other volunteers here are doing internships for school, so they all have set projects to complete while they are here (working in the garden, building water tanks, translating the website). I, however, in my attempt to not mindlessly throw $3000 at GW for internship credit, don’t have a set project. So this week I’ve kind of become the floater. Working in the garden, sitting up at the school to watch the land (there always has to be someone there, and with everyone down at the park working, I was sent to babysit for a day)…I wish that I had something so concrete to be doing everyday, that I came here to complete. Then again, I didn’t come here with any expectations other than to be useful, so I guess in that sense I am fulfilling my “goal.” I was also asked to write about “hurrying” versus taking life too casually. At first I was annoyed and flustered by the fact that I was being abrasively singled out to do this, but the writing exercise was good and really did get me thinking about selflessness in our own slices of the world as compared to though who dedicated their lives to representing something and someone bigger than themselves.

I think next week will be better. More volunteers are coming in, and so organization is going to be key. I’ve been assigned to work on completing the kitchen in the tire house, so that should be alright because I’ll have the chance to learn some new construction techniques. They’ve also asked me to complete a roughly 10-page report on the history of rammed earth practices, how it is used elsewhere, and how we utilize them here. I AM actually glad to be doing this, because it’s something tangible that will help because they plan to put it on the website as a resource and almost as a way to verify the practices they are using here for those interested in the organization. I think this may have come about based on my conversations with the head of the program about how, in my ongoing attempts to do a structural analysis, there are many, MANY questions that are unanswerable about the process and materials being used.

In other news outside of work, this week is Fair Week here in Comalapa. Schools close and people take days off work to spend their time in town at the fair, riding the crazy hand-built ferris wheels, eat tons of AMAZING food, listen to live music, and drink all night. We went to the fair last night to do just that. We ate far too much, listened to Los Conejos, rode the ferris wheels (with my eyes closed for most of the time on one of them because they go SO fast and I was fairly certain I was going to fall out), and drank our fair share of Quetzalteca and Brahva. And still made it to bed by midnight!

I got an email from my old boss at the museum the other day, and she told me she was coming to Guatemala! In the process of trying to figure out how and when to meet up, I sent her the info about LWH because she mentioned wanting to practice Spanish and work, and she decided to apply to come volunteer for a few days! Finally, a visitor! So she’ll be arriving on July 6! I can’t wait, especially since I haven’t seen her in SO long! It should be a pretty groovy time.

I really can’t figure out why this program won’t let me upload photos, so I’ll be making an album and I’ll post the link!

REBEL.

(found in Earthship, Volume I)
...

let the world fall away
to snowfalls of dust
and institutions of clutter
demanding dirty dishes and laundry
leave it all along the asphalt
there is lots of jungle left
the birds are blue and green
trees are truer than television
the sky holds a million sparks
for each of us

we are withering in our darkness
under electric light
our bleached sheets and blankets
will never be clean
we will not survive
until we set ourselves free.

Anonymous, 1982

BUILDING. (Friday)

Today was a nice change of pace because I FINALLY got to spend the entire day doing something completely different than being up at the school! My roommate is here to work primarily in the garden, labeling, revitalizing and making better use of it among other things. This morning we started by creating a place where we could hang herbs from the garden to dry so that we can actually know what they are and use them. After, we went down to the tire house and worked in the kitchen for the rest of the day. They are building a refrigerator using plastic bottles filled with water, trash, cans, wool, and mud and concrete. It should be an interesting structure to say the least. Today we built the wall of water-filled plastic bottles that will provide a liquid thermal mass for the area where the ice will be stored. My hands are pretty much covered in cuts from the brutal chicken wire we were using, but we hopefully successfully completed it to their standards. It was a good time overall though, because while we were being productive I had a chance to get to know my roommate better!

I see myself becoming more and more interested in the overall designs of the projects. While understanding structural integrity is valuable, I would love to learn more about buildings from an architectural perspective. It’s definitely the creative side of a civil’s job (let’s be honest, the engineer makes the bridge or building “work”, the architect gives it its beauty). I’ve never been a very good detail oriented drawer, but that doesn’t mean I won’t try to learn…anyway, it’s definitely something that I would like to look into more when I get back to the states.

I had pancakes for dinner last night, and it made me miss home so much! I guess I just ate so many pancakes when I was home for two weeks! Strange how the little things like food can create those feelings…I could also really go for a toasted PB&J right now too but alas NO peanut butter!!

I think tomorrow my roommate and I are going to Chimaltenango, which is the city closest to Comalapa. We can take the chicken bus there for extremely cheap and spend the day exploring the market, maybe hit up the paca for some good stuff (a paca is pretty much all this random stuff probably sent from good wills or something that is sold for incredibly cheap, example: last week the volunteer coordinator found a northface rain jacket for 10Q= a little more than a $1!), and maybe get some taco bell!

QUOTES

(from Escuela Tecnico Maya Building Manual):
“If we do not change our direction, we are likely to end up where we are headed.” – Chinese Proverb

“ The good building is not one that hurts the landscape, but one which makes the landscape more beautiful than it was before the building was built.” – Frank Lloyd Wright

RAIN. (Wednesday)

May and early June generally ring in the rainy season for the tropical region. And when they say rain, they mean it. Today, I would’ve been more successful getting back from the work site in a raft rather than on foot. The drainage systems for all the farmland is interesting because it pretty much just drains into the “streets” or walking paths. So not only was it pouring, but we were jumping from uncovered patch, to field to crop to wading in the water to get back! And my trusty rainboots have both developed cracks in the side, so they were of no use in keeping my feet dry. Good thing I have my raincoat and paraguas!

Working at the site has still been pretty tedious for me. We generally arrive between 7:00 and 7:30 and leave sometime after 4:00 or 5:00. LONG DAY. All volunteers are required to work 40 hours a week. And this week I’ve been helping the Guatemalan workers mix and carry dirt to pack the tires, which is tough because I never know what they are saying unless they are speaking directly to me. Imagine spending an entire day working around people and having NO IDEA what they are saying! GAH. I finally met with the head architect of the project and we had a great discussion about what projects I can work on for the summer instead of only doing manual labor at the site. While I’ve just been doing a lot of different tasks, I told her I was genuinely interested in how they were making their decisions as far as what materials, the designs, how they handle running into complications in the overall process, etc. After going through each of the CAD designs, she decided that it would be beneficial for me to do a structural analysis of the various building designs to determine how the structures and materials will bear loads, handle stresses and strains, etc. Obviously I LOVE this project because it means several things for me:
A) I get to actually use some of my education
B) I don’t have to dig ALL day, EVERY day, just most days
C) I get to do research to determine how to include the wide variances in materials instead of traditional steel, iron, etc that is generally used
D) I get to play with AutoCAD. (which to this day is still my all-time favorite engineering class). win.
Tires are tricky, especially filled with dirt, so I think they will prove to be my biggest challenge when doing my analysis. Even my professor was stumped when I emailed him! The company called Earthship Biotecture has been providing a basis for rammed-earth tire building for almost thirty years now, and apparently their books are like Bibles around here. Still trying to get my hands on them. But the structures they build are incredible and beautiful! Check out their website (www.earthship.com). Much of the actual staff is leaving in the next few days to work on a project in the states for several weeks, so I’m trying to get as much out of them as possible before they leave!

Other than that, I’m still trying to get my bearing around here…I could walk around in circles for days and still not know where I am in town. And it’s not even that big! I’m attempting to learn how to cook more, and with less (although I just BURNED rice…never done that before). My new roommate just arrived and will be here till mid-August, so hopefully she will want to do some exploring with me! Other than that, I’m trying to stay warm and stay motivated! If you have any creative ideas for a civil engineering project let me know ☺

Still working on the photos…for some reason it’s not working for me…

Mud. (Friday)

Yesterday was the first day when I felt real frustration of being here. Since it’s an ongoing project, there’s not always someone to stop and explain to me what I should necessarily be doing. In some ways this is great because there’s not so much oversight that I feel like someone is breathing down my neck, but at the same time, it’s hard to always know what to do or if what I am doing is even right. All four days this week I’ve been working up on the site, mostly digging. Although I definitely started to build up some strength, digging for 4 days in a row can get REALLY old REALLY fast. We’ve been working on a trench behind the “main” building (I’m still kinda confused as to what everything is called because I’m still waiting for a decent tour of the site). The trench is necessary because the wall behind the building collapsed during the storm last week. So basically it’s a pit of mud that needed to be dug out so that we could put up a nylon tarp over the back of the building. The only problem is that at the end of every day we would get the trench to where it needed to be, then come back the next morning after the evening rains and see that half the wall had collapsed into the trench again! So literally the same thing, over and over again. I hate that trench. Needless to say, doing the same thing over and over again was frustrating, and to add to that I’m still struggling to understand the Guatemalan workers at the site. And with very few volunteers actually on site that day, I wanted nothing more than to be done and in my bed. I made it through though and had some delicious gringas (burrito-esque) and pastels in town. When we came back all I wanted to do was sleep, but the rain was SO LOUD on the tin roof that I literally couldn’t hear myself speaking to my roommate, Lani. Not to mention, there’s a minor leak above my bed, so some water dripping at the foot of my bed. I ALMOST managed to sleep a full night without waking up. SO CLOSE.

Today we went back out to the site around 7:00 and the trench was finally ready for “cobbing.”

Cobbing 101

Step 1: Mix mass amounts of mud with clay and pine needles to make a consistency that resembles “thick cake batter”

Step 2: Get into the trench with a bucket of cob, ball the mud into your hand and throw it at the tire wall so that it sticks.

Step 3: Repeat until the entire wall is covered.

Needless to say, I was covered in mud from head to toe. And as if we weren’t lucky enough this week, there was a HUGE rainstorm in the middle of the afternoon that not only filled the trench with more mud, but made cobbing that much more intense! We did finish though, put the nylon up and called it a day. Despite the grossness of being covered in crusty mud, it is really fascinating stuff. When it is fully saturated, it almost becomes like quicksand; it just sucks you in! And it shifts around like it should be viscous, but it’s cohesive enough that it doesn’t flow! So strange.

Tonight we are having a despidida for two of the volunteers who have been here for a while and are leaving in the next few days. My roommate was only here for a week and left today so it’s gonna be sad and quiet tonight! Tomorrow we are going to watch the US v. UK game, which should be a treat. That’s all for now. Still working on figuring out how to upload photos...

CHUCHO! Week One

DISCLAIMER: Sorry this first post is so long! This is the first time I've been able to get my own computer hooked up to internet...more updates and photos to come!

(Monday)

The past few days have absolutely been a whirlwind, from leaving my house in Sand Lake to drive 3 or so hours to the airport, to getting on several flights (Detroit à Houston à Guatemala City). Getting in the car was kind of when everything just hit me all at once, that I was actually going to embark upon this journey, much less by myself, for 2 months! When I arrived in Guatemala City, I was so nervous about even getting through the airport! I kept my cool, followed the masses and used the most basic Spanish EVER to get through migracion and customs. The airport was so strange because it seemed so empty! Through the exit though, everyone outside was waiting on the other side of this barricade holding up signs for whomever they were waiting for. Based on the State Department’s Consulate website, I should’ve been mugged, kidnapped and slashed the minute I walked into Guatemala City (thanks for talking me down from that ledge, David!) but OBVIOUSLY I was fine! I found Rebecca, the volunteer coordinator, and we hopped into our taxi and we were on our way.

The drive through Guatemala City was, interesting to say the least. Even flying over (I was lucky enough to have a window seat, thanks Continental) was interesting because the landscape is absolutely stunning but it’s a very flat city, with regards to the heights of the buildings. The designs of most of the buildings are interesting for an area that probably experiences a decent number of earthquakes and other natural happenings. Anyway, back to the trip, driving was crazy because there seems to be a lack of order for the most part. Cars were swerving all over the places, around buses, tractors, bicycles, walkers, horses, cows…you name it, it was in the street along the drive. It was also interesting to still see many piles of volcanic ash just chilling on the side of the road. The drive through the hills up to Comalapa was absolutely breathtaking! The beauty of the land is so unreal, and was even more impressive because many of the hillsides were farmed (what a surprise to see farms on hills instead of flat lands like the Midwest!). We drove up the narrow, winding road, and after an hour and a half we finally arrived at Parque Chimiya, the site of the volunteer house.

The volunteer house is a beautiful little enclosed area with several bedrooms, and open patio area, and a communal kitchen. There area a lot of rules as far as how to clean your dishes, and what to do with trash (if it’s plastic is gets stuffed in a plastic bottle to be used for building, if its food it goes to the dogs, if it’s scrap it gets composted, if it’s paper it gets burned) Long Way Home is trying to set an example for more proper use of waste to reduce the amount of trash just being tossed in the dump…I’ll get more into that later. Anyway, for showers, you have to boil water to pour into a giant bucket, then add some cold water from the showerhead, then take a sponge bath (unless you are brave enough to take a FREEZING cold shower, which I am not!). For food, we often eat together, so we go to the market in town once a week to buy enough food for everyone and all chip in.

Anyway, after I arrived, I got a tour of the volunteer area, main office, herb and tree garden, the tire house prototype, and Parque Chimiya. Parque Chimiya, which was the first project by Long Way Home, is a public park with a futfol field, basketball court, public cooking space and outdoor classroom patio. The Public can either pay to enter, which goes towards maintenance, or bring a plastic bottle to gain entry. After my tour, I spent time getting to know some other volunteers and playing A LOT of euchre! Cheese is a delicacy around here since you can’t really get it anywhere in Guatemala, and one of the volunteer who also just arrived brought the most delicious block of sharp cheese, so we devoured pretty much the entire thing and called it a night. AT 9:30! SO EARLY! But I definitely went right to sleep, after listening to the stray dogs bark in a unified chorus for a bit.

(Tuesday)

Today was the first day of real work for me since I arrived in the evening. In Guatemala, in gets dark VERY early, around 5:30 or 6, and the sun rises very early as well, around 6 or so. So I woke up this morning to a very confused rooster and birds feeling like it was 9AM or something and it was actually only a little after 6AM! My roommate, Lani, and I got up around 7:00 and got ready to head to the market. Tuesday is the big market day, so we tagged along with one of the other more experienced volunteers to get all the food for the week. What an overwhelming treat! I learned a lot of new vocabulary, had some new foods, and am definitely NOT prepared to ever have to do that alone for everyone! It was my first walk through town though, and the artwork and murals were beautiful! Comalapa is known to be an artisan community, so hopefully I can find some nice work to bring home! Overall, we came back with two huge backpacks full of fresh fruit and vegetables among other treats, and each of us only had to chip in 60 Quetzales, which is less than $10! Life here is going to be cheap, which can never hurt J

After we left the market, Rebecca took us by the city dump, which is this HUGE crevasse, a beautiful natural occurrence, where people literally just tip over their wheel barrows and DUMP their trash! It was a striking and horrifying sight to see. I took some photos that I’ll have to upload. Seeing it just gave more meaning to the work that the program is trying to do as far as teaching the locals how to dispose of their waste in less destructive ways that can actually help to build up their community. We headed back to the volunteer house to drop off the food, have lunch and prepare to head up to “The Land,” as it is referred to.

The Land is the future site of Escuela Tecnico Maya, which will be a primary and technical school for the locals to use that will be almost completely built out of sustainable materials (tires, glass and plastic bottles). The history behind the school is this: The government funds local schools across the country, and like any good and trustworthy government, they set standards for what can and cannot be taught in the schoolhouse. Comalapa is Mayan community, and most of la gente speak Spanish and “ke-chee-kal”, a Mayan language. Mayan language and culture is taught in the schools in this area, a fact that the government was not fond of; because of this, much of the funding was cut, and with a lacking budget, the size of the school and programs being offered also suffered. Needless to say, Long Way Home stepped in to help build a new school and facilities. We headed up to the land to get to work, and first project I worked on was digging out dirt on one of the tire retaining walls that collapsed during Tropical Storm Agatha last week. After a couple of months of doing this week, I will definitely be in good shape, that’s for sure! After a few hours of digging, the afternoon storms moved in, and we continued to work through the rain, which made EVERTHING so muddy! Of all the things I packed, I am certainly grateful that I made room for my rainboots! Those will take me a long way this summer! After all of our work, we walked to the Dispensa (pretty much a normal grocery store) to get some cold drinks and head home.

One of the volunteers is doing a Homestay, and his Dad, Jimmy, invited some of us to their home for dinner tonight. MY first taste of comida de Comalapa! I was so nervous because the entire night would be in Spanish, and while I am pretty good at understanding, I am still struggling to regain my vocabulary. I did alright though, mostly listening and not too much speaking, but it was definitely a learning experience! I am considering doing a homestay for a month of my trip, only because I truly want to progress in my Spanish, and being forced to speak more frequently can only help, especially since only English is spoken in the volunteer house. I mean, I might as well since I have the opportunity! The food was delicious, the conversation was rich and I really had a great time! I’m so glad that I was able to go!

Interestingly enough, a tangible fear in Guatemala are stray dogs! Sometimes they roll alone, sometimes they have the pack mentality, but they are everywhere and many of them are SCARY. A stray dog is called a “chucho” and they are not to be reckoned with. They will growl, bark, chase and sometimes even bite if you don’t send them off quickly. We had our first run-in with a chucho on our walk home from dinner, and I was terrified to say the least! I need to collect rocks or get a stick to chase them off with.