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.