Day 1 of Gabe’s Guatemala Trip

After 9 months of preparation we have finally arrived in Guatemala!!! The day began at a very early (3:00am) and cold (-30s) to catch the shuttle to Des Moines Airport.  Although it was extremely early, I could feel the nervous and excited energy radiating from the group as we did our first of many headcounts for the day.  Thankfully, all flight logistics and travel went relatively smooth aside from a couple of moments of turbulence.

For me, the day was a range of emotions.  Being my first time traveling internationally I was excited, nervous, and apprehensive of the new language and customs I would be encountering during the next 10 days.  Particularly, I was nervous of the level of Spanish I would be able to follow and how that would impact my ability to engage on a personal and group level.  These feelings were compounded by the fact that I am a Latino male who does not speak Spanish and how that would be perceived as being both along with a “gringo” American.  Additionally, I was nervous from an administrative standpoint as the staff member placed “in charge” of the group.  I found I spent a majority of my day running through scenarios of ‘what ifs’.  Thankfully, however, this range of emotion was eased in our long Houston layover as I had great conversations with the 9 students that I would be spending the next 10 days with.

Once we got to Guatemala, however, I was overwhelmed with the excitement of a new land and the opportunity to learn, grow and challenge myself in new ways.  I was happy to see that although students were disappointed that we did not get as much as anticipated in our currency exchange rate it was joked about as part of the experience.  It was also good that Jenny, the Grinnell alum, who had dedicated so much of her time to the group and preparation of the trip was one of the first faces we saw as we exited the airport.  We immediately received warm embraces from the Jhonathan and Ellen who were the other in country coordinators and within minutes conversation flowed very naturally.

We also greeted with a great dinner and delicious coffee (in which I drank waaaaaayyy too much of) and more importantly an exercise in which discussed privilege, race, colonialism, and other facets of the trip we would learn about over the 10 day excursion.  I felt this set a great tone for the trip and was extremely impressed of the level of critical thought and real world application the group was able to contribute.

Although it was about 1am and nearly 24 hours later after I finally began to settle, I still felt it a bit difficult to sleep as I replayed the various conversations and first impressions I had of beautiful Guatemala.  I am looking forward to the personal and professional growth I will get to experience over the next 9 days!!!

Below is one of the first pictures from the plane I took overlooking the beautiful lands of Guatemala.  Although the picture is far from giving the view I had from the plane justice, it was the first glimpse I got of the land as the clouds began to part. As a Colorado native, I am deeply impressed and appreciative by nature and breathtaking scenery.

First Thoughts of Many

Monday, January 6 2014

Arriving at guatemala felt overwhelming, over a year of work and thought became tangible as we boarded our bus from the airport. Even though I had prepared myself for the nature, mountains, language, etc. it still felt a bit like paradise. I found myself examining and comparing Guatemalan stores, people, street art and food through a Bolivian lense. I know not to essentialize all latin/central american experiences, but I am drawn to the similarities between countries/cultures/communities.

For example, my heart lept at street vendors, although their candies and chocolates are native to guatemala, they resembles bolivian street vendors. Also shared within latin/central america is a history of colonialism, a topic we discussed at dinner (which was ahmazing). We talked about how colonialism relates to capitalism, patriarchy, and racism. It made me think about what we value in society, and given that we are all students we are all apart of academia. I believe academia prefers some bodies to others, whether its based on their ability, gender,color, class, etc. This affects the position people have in our capitalistic society. I know that Grinnell students, talk a lot about patriarchy and the -isms, but I don’t believe enough importance is placed on the history of colonialism and how the -isms originate from a believe that one group should tower over another (and by extension be the oppressors) because of a believed superiority.

General Similarities aside, I anticipate what will make this experience unique is our privilege of going to and interacting with indigenous/mayan culture. One thing is Guatemala City and all it has to offer, but I feel that their is something raw about indigenous life. This is partly based from my romanticized view of “indigenous” (which I hope to topple) life, and also from my exposure to a small part of indigenous bolivian life.

As the day came to a close I was thinking again about the Rios Montt trial and how I can stand in solidarity with people and communities who have faced the terrible acts of the genocide, and the effects it has had on Guatemala. I think my definition of solidarity will change as this experience continues.

-Amy

Tanya’s First Day in Guatemala

Leaving the negative degree weather in Iowa to go to Guatemala began the excitement for the day. The early departure from DSM challenged the group to wake up early and load/unload our luggage in the freezing weather. The rest of the flights were an opportunity for me to nap and rest before we got to Guatemala. As a trip leader, I was always conscious of the whole group and making sure everyone was there and had all their belongings, but the group did a great job in staying together and always helping each other out. As we were landing in Guatemala City, I felt a bit of relief because we had all made it there after fall the preparations and planning that had gone into it and all the effort and dedication the whole group had put into learning and preparing themselves. It was finally a reality that we were in Guatemala.

The meeting with Jenny was exciting because we would finally see her after many skype sessions and meetings with her. An alumni of Grinnell, Jenny helped us plan this trip and is our coordinator during our stay. Meeting her, along with the rest of her team that will be taking us around and teaching us about Guate, was the start to our journey. The rest of the evening was filled with more introductions and reflections about what our presence in Guate means to us, to our community, and to the community we plan to learn more about. It took much work and effort to get to Guatemala, but with just the first evening here, I felt it was all worth it.

-Tanya S.

Buena Energía

As soon as I exited the plane, warm air enveloped me in a tight a hug. My black sweater that was direly needed this morning, was suddenly too much! As we walked towards baggage claim a new Spanish filled my ears as I listened to the chatter around me. Despite the different accent, I could still understand words and the meaning of the surrounding conversation, which was a huge relief. At the airport, my own Spanish felt clumsy. However, this did not arise as an issue as the group instantly watched out for one another as we navigated through the airport.

Finally outside in the chaotic mass of shuttles and taxis, Jenny greeted us all with warm smiles and tight embraces. We then loaded up into the white van and drove through the city to the hotel that we will be staying at during our time in the capital. We quickly dropped of our luggage and shed the many winter layers. We then loaded back onto the bus and drove to a small cafe called Casa de Cervantes, where we spent the entirety of our afternoon and evening. Casa de Cervantes is easy to pass by without noticing, yet once you go inside you will be forever thankful that you did indeed notice it. Strong flavors of Guatemalan coffee fill your nostrils, music and laughter fill your ears, and your eyes do not know where to look first as art covers almost every wall. Additionally, Casa de Cervantes also houses a local bookstore and works on cultural preservation.

We made our way to a room in the back and spent the afternoon getting to know one each as a complete group (finally!) and discussing issues surrounding colonialism, capitalism, patriarchy, and racism. We quickly came to consensus that none of these issues are singular. They overlap, criss-cross, and lend themselves to one another constantly. The current state of Guatemala is a by-product of these affairs. This conversation laid the foundation for the purpose of our trip. I can already tell that I will be reflecting on what these mean to me personally, what they mean to the United States, and what they mean to Guatemala throughout our journey.

Despite the heavy issues that will permeate our trip, I have noticed (at least thus far) that the people of Guatemala are incredibly friendly and welcoming. (Disclaimer: It’s only the first day, and my only conversations with locals have been limited at best). Like the customs attendant told me, “I can feel your good energy,” I can similarly feel the good energy of Guatemala.  🙂

Cassandra

Dos Tazas de Cafe–Day 1 Marlu

Esta es mi primera mañana despertando en Guatemala y es absolutamente bellisimo. Me desperté a la luz del sol y al sonido del tráfico de fuera de nuestra habitacion. Ayer fue un día tan emocionante: aterrizamos en el aeropuerto en la Ciudad de Guatemala por la tarde y finalmente conocimos a Jenny (Juanita), Jonathan, y a Elena, nuestros contactos durante nuestro viaje.

La primera cosa que pensé al salir del aeropuerto es que Guatemala me recuerda mucho de México. Las calles estan llenas de tráfico, ¡el cual te puede llevar si no tienes cuidado! Otra cosa que notamos fue el hecho de que hay muchos restaurantes de “fast food” que se encuentran en los EEUU. Para muchos de nosotros que nunca habían estado de fuera de los estados (aparte de Mexico, en mi caso), fue muy interesante ver todos los Quiznos en camino a nuestro hotel.

Más tarde, llegamos a la Casa de Cervantes. Tome el café más delicioso y dulce que he probado toda mi vida. Y aunque habia tomado dos tazas, no tuve problema durmiendo anoche (¡pero sí que tuve pesadillas!). ¡La cena en general fue estupenda! Creo que estoy enamorada con la comida 🙂 Mientras cenábamos, hablamos todos sobre conceptos que tal vez teníamos que entender para realmente absorber y aprender sobre la cultura Guatemalteca. Hablamos sobre la patriarquia, sobre la conquista, colonización, ideas capitalistas, y hasta racismo. Este fue mi parte favorita sobre el dia entero; me encanta hablar sobre las cosas que existen en nuestra vida cotidiana, pero que no necesariamente cuestionamos o preguntamos por qué son.

Despues de nuestro primer dia, estoy muy emocionada para andar caminando por la ciudad finalmente. Ojala mis alergias no empeoren 🙂 ¡Hasta luego!

Marlu

Experiencing Guatemala and its People

For the second time I am outside the United States exploring, seeing, and experiencing many new things. The trip coming here to Guatemala has already been so exciting and filled with interesting occurrences. The initial fear of the unknown has been very quickly dispelled by just a few great people and a few activities that we have done in the first day. Our first day was spent mainly in airports, but that was a place that had some great conversations that I found with a couple of interesting people that knew a good deal about Guatemala.

The first person I met that actually talked with me and was not with our group or program was someone named Helen. She was an elderly lady who had moved to Guatemala from the United States as a young lady. She had traveled to Guatemala and enjoyed the time she spent here and the people she met so much that she wanted to move here. She wanted to make a life for herself in a country that welcomed her so quickly. She had nothing but good things to say about all the time she has spent here and all the people she has met including her current husband. Meeting and talking to Helen was one experience that made me even more thoughtful of the trip as she was outside of the people who were going to experience the country like our group planned to see it.

The second person I met was on our final flight coming to Guatemala. Kaylie was sitting on the plane by the window seat and me on the aisle seat and surprisingly there was nobody in the seat between us. I greeted here and started a conversation with her. She told me about herself being in college and graduating in May. I asked her many questions to try and pass the time on the flight in order for myself to stay awake. I ended up finding out that she was a big fan of living in Guatemala and planned on moving here after she graduated from her college. She told me about her plans to move down to Guatemala where on her first trip here she met someone who is her current boyfriend and her reason for coming down to Guatemala. She told me about her amazing experiences in Guatemala and that the people were so kind that she loved it here immediately. She was very kind and made me feel even better about all the exciting things that we are going to be doing here on our trip.

Our first activity was an amazing conversation that we had while we also had an amazing meal to go with it. The conversation helped me to see some more things about the way things can connect here in Guatemala as well as how we can just look around for the interconnectedness of so many things and the effects they have on the people around them. The trip so far has been great with thoughts swirling here and there, but I will keep the last thing my dad said to me before coming here in the forefront of my mind and use that it to think about my experiences here.

-James

Living the Life at Guatemala

Today my roommate and I started off extremely early to catch our flight to Guatemala City. We had four alarms clocks ready and set to wake us up at all cost and the alarms vary in sound quality such as being quiet to loud. I went to sleep early with my roommate, but I only slept for two hours and then I could not go back to sleep. I was expecting to get much luckier, since I got “el niñoto dios” from la rosca de los reyes, but not. I also mistook the time that we where supposed to be in the lobby by an extra hour early, and realized that while the alarms where not going off. With these upset, I slept my way through my first flight and half of my second flight. In the second flight, I was stock that it was my first international flight. My fellow colleagues, who where sitting with me in my second flight, and I where so amaze by the mountainy view that we got to see from the aircraft that we took many pictures. However, I was excited with a 90 degree turn that the aircraft did to landed, I was so afraid. When we got to the Guatemala airport the entire group including me was unbelievably happy for arriving safe. Yet, in the few hours that we got here, we got rob when we exchange our money to Quetzal.

When we got out of the airport is when the programs was beginning to feel real. All those Sunday morning that we spend preparing for the program where going to be starting to get implemented. The environment that I got while being in the bus was very similar to when I went to Mexico. I also got extremely excited when we drove by a center statue where we did a half circle, I always wanted to do that. Ones we got to the hotel I was amazed by how eco-friendly it look, the fresh aroma of the water and leaves breezing through my face was fantastic. The food that follow was superb mostly because my group and I did not eat much before but it was great, while having bonding activities to get to know each other better. I personally did not have enough time to digest the food that I had that I could not appreciate the food that we had the following hour. By the end of this last activity I was tired and starting to get a headache, that I need time to sleep and cool off. When we got back to the hotel I took a shower and took some medicine and to my surprised there in the shower there was a mosquito. I had no other option but to slap it. Now I feel much better and waiting for the next adventure tomorrow.

M.E.

Jason’s First Day Experience

After not being able to sleep for the past day I found myself energetic and ready to keep moving; I was eager to get to Guatemala. At arrival, a peer asked me how I felt being in Guate, I didn’t know what to answer, but honestly I had an array of emotions. My emotions varied from nervousness to excitement and happiness to nostalgia. I left my family and only saw them for two weeks, but I’m also happy, happy to delve into a culture, immerse myself in a beautiful culture; moreover, critically take a stand in a culture that is not new to me as it is my own culture. As a son of a Guatemalan man Guatemala has been a part of me before I could walk.

As the plane began to descend into Guatemala City I felt butterflies but that also might’ve been from the weird turns the pilot was taking. Any who when we landed I looked around I saw a country to which I had been before but my lenses are different ones now. Gabe had given us an article in which I found a section where it said one had to be a critical citizen.  And as I stood up in the plane I saw the shanti homes and maybe a block after the airport; I couldn’t help but to think how many people had been displaced for this airport. And while I was being a critical citizen what did that do? It didn’t make things better for people who like some of my family had been displaced, persecuted and threatened.

As the day progressed we met Jenny, Jhonathan and Elena. At first I was hesitant to open up I guess it’s a personal defense mechanism to hold certain things to myself. But as they began to talk and share some experiences I felt I could relate to some of their ideologies. It made me feel more comfortable I started to see some of the things I recognized and I felt a nice feeling, a warm feeling. As we snacked and ate dinner at a beautiful Café we began to talk about several different points. Identity and oppression were overarching themes in our workshop and it was quite interesting to discuss academia in a way were we focused it in the environment and in the personal. Unlike in school we discussed not only ideas but actions and the effects it has to us as individuals.

Not only was I afraid and almost regretting coming to Guate I felt distant to the place where some of my origins came from. Thanks to Jhonathan, Jenny, Elena and Gabe and my peers of course I am excited to continue learning not only about the culture and the environment but also of myself and of growing as an individual and bringing back my knowledge to campus.

Initial Thoughts on Guatemala

During our introduction session tonight, we have defined vocabularies such as economic, capitalism, charity and etc. As someone who does not usually participate at workshops or lectures, I happened to contribute my ideas actively throughout the session. Further, the connection of “the cause and the consequence” between colonialism, patriarchy, racism, and capitalism made me to rethink the images Guatemala presents to the public.

As soon as I stepped out from the Guatemala airport, I was aware that there were multiple billboards from Samsung and other billboards with slogans that attempt to say that tourists will be satisfied when they visit Guatemala. Those advertisements, however, do not describe the real challenges which the Guatemalans are facing. Moreover, on our way to the hotel, I saw many Japanese brand cars. Covered under the history of Spanish colonialism, Guatemala is now conquered by other emerging countries such as Korea and Japan, as mentioned above. The promotion of foreign country products might stagnate Guatemala’s Total Factor Productivity due to the lack of technology advancement and their dependence on foreign goods. Hence, emerging countries’ exploitation of Guatemalans’ demand and consuming behavior is parallel to the encomienda during the colonial period.

The billboards on tourism do not clearly demonstrate racism, yet, the pictures allude privilege, which  is relevant to racism. The Guatemalan government degrades the image/status of its civilians to the world because the government promotes tourists to come to Guatemala to study Spanish, to go on excursions, or to relax. Those Guatemalans slowly become servants of all tourists and people might be less respectful to them  because of their lower social class.

Lastly, I realized that drivers are predominated by males. I am uncertain if patriarchy is applicable in this situation, nonetheless, I am interested to understand more about this trend.

Kiyan

Enrique’s First Day in Guatemala

As I was awoken by the captain’s announcement of the beginning of our descent, I immediately took to opening the window in order to have a glance of Guatemala from the skies. As I expected, the scenery was beautiful: mountains covered in green and plentiful rooftops scattered throughout the rough terrain. The sight was familiar, and even before the plain landed, the view of the landscape was a warm welcome.

From the get-go, I felt very comfortable in our surroundings. The sound of fluent Spanish, local slangs, taxi drivers offering their services, and old vans with inefficient fuel systems that pollute the air and cause a smell that I was very familiar to me made me feel as if I was visiting Mexico – I felt as if I was right at home.

We had barely left the airport when my expectations of the town became reality. The streets were just as I imagined: poorly constructed, bouncy, loud, rustic, and narrow. There was very little overall luxury – no huge buildings or fancy cars – which is essential for a real Latin American experience. There were ‘’tienditas’’ (little convenient stores) almost on every corner – also very typical of Latin American countries. Buildings were made of stone and most of them had tall, wooden garage door entrances. The architecture of the city, its layout, still resembled colonial Spanish settlements – again, a very typical attribute of Latin America.

To Top the day off, we were treated to an exceptional meal a local, traditional café. The café itself was filled with Guatemalan hand art – sculptures, weaved creations, and paintings. It also had a library of Guatemalan authors. The meal was simple, yet delicious: we started with a sandwich of what seemed to be Guatemalan chicken salad, followed by a chicken soup, hand-made yucca french-fries, and ‘’sincronizadas’’ filled with piGco de gallo sauce, ham, guacamole, and jalapeños. (a different form of quesadillas). The meal was probably not as traditional as it could be, but it definitely beats chicken flavored Cup Noodles and Spencer Grill quesadillas with a side of frozen fries.