Day 14: Home Again

Home at last. This trip to Guatemala has come to an end. Along my journey more doors have opened which will enable me to return to Guatemala sometime in the near future. I have a sense of satisfaction and accomplishment that I was able to meet all of my objectives, primarily with the children. I'm aware that my purpose with the children in Guatemala will never be over even after I pass to the spirit world. There is no arrival date or finish line when it comes to humans helping each other. But I do what I can with what I have and take it one day at a time, as I have been taught by those who have come before me. 

It is very important that I point out I did not do this trip alone, I had support. First, the donations I received from everyone in the US for the children. Second, the moral support I received from my brother Daniel, Mike S., and Jeremy and Olivia. Thank you all for your encouragement even when I felt overwhelmed with this project, you guys heard me out and gave me a hand up not a hand down. Of course, I couldn't have done this project without my friend Aldo Lemos, our driver Thony, and every single one of the Catholic Church choir members in Sibinal, Guatemala. 

I would like to share with all of you some of the moments caught on film which emotionally impacted me the most. They tugged on my heart with an unexplainable force I will not soon forget. 

Next, I would like to share personal  moments where I felt the happiest during this trip. 

Last, but never the least. All of the people I met who shared moments and  smiles with me along my journey. 

Good night everyone. Thank you for following my blog for 2 weeks. Over and out! 

Day 13: Antigua

This was my second trip to Antigua since May of 2014. Although Antigua, Guatemala, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the most visited city in Guatemala I strongly dislike it. Antigua itself is undoubtedly beautiful with its colonial style buildings and roads dating back to the 1500's. In my opinion, Antigua is not the real Guatemala. It's a tourist attraction filled with Americans and Europeans seeking to do the same exact things they can do back home. Antigua is a facade and by no means an extension of the real Guatemala. The attitude Antigua generates is that of a prosperous country where most everything is cobble roads, fancy restaurants, coffee shops, and Mayans happily plowing their fields. This, as I well know, is far from the real Guatemala. 

Let me give a brief history of Antigua and then you can judge by the pictures what I'm attempting to convey about the city. Antigua means "old" in Spanish. It was the third capital city of Guatemala in the mid 1500's as a result of devastating natural disasters to the other two capital locations. In the 1700's an earthquake with a magnitude of 7.4 left Antigua in ruins and once again, the capital was moved to present day Guatemala City. An interesting fact about Antigua is that at some point it had over 100 churches. Some are still standing although others were destroyed by the earthquake. 

My favorite part of the trip was the weaving done by the local Mayan people. I observed how they weaved and learned it can take up to one month to make one piece of elaborate clothing. 

Another part of the trip I enjoyed were some of the human made gardens and plazas we were able to visit. But once again, after experiencing the Guatemalan mountains and jungle most of what I saw today was man made and not naturally occurring. 

That was Antigua in a nut shell. I feel like I took a positive approach to Antigua. But once again, I left the city with a sense of regret for wasting a day in a fantasy world.