Day 4 & 5

I was just too tired last night so I am going to combine yesterday and today to give you an idea of our days here in beautiful, friendly San Lucas!!
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 We began the day by separating into two groups.  One group went and picked coffee and the other group worked on the cistern for a new building.  This second group moved buckets of dirt from a 14 foot hole which will still need to chiseled through boulders for at least another 2 feet.  The Guatemalans have very basic and simple tools.  These boulders are cut out using machetes only.  It can take weeks to remove one boulder.

The coffee picking group had a long drive in an open bed truck referred to as a chicken bus here.  Up a winding road to the mountainside.  We were dropped off the side of the road and followed our guide through the woods until he suddenly stopped and motioned around him.  I didn't see anything at first but a bunch of dying trees but upon closer inspection, the sparsely leafed branches had berries covering both sides of the skinny branches.  The ripe coffee is the color of a cranberry but just a bit larger.  Each bean needs to be individually picked as not all berries on the stem are ripe.  This is a very arduous process as it took 20 of us 2.5 hours to fill 1 100 pound sack.  Each 100 pound sack of ripe beans will yield 9 ponds of roasted beans!!!  My appreciation for coffee has now taken a whole new meaning!

The afternoon had us going to the reforestation project run by the mission. Most Guatemalans use wood daily for cooking in open pits so firewood is a necessary life commodity.  Consequently, many, many people have breathing problems and their homes are coated in creosote.  We split up again and some sanded wooded spoons for sale to local people and some are available for sale through the New Ulm website.  The spoons are carved using machetes by young men who apprentice with a skilled carver.  This is to teach the young men a skill.  75% of the sales profits are returned to the boys and the remaining is used for supplies (bags, string, knives).  Mayans believe strongly in Mother Earth being a source of all things so nothing goes to waste.  The carved wood is leftover scraps from other projects and the paper bags are also recycled.  The school children draw art on the bags for decoration, usually depicting pictures of trees, the earth and plants.

Day 3

Another beautiful morning in San Lucas!  The roosters start crowing around 3 am and the motorcycles and tuk tuks are roaring by 6am.  The singing from the church could be heard wafting through our windows.  It is indeed a beautiful morning in Guatemala.

Today our mission team will be getting a personal tour of all the enterprises of San Lucas.  These will include all the endeavors of Fr. Greg to ensure the Mayans viewed themselves as equal and people of dignity.  Mayan culture is rooted firmly in Mother Earth.  Fr Greg has tried to give many of them plots of land for growing food and coffee.  The coffee production brings income to the community.

The first stop today was the womens health clinic.  The women are taught to weave, sew and bake breads for their families.  There is even a small garden to learn thèir gardening skills.  A small playroom is available for their children.

Next we toured the medical clinic.  There is even an operating room where they perform eye, cleft palate and liver surgeries twice a year.  2 birthing rooms, ultrasound and a separate men's and women's clinic are all on the main level.  Multiple exam rooms are open year round for emergency care and they see an average of 40 patients a day - just one doctor.

We saw the school today!  There are over 600 students in attendance in grades from preschool thru secondary.  The children come out smiling from ear to ear!  They are truly joy filled and so excited to be going to school!

The last stop of the day was the coffee production facility.  We spent the afternoon picking out by hand the burnt beans from the yellow ones.  Much, much more on the coffee later!!  I have to run now!

St Lucas - pray for us!
St Patrick - pray for us!!

Day 2

Apologies for such a poor entry yesterday!!  Very sporadic internet and it kept going down while I was trying to blog!  Hopefully most of you will be able to piece things together to get a rough idea of our day! This morning began with another round of dish duty.  We are starting to get the hang of things!!  Rinse in beach water, scrub, rinse in bleach water again, stack in the racks and . . .  repeat!!  A treat this morning was to hear a most impressive group of young adults who were leaving, sing a song they wrote about their Guatemalan experience!  One couldn't help but be moved by their words.

 Today we went aboard 2 lanchas to tour Lake Atitlan.  Bear in mind that neither one even came close to Coast Guard standards regarding life jackets or screws being tight to hold the roof down!  We were taken to 2 villages.  The first being primarily a tourist market but the second was Santiago.  We were fortunate to visit a 400+ year old church that was the site of the unfortunate murders of recent martyrs during Guatemala's civil war.  We were taken by tuk tuks from the lake to the church.  A unique first experience for many in our group.

Our day ends again with a Mass with Fr Houser and a time to reflect upon the many things we witnessed today.  The camaraderie of our own group but also the fellowship with some of the other missionaries.  I enjoy watching the pride of young parents bringing their babies for Baptism.  We were told today that 3 -4 babies are baptized every day!  Amazing!!

Tomorrow we are scheduled to see the school, the hospital, the women's center and the coffee production facility.

Estamos Aqui!

We have arrived safe and sound at San Lucas!  Our early morning departure had us arriving in fog and wondering if we were going to be delayed.  As luck would have it, we were not delayed in Harrisburg but Atlanta!  Apparently  too many planes over the Gulf of Mexico.  Pilot explained it as Saturday morning traffic! Rush hour with tourists on their way to Cancun.  Our group arrived in Guatemala City only half an hour late!  Not too shabby since we were delayed an hour.  But in true Guatemalan custom, our vans were not there.  They eventually arrived and we started our 3 hour adventurous drive to San Lucas.

 It is wonderful to see the brightly colored dresses of the women and young girls.  Driving through Guatemala City, you could see the men proudly carrying their wives and children on the backs of their motorcycles.  Stacks of beautiful pineapples and coconuts line some of the streets.

 We stopped at a small 7 -11 kind of store with an armed guard by the door for a little break from the drive. Seeing an armed guard by the door as we purchased sodas was just a little disconcerting.  About 30 minutes away from San Lucas the van I was in started to spew black smoke and  dropped its speed to 5 km hour!  An emergency stop forced the 3 of us to crowd in with the 13 others. I did casually wonder if all the luggage in our original van was going to make it to the mission! Thank goodness it was only another 20 minute ride to the mission because we were packed in like sardines!!  San Lucas is much larger than I had imagined.  The church is more beautiful in person than in pictures.  We met several other missionary groups here and somehow managed to pull dinner duty dishes on our first night and Breakfast tomorrow too!  After dinner cleanup, we had a brief orientation meeting and were given our time to return for breakfast set up in the morning. Long, long day!

Adios PA - Bienvenidos Guatemala!

I can't believe that in less than 48 hours, our group of 16 mission team members will be together in Antigua, Guatemala on our way to San Lucas Toliman!  I said "Adios" to my boss this afternoon as she gave me a big hug and 2 awesome books for the journey.  I really should be packing instead of blogging, but this will be the final post from PA and I wanted to ask for prayers of safety, health, faith and charity as we commence on our journey.  I am personally looking forward to the camaraderie of my teammates, becoming immersed in the culture of San Lucas and hopefully contributing to the mission of San Lucas by assisting with the coffee production or helping to build stoves for healthier heating and cooking.  I will be taking pictures of the many sights and hope to post a few while we are there.  I will have an online album available once we return for those that are interested.  Just leave a message on the blog!

St. Patrick - Pray for us!
St. Christopher - Pray for us!
Holy Mary, Mother of God - Pray for us!

10 Days and Counting!!

It is now officially countdown time!!  Fellow teammates - make sure you have your passports, pepto bismal and spare toothbrushes packed and ready to go! 

I, for one, am very excited and really looking forward to seeing Antigua and San Lucas Toliman.  I've poured over all the written literature I can put my hands on.  Google Earthed the area at least 3 times and looked at the pictures of the children countless times.  I personally had 4 shots last week in preparation for the trip.  I am now thoroughly protected from tetanus, Hep A and Hep B - oh yeah, and the local flu!  Not that I'm expecting anything bad, but sometimes a little prevention can go a long way! ;)

Hopefully my next post will be from Guatemala!  Please keep us in your prayers for safe travels and that our mission is a success for us personally and for the people of San Lucas.

Hasta la proxima vez!!