El Parque Central

 When we weren't at home or working somewhere we spent most of our time in the central park (El Parque Central). There was often something exciting happening. Some of the most exciting events we witnessed were a group of break-dancers in the street (above) and a student led political parade (below). Some of us were even dragged into parades ourselves. 

Kindergarten

We spent one of our days in a rural kindergarten outside of Quetzaltenango. The kids were so adorable and we spent some time drawing and playing outside with them. What was difficult about working at the kindergarten was that the children were in the midst of learning Spanish themselves. They spoke a language called Quiche so it was very hard for us to understand each other. When we weren't playing with the children we spent our time painting the walls of one of the two rooms of the kindergarten.We weren't very pleased with the wall painting because it was difficult to make much of a difference with the paint that we were using but it was a fun experience anyway.

Despues de Guatemala

Coming back from Guatemala there was a whole new range of emotions. Fondness of the memories and happiness remembering the adventures. Here Hannah thinks back on some of the experiences she had and Ella channels her inner grunge train, a journey that many joined her on.

Antes de Guatemala

This is how Stephanie and Emma felt before Guatemala. In the final days before leaving there was a lot of excitement but also some nervousness. Although over all the students and faculty on the trip were excited about traveling to a new country they were also nervous about speaking Spanish, living with host families and getting use to a whole new culture.  

The Streets

This picture is of the streets of Guatemala. Driving in Guatemala was one of the hardest things to get use to. Speed limits and sides of the street did not seem to be relevant, one of my biggest fears while there was falling off of one of the giant side walks into the street when a fast car was driving by.

Girls' Orphanage

During our time in Guatemala we spent most of our time working at a girls' orphanage. They taught us a game that they like to play and also how to dance and we showed them some games that we like to play like tweener and huggy bear. When we weren't playing games we worked with them in the garden planting things like lettuce and radishes. We also worked with them in the kitchen. The girls loved the movie Twilight and we all watched it together and we were also able to spend the day at the park with them. It was amazing to be able to get to know these girls and talk with them in Spanish. It was an experience we all look back on fondly. 

Strumming for Quetzales

One of the hardest things to see in Guatemala was the level of poverty. There were a number of people sitting on the street asking for money. As you can see this man was playing the guitar with his prosthetic leg propped up on the wall next to him. 

Maya

One of the most beautiful things about Guatemala is the Maya culture. Their traditional clothing is magnificent. The first picture shown here is one of a Maya woman who was selling clothing and accessories in el Parque Central. The second image is of Hannah who bought a traditional Maya shirt at the market and as she was trying it on the woman gave her a skirt to try on as well that would traditionally be worn with the shirt.

Helado

The team had a great time in Guatemala and one of the things that we did while there was spend time with some girls from an orphanage that we worked at. This is a picture of everyone having ice cream together on Palm Sunday. It was really great to be able to get out and walk around with the girls especially because it is not often that they get to leave the orphanage so we were honored to be the ones to take him.