Volcano Pacaya. 533 days later.

On Saturday, November 12, Kaycie and I hiked Volcano Pacaya.  Last year, during our international service trip with the NWU group Global Service Learning, we made similar plans to hike the same volcano for Saturday, May 29, 2010.  GSL never climbed Volcano Pacaya; it erupted on May 27.  Well, GSL…  A mere 76 weeks later, Kaycie and I made it to the top (barely)!  It was a pretty steep hike.  I had to pop my ears a few times to account for the change in pressure.  All in all, it took ninety minutes to reach the summit.

We had a guide lead the baker’s dozen, including us, up the mountain and share fun facts every once in a while.  For example, pacaya, is the name of a fruit-bearing tree.  I think it’s pretty awesome Guatemala has a Volcano Fuego, Agua and Pacaya.  If you stretch a tree to symbolize “earth” then you have seventy-five percent of the four basic elements.  They’re only missing an “air” Volcano.  Maybe one of these days I’ll snap a picture of clouds in the shape of a volcano!  I don’t want this to be a lenghty entry, so instead of describing the scenery in 1,000 words, I’ll just post some pics.

A view after (approx.) 15 minutes of hiking

Scenic stop at Laguna de Calderas

"Caldron Lagoon"

 Guatemala City

Volcano Agua from Volcano Pacaya

Kaycie girl

Our guide said there were 7 separate trees in this structure 

Volcano Agua after (approx.) 60 minutes of hiking

Volcano Fuego on the left, Agua on the right

We reached the summit!

We are basking in the glory!

A heavenly view

Much to our dismay, we didn’t see any lava.  After the sunset, it got pretty cold (I doubt we get much sympathy from our Nebraskan brethren for suffering through a breezy 50 degree night, on top of a volcano, to boot!).  We did crawl through some rock formations that exuded volcanic steam.  In seconds, I was drenched in sweat!

Two other hikers, crawling through the heated rock formation

Kaycie in another rock formation heated by the Volcano

It was much easier going down the volcano.  Minus the darkness.  We brought flashlights, so we each only fell once (remarkably)!  I don’t know how our guide did it, but he led the group of Australians, (North) Americans and Guatemaltecos (Native Guatemalans) down the volcano with no light source whatsoever.  I could understand traversing the landscape in pitch black, because eyes tend to adjust.  Right?  Maybe I’ll ask an optometrist one day…  The guide walked down without a flashlight, even after our light polluted his vision.

It was pretty dark by the time we hiked down the Volcano!

It was a pretty exciting Saturday hike.  And we completed our Saturday by eating dinner at the best restaurant for burgers (as suggested by Stefan).  It took both of us a long time for the inevitable pun to land.  Kaycie was the one to finally make the connection.  The name of the awesome burger joint?  Lava…  I had a Lava burger with jalapenos; it got a little hot!  Distasteful pun.  But the burger was seriously delicious.

The following Sunday, Kaycie and I enjoyed a brunch buffet at Café Condesa. Highlight item: tomato quiche.  That night we stopped at the Bagel Barn for a 16 ounce coffee and enjoyed a movie projected onto one wall.  The movie was mostly in English with Spanish subtitles; although some scenes left me more or less lost because it was all in Spanish and they dropped the captions.  My Spanish is improving, but slower than I would prefer.

We are settling into our respective positions at Constru Casa; Kaycie, the Volunteer Coordinator and Public Relations Intern and I, the Project Reporter.  My first official day, I hopped on the back of a motorcycle to assist Giovanni with an interview in a nearby town and snap some pictures of the family and home.  I’m piecing together a larger understanding of how the organization works.  I look forward to finding innovative ways to improve my reporting.

Our most recent weekend was pretty peaceful.  We stayed around Antigua for some good ole’ R&R.  In our defense, we tried to plan a coffee plantation tour for Sunday, but the travel agencies reported them all full or closed.  Oh well, maybe next weekend. 

Thanks for reading.

-          Travis & Kaycie

Spanish Classes...

Kaycie has done all the work on the blog up until this point.  She did a great deal of digging through the rich history of Guatemala and La Antigua to provide a strong foundation.  

She added these facts with the same tenacity and carefulness as maneuvering heavy cinder blocks person to person in a firefighter relay.  

creating cement

Denilson!

Kaycie then thoughtfully cemented these ideas between wonderful pictures of the city and surrounding landscape.  Single-handedly, she constructed the entire house of this blog!

These pictures were taken in May 2010, during the GSL International Service Trip.  We arrived in Guatemala to assist the masons in constructing a house in Alotenango for Ana Patricia, Mario Leopoldo and their children Ronaldo, Denilson and Jhoselin.  One year later, Ana Patricia and her family have turned the cinder blocks, cement and rebar into a home by painting a wall blue and adding all their belongings. 

Kaycie and I will make this blog more of a home by continuing to up pictures and add stories.  November 7th was the first Monday in Guatemala.  With it came the first day at APPE Spanish School.  We arrived a little after 8:00am and were immediately both paired up with our respective teachers.  It was as if the tables had turned from the time I have volunteered with Lincoln Literacy.

shameless plug

When tutoring, I was planning lessons for immigrants and refugees from the Congo, the Karen people from Burma, Mexico and even Guatemala.  Now I was the student, and Miriam from Guatemala my tutor. 

Spanish has been challenging for me, to say the least.  I rejoice when I successfully conjugate a single word.  And I’m ready to throw a parade when I understand the main idea of an entire dialogue.  I would say I comprehend roughly half the words in discussion, but I do my best to follow along.  I get caught off guard during large group discussions when suddenly seven pairs of eyes are staring right at me.   I’m not sure if someone asked me a question, or some type of food is hanging from my face.  I plan to take classes for at least two weeks.  Who knows, maybe by next week my entire post will be composed in Spanish!

So get this: Kaycie and I have spent two days, a total of eight hours with APPE Spanish School and one FULL WEEK staying with the Morales family, including six days of breakfast, lunch and dinner… all without paying a single Quetzale!  The amazing part isn’t that this is free.  It’s not.  The interesting cultural difference here in Antigua is that prepayment is not required.  The only exception so far has been when we visited the laundromat; they took payment with the dirty clothes we dropped off and returned the clothes completely folded and smelling fresh.

view of ruins from rooftop

Volcano Fuego is barely visible

During class today, Volcano Fuego (Fire) erupted a little bit.  One teacher described it as a sneeze.  We learned that the colder weather (that means a low of 61 F) causes the volcano to emit dark plumes of smoke periodically.  Fear not.  Antigua is safely a great deal away from Volcano Fuego.

Manuela!

When we returned from class, Manuela was receiving a bath!  I live with a family that has a pet turtle!  I live with my power animal, which teaches me to be patient and work hard.  With these two attributes, I hope to learn a great deal of Spanish and hence become a worthy part of Constru Casa. 

-Travis & Kaycie

Exploring Antigua

This was our first weekend in Antigua and we were really excited! Friday night we got to experience a few of the local bars. El Muro (The Wall) was our first stop complete with upside down paintings with rugs and chairs bolted to the ceiling. We then headed to Mono Loco (Crazy Monkey), which was a very commercialized and gringo (foreigner) bar. Our last stop was a very PACKED Café No Sé (Café I don’t know…literally I don’t know). It was a fun night, but we definitely need to meet some people. (I’m getting sick of Travis…kidding!)

We had big plans for Saturday, but a little bug came over me and we pretty much napped, read, watching movies, and napped again. I must admit we did head to Burger King down the street for a snack. It was much needed!

Sunday we woke up sickness free and ready to explore! As many of you know, we have both been here before, so we have already seen much of Antigua. However, it is a different story when you are living here. We both feel the need to get to know the history of the city and the country as a whole. We took our time today and tried to really learn. With our handy-dandy tourist guide it was pretty fun!

First of all, here is a little about Antigua itself. After the capital of Guatemala was moved twice from 1524 to 1541 due to rebellions and mudslides, it was moved to where Antigua is now. It was named Santiago de los Caballeros. Antigua remained the capital for over 200 years and was one of the largest and most influential cities in all of Central America. In 1717 an earthquake destroyed more than 3,000 buildings. Then in 1773 after another devastating earthquake the capital was moved to its current location in Guatemala City. In fact, when the capital was moved its name was changed to La Antigua Guatemala (The Old Guatemala). After decades of reconstruction Antigua became inhabited again. It is now a National Monument and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. There are roughly 34,000 people living in Antigua now.

Our first stop was our Spanish school, which we will start bright and early tomorrow morning. It is just across town, so a short walk. On the way back we passed many ruins and a market in the street. Most of the churches have been left untouched after the earthquakes, both as a sign of respect and because the Spanish church moved its money to the new capital. The ruins can be seen all over town.

Volcano Agua in the distance. 

Building in Antigua 

Travis took this one... 

This was the outdoor market with one of the famous churches and the volcano in the background. 

Belts of many colors at the market. 

One of the cathedrals that has been rebuilt is the Santiago Cathedral located in the central square of Antigua. It is the oldest cathedral in Central America; build in 1542. Due to all of the earthquakes that have hit the area the outside and active part of the cathedral is a reconstruction of its original look and is just a façade. It is one of the prettiest things in town though!

Cathedral Santiago 

Tourists for the day! 

Cathedral 

Dates of destruction and rebuilding. 

Some of the original ruins. 

Inside the original cathedral. 

Top of the cathedral

The stone is original and the brick is the part that has been rebuilt. 

Life among the ruins...ha

Us. 

Another flower in the cathedral. 

These are called Mayan umbrellas and are H-U-G-E!!

Leaving the cathedral. 

The back of the cathedral is actually where the original one was located. The have reconstructed some of the arches, as you can see where there is stone and where there is brick. It is still rather impressive. There are underground areas all around the church. There was an underground prayer room where Mayan and Spaniards alike come to pray for good wishes the next year on day of the dead. There are also catacombs under the church. You walk down some steps and there are three large rooms. The two side rooms were used for cremations, one for Mayan peoples and one for Spaniards. Separation was important at that time. Our guide even told us that people can be cremated there now if they wish, but it is extremely expensive and people haven’t done it in years.

We quickly stopped at the Central Park to watch a traditional Guatemalan band play! It was a pretty busy place today!

Band in the Park. 

We then headed to the Church and Convent of Santa Clara. This was also destroyed by various earthquakes and now only the ways have been rebuild, supposedly to shroud the ghosts of the nuns walking the grounds. We did not go in, but took pictures of the outside.

Church and Convent of Santa Clara

Just across the street is Union Park. This is a public park where women could come to wash their clothing in the public fountain. To this day it is used by indigenous women from the villages around Antigua where water is scarce.

Travis being thoughtful...

Just relaxing...

Ditto. 

The washing basins. 

Our next stop was the San Pedro Church and Hospital. It is a beautiful yellow building close to the center of town.

San Pedro Hospital (Left) Church (Right)

Hospital 

We then headed for a lunch at a deli. We spent the afternoon relaxing. We now have another girl living with us from Texas—Chelsea. It will be nice to get to know her! We had a wonderful dinner at Café Opera, an Italian restaurant close to our house. $30 for three drinks, an appetizer and two full entrees—and this was a really nice place! We are spoiled…we came home to fireworks that were coming from the side of the volcano (from a town…it wasn’t erupting, no worries) that we could watch from our rooftop terrace. We are having a rough life thus far in Guatemala. If it makes you feel better, my shower was cold.

Kaycie missing her Nebraskan Corn... 

It is fun to be a tourist, but we are both getting anxious to really start our jobs and start contributing! There is a lot we can do and some great things to be a part of with Constru Casa! More updates coming soon!

We miss you all!

-Kaycie and Travis