Volcan Tajumulco!

Pictures, top to bottom:

1. The restaurant where we had lunch after the trip.

2. The view from base camp.

3. Inside our massive tent.

4. Our campsite.

5. Me, Sarah, Rachel and Marissa on the top of the world!

6. When on the top of the highest peak in Central America, doing an arabesque is obviously necessary :-)

7. All the many mountaintops of Guatemala. On the very right of the picture, there is a bundle of smoke that looks like a little cloud. In reality, it is a volcano erupting (the same one mom, dad and I saw erupt from Pacaya).

8. Night turning into day.

9. Clouds, sun, sky, moon.

10. Lunchtime!

11. Halfway up the mountain!

12. Trailhead.

13. Still in Xela, ready to start our adventure, and showing off our 30 pound packs :-)

I’ve never camped (because I’m pretty sure spending the night in the Toyota Sienna, while parked in the garage, doesn’t count). But I’ve always wanted to…

So why not take my first experience on the tallest peak in Central America, a 2 day trip that takes you to 4222m (13, 851.7 feet), requires carrying a 30 pound backpack, camping in the rain/cold (temperatures in the 40s with feels-like 30s due to wind), and waking up at 3:45 to climb to the peak to watch a panoramic view of the sunrise?! In the Mayan language Mam, Tajumulco means “walking into the clouds.”

In reality, it was awesome. It certainly wasn’t easy, but we actually traveled in high class style. We decided to use a guide through Quetzaltrekkers (http://www.quetzaltrekkers.com/guathome.html), an organization composed entirely of volunteers that funds a school and dormitory for underprivileged children in Xela. After taking out costs for food and bus and entrance fees, all the money goes to the organization. The guides live off of tip money. We paid 400Q (about 50 dollars) for the entire trip, which included 3 guides, all food, transportation, camping gear, water, etc. and I tipped 80Q (I wanted to do more but didn't have the money on me). Half of that goes to the guides that run Quetzaltrekkers and the other half goes to the local guide of the trip.

Our local guide was 15 years old. This was his 12^th time hiking this mountain. He blasted up (and down) it! I could not go at his pace. He is training to be on a soccer team and is saving to pay for school. All of the money he earns from being a guide goes towards his education goal. Our other two guides were great as well, both men in their mid twenties. Pete was from UK, and has been living in Xela for 8 months… he had a funny mix of words, like fizzy-pop for soda and torch for flashlight. This was his 16^th time hiking Tajumulco. Ben was from Canada and travels around the world fighting for the rights of miners and researching international exploitation. This was only his 3^rd time doing Tajumulco, but he has hiked Kilimanjaro (its typically a 6 day hike and he did it in 3 days) and a bunch of other crazy climbs.

In total, with the guides, our group was 12. From Somos Hermanos, it was Rachel, Marissa, Sarah and I (three other people from our group did it about a month earlier, without a guide, which I am SO glad I decided not to do, and I can't really see the others enjoying such an adventure). There was a couple from Israel traveling for fun, a couple from California also traveling for fun, a guy from Ireland and a guy from Minnesota. We were an interesting bunch, but it was fun to get to know some different people.

Friday afternoon, we headed to the Quetzaltrekkers office at 5pm to get our gear and learn details for our trip. They were able to provide me with everything that I needed and didn’t have… a hiking pack, down jacket, thermal mittens and a sleeping mat. We also collected our water (4.5 liters for each person to drink and cook with) and were given certain items that we were responsible for carrying, such as food or tent gear.

I packed up all my stuff into my bag Friday night and went to bed super early. At 3:45 AM Saturday morning, my alarm went off and by 4:20 we were walking down the street, heading towards the Quetzaltrekkers office. We arrived there around 4:45 and collected some final items before climbing into a pickup at 5 AM. The pickup took us to the Minerva Bus Terminal, where we picked up a chicken bus to take us to San Marcos.

After arriving in San Marcos at about 7:30, we stopped at a comedor to have some breakfast which was your typical Guatemalan breakfast (eggs, beans, tortillas, sugar water colored to look like coffee). It was the perfect fuel to prepare us for the hike ahead.

After breakfast we picked up another chicken bus that brought us to the trailhead, really just a path that headed off the main road, around 9:30 AM. And that’s where the climbing began! We started at 3,000 meters, which is 9842.5 feet, and I could already feel the difference in my lungs (I am pretty accustomed to Xela, which is at 8,000 feet).

This was definitely one of the most physically tasking activities I have ever done in my life. Not only was there little oxygen, but I had 30 pounds on my back and the trail never stopped going up. I remember thinking “thanks Tajumulco, for making me feel like an 80 year old with respiratory disease.” Despite the cold temperature, I was warm in my shorts and long sleeve running shirt (and I kept “telling” myself not to sweat too much because I knew once at the top, my core body temperature would drop and I would freeze).

Along the way, we met some others who were doing the trip. They were from Germany, and in Guatemala to learn Spanish. They spoke English perfectly... it made me feel really great that these people had two languages down and were on to learning their third (sarcasm!).

We stopped about every 45 minutes to take off our backpacks, breath, take pictures and drink water. The views were amazing and climbing through the clouds, seeing ourselves rise above them, was awesome. Halfway up, we had a trailmix break (it was great going with the guides because they had it down to a science… they knew when we would all need some extra fuel, where the good places were to take breaks, etc.). We arrived at base camp around 1:30-2. I was so happy to see level ground!

Thunder and lightning loomed close, so we hurried to put up our tent before the rain began. Considering I’ve never put a tent together before, I was extremely happy to have our guides there to help us, and I think because of this we avoided the common squabbling that occurs when trying to put something together. We got all the tents up just in time before the rain began.

Rachel, Marissa, Sarah and I had our own tent, which was really fun… and huge (I think meant for 6 people). We were the first to have our tent up, so lunch was served with all 12 people squished inside our tent. Quetzaltrekkers provided some awesome food for us! We had this great carrot/potato/spinach salad, a black bean/tomato/corn salsa, fresh made hummus, homemade peanut butter, whole wheat bread, tortilla chips and cookies from the bake shop. It was delicious, and definitely not food I would expect to have in Guatemala, let alone at the top of the highest peak in Central America.

After lunch, the rain really set in, and all we did was bundle up and hang out in our tent. So much cold! I had on: 2 pairs of ski socks, running tights and sweatpants, my underarmor thermal shirt, the down jacket I borrowed, my Northface, a scarf, earwarmers, a hat, and two pairs of gloves. On top of that, I was curled up into a ball sitting in my sleeping bag with just my head sticking out. Actually, that afternoon with all the layers, I felt comfortable. My feet were the only parts of my body that were super cold, and they never really warmed up. The only challenging part was forcing myself to take my arms out of the sleeping bag every once in a while to take a drink of water and stay hydrated.

It was fun just sitting in the tent, listening to the rain outside and talking, gossiping, laughing… we were pretty giddy, probably because of the altitude and tiredness. At around 7PM, the rain let up and we were called out of our tent for some Hot Tang. Hot Tang was literally the drink Tang, mixed with hot water and an electrolyte mix (and quickly turned into “Oh Hot Tang, this is my jam, keep on partying till the AM…. its an old Flo Rida song that actually says "dang" in the place of "Tang", in case you aren’t aware).

This isn’t what groups usually drink while camping. Unfortunately, the spice kit got left behind in the office. The spice kit had all the hot chocolate, tea, coffee, sugar, etc. Instead, someone found an unopened package of Tang in their bag. Not exactly the most delicious beverage I’ve ever tasted, but it was warm and had calories and electrolytes (added in by the guides) so I drank it, figuring it could only help me stay warm and hydrated. (Henri was the most upset about not having the spice kit, and he walked around to other tents begging for sugar… those Guatemalans, they can’t live without their sugar. He eventually got some, but still wasn’t too happy.) As delicious as hot chocolate would have been at that moment, I was glad we forgot the spice kit and not a tent part or water or food.

For dinner we had pasta with a fresh pesto that our guides made back at the office and carried up the mountain in a Nalgene water bottle. It was so garlicky and delicious. Again, I thought to myself, “I’m on the top of a mountain eating more flavorful food than I normally get served at home.” All of our cooking was done by the guides on mini stoves that one of the guides had carried up (this was another one of the reasons we were traveling in high class.. we didn't have to do any of the hard work! ). They said they don’t like to collect firewood and make fires because it contributes to the large deforestation problem in the area. They also said that at this time of the year, it is really too wet to effectively made a fire. I kind of missed not being able to warm my feet near flames, but I appreciate and support their environmentally conscious actions.

Bedtime was around 8:45. Talk about longest night ever. As a combination of the altitude, all the walking with the pack, and the tense muscles I had due to the freezing cold, I developed the worst headache I think I have ever had in my life. I had been sick earlier in the week, and I was just getting over the final “sniffles,” but all of that congested into my head, putting so much pressure on my nose, eyes, sinuses, brain. My neck was also super stiff but I couldn’t get my muscles to relax. After about an hour of pure misery, I sat up and took Sudafed and two ibuprofen. I’m usually not a drug person, but I was hurting. I remember thinking to myself, “darn, this better be worth it.”

After all the drugs kicked in, I was able to sleep a little bit, but the night consisted of waking up every 45 minutes shivering, totally stiff but not wanting to move because it would just mean moving into a new cold position. At one point, I woke up with my head completely inside my sleeping bag and couldn’t find the opening and had a little freak out moment.

Needless to say, when 3:45 rolled around and our guide called out the wake-up call, I was relieved. I don’t think I have ever been so happy to get out of bed and moving at 3:45 AM. It takes a lot of energy “pretending” to sleep!

We were lucky. The sky was clear and once we got out of the tent, you could see all the stars… it was almost as if you could touch them. We began our final ascent around 4 AM in the complete darkness with flashlights. We were able to keep all of our stuff in the tent, because Henri was staying back to stand guard and make us breakfast for when we came back down. We were warned that it would be even colder at the top, so I brought my pack with extra layers and sleeping bags for both Marissa and I. The idea was that one would carry it up and the other carry it down, but Marissa ended up not faring so well with the altitude and proceeded to puke all her dinner and some lunch contents on our way up. So, needless to say, I took control of the pack. In reality, without all the water, tent supplies and food, it felt light as a feather!

The climb up was difficult. It was a lot of using your hands and feet to get up, and the air got even thinner as we climbed the final 500 feet. It was a weird feeling, being totally lost in the darkness aside from the light your flashlight provided and the bobbing light ahead of you that you were supposed to follow (aka the person ahead of you). I had no idea where the edge of the mountain was or where we were heading, except straight up.

It took us about 45 minutes to reach the top, and we got there at the perfect time. We were all super hot and sweaty from the climb, but that lasted about 5 minutes. We walked around the top, taking in the panoramic view of the sunrise. It was awesome to watch the sun rise on one side of the mountain, gradually changing the night to day on the other side. We were entirely above the clouds, and they looked like a sea of fluff, rolling around the mountains. There was lightning way off in the distance, and the sky flashed brilliant pinks and yellows.

Our guides pointed out all the volcanoes and mountains we could see sticking up through the clouds. We could see all the way to the mountains surrounding Lago Atitlan and beyond. We also saw the same volcano erupt that I saw with mom and dad while on top of Pacaya. It was cool to see the same eruption, but from the opposite side and higher up.

After getting my fill of pictures, I took out my sleeping bag and nestled beside a rock (in an attempt to break the wind) and just watched the wonders of mother nature… as cheesy as it sounds, it really was amazing!

We headed back down to base camp around 7, taking a different path that had us walking on ridges about 6 feet wide with some pretty gnarly drops on both sides. For a while, it felt good to go down instead of straight up. When we got back to camp, water was boiling and breakfast was ready for making.

I guess the plan was to make Mosh, the oatmeal/milky stuff that I often have at home, but because we didn’t have the spice kit, that wasn’t possible. So, we had a makeshift oatmeal assembly line, which was great! I scooped instant oats, granola, chocolate chips and some peanut butter on my plate. Then, boiling water was poured over the pile and I mixed it all up. Delicious power food! I was happy, and definitely didn’t miss the Mosh.

After breakfast, we all packed up and headed down the mountain. My pack wasn’t light by any means, but without all the water and food, it felt significantly better. Going down was 500 times easier than going up, but that doesn’t mean it was easy. The ground was slippery from all the rain, and after a while your knees and shins and feet start to hurt from all the pounding and your quads and gluts start shaking from all the eccentric movement. But it got easier to breath instead of harder, and we made it down really quickly. There was also a moment where Rachel and I both realized that we could feel our toes again, which was really exciting :-).

At around 10:30/11 we arrived at the trailhead. We walked to a restaurant further down the road to have lunch. It was funny we were having lunch at 11, but to us it felt like afternoon. We had a set selection to chose from for our lunches, and I chose fish. It actually came out as a whole fish battered and fried, which was interesting to eat. I pretty much just carved out as much of the inside meat I could get. It also came with a great beet and cabbage salad, potatoes, rice and beans.

After lunch we picked up the bus back to San Marcos, and got really lucky because we didn’t have to wait at all (and there were seats on the bus). At San Marcos, we did a quick transfer to another bus to take us back to Xela. The buses were right next to each other, so the ayudantes (the people who take control of all the “luggage” and money on the bus) just tossed our backpacks from the top of one bus to the other. It made total sense, but it was the first time I’d seen that in Guatemala and it was a little humorous.

The ride back to Xela was uneventful, although it was funny watching the reactions of our other fellow campers as we rode on the chicken bus. At this point we are used to the massive amounts of people cramming into one seat, the Guatemalan woman that sleeps on top of you, the ayudantes that climb around the bus and on the roof as the bus is racing down the road, but the travelers new to Guatemala were not!

It was a 30 minute walk back to the Quetzaltrekkers office from the Terminal. Luckily, it wasn’t raining! We returned all our gear, and were free to leave. We got home around 2:30, unpacked, showered and went to a café to drink some coffee and rest our legs.

Although there were rough parts, I loved this experience and I am so glad I did it! I would definitely recommend it to anyone who likes adventure and a little hard work. As Guatemalans say, it was “vale la pena” or “worth the pain.”

Guatemala con los Padres 9/16/11

Dad posing in front of the national beer of Guatemala... Gallo. His goal is to find it in the states.

I surprisingly one a little stuffed animal, probably because I have such awesome hand-eye coordination (that was sarcasm, in case you didn't catch it...).

Mom playing a game that looked simple but wasn't. Sadly, we didn't win anything from this one.


After having breakfast at the hotel, we headed out to La Feria to celebrate Guatemala’s Independence day! Normally, I would have taken a microbus for about 3 quetzals, but we decided that taking a taxi would probably be a little more comfortable for all of us, so we payed the 40Q to head out to the fairgrounds, located about 15 minutes from the center of Xela.

We got there pretty early, around 9am, and initially not much was open. As we walked around, we saw people preparing their food tents and starting up their games and the rides. It looked a lot like any state fair in the united States, minus the 4H animal stuff and the hot dog and pie eating contests.

We hung out in the fair for about 2 hours. Mom and I played some games and won some awesome prizes. Leaving was a little weird, because we were clearly the three fish moving in the wrong direction…. everyone from Xela and other parts of Guatemala were on their way to the fair!

We considered taking a microbus back to Xela, but I couldn’t find the area with all of them and we happened upon a taxi much quicker. Once we got back to Xela, we didn’t have much to do. We weren’t hungry and I had pretty much shown them all the important places. We did a little bit more shopping, and then went to a restaurant/bar that overlooks parque central. I was pretty excited to finally figure out how to get up there… I had only been wondering about it for 2 months.

After some significant people watching (and trying to find and point out gringos), we headed back to the hotel. We packed everything up and went downstairs to wait for Byron to pick up mom and dad. He came early, and they were heading out of Xela around 1PM.














It was a great vacation! It was so much fun to see a new side of Guatemala (all the touristy sites that everyone talks about), spend time with the parents, and show them my life here. The week went by really quickly, and I can’t believe that my free week is over… it seemed so far away when I started this program.

Guatemala con los Padres 9/15/11

After having breakfast at the hotel, we headed out to climb El Baul, the mountain I usually run every Friday. It was nice to casually walk up the mountain. The weather was absolutely beautiful, and we took a good 3 hours to walk it. After, we walked to El Terminal, another market that’s a little bit farther from my house. This is also where all the chicken buses hang out.

After 5 hours of straight walking, we headed to El Cuartito, a café that I go to often because they have good food and strong internet. We had nachos and other lunch items, and then headed back to the hotel to relax for a while.

After a little siesta, we went to Baviera, another café that I frequently visit. They have really good coffee and pastries, but not such great internet. We spent a good amount of time there, and then went back to the hotel for more siesta-ing (and for a lack of better things to do, because unless you are living and going to school, Xela doesn’t have all that much for tourists).

Later that evening, as we were heading out for dinner, I got a call from my Guatemama. We went to my house, and my real parents got to meet my Guatemala parents! It went really well, but I forgot to take a picture and I am super bummed because a picture with all 4 of my parents would have been awesome!

We hung out at the house for about 20 minutes, and afterwards headed to Cardinali, an Italian restaurant that I had heard was great but had never been to. People were correct…. it was delicious! I had a pasta dish with all different types of seafood. It was a little pricey, but I think it was good enough that I’ll save some money to go back there again before I leave Xela.


As usual, after dinner we headed back to the hotel and went to bed.

Viernes en Oaxaca y Regresamos a Guatemala

Our activity today was super early, and we were all ready to head out of the hostel at 7am (some of us do better with early hours than others). We wandered around a little bit looking for our bus stop, and once we finally found the correct one, headed out to Clinica del Puebla.

Clinica del Puebla is located on the outskirts of Oaxaca. It is a full service hospital that was started in November 2000 by Padre Scott Seethater. We had a presentation in a lecture hall looking room with a projector and all. Here is some of what we learned:
-Money does not mark a person at this hospital. Everyone gets the same services whether you are able to pay or not.
-Their ultimate goal is to become economically stable and be able to provide services for all surrounding communities.
-The hospital provides medical services and education for those who need it. They also work with alternative medicine and laboratory studies. They hold many programs that teach kids about basic nutrition and hygiene.
-In 2010, greater than 50% of visits were consults and around 45% of visits were for surgeries.
-In the beginning of the hospital, 90% of the visits were general and 10% were specialty visits. Now, it is the other way around. He didn’t really explain why, but my guess is that the general education programs are helping people prevent general maladies that would otherwise lead to hospitalization).
-Most patients are between 25-44 years of age.
-The hospital gets about 4$ for every consult. Most money comes from donations (they do not get any money from the government). Much of the money they receive is allocated to specific areas, such as laboratory research or emergency hospitalizations.
-Here are the major conditions they see: Oftalmologia (ophthalmology), Odontologia (odontology), Ginecologia (gynecology), Otorrinolaringologi (otorhinolaryngology), Medicina Interna (internal medicine).
-80% of people who come to the hospital have to wait less than 30 minutes to receive services. At the most, people will wait 2 hours.
-Many of the programs at the hospital include traveling to communities to bring healthcare services. Many problems that are simple turn into delicate situations because care is unavailable at the beginning of the illness. Their goal is to reduce these circumstances.
-Most doctors who work at the hospital are volunteers and also work in other locations. There are a total of 70 doctors “on call.”
-The hospital only has 6 private beds, but there are many rooms for other services.

We had a chance to walk around the hospital once our lecture was finished. Although small, the equipment and patient rooms we small were very clean and up-to-date.

After, we headed back to CASA to have a “closing.” We talked about everything we saw during the week and how it all related. Then, we were asked to give suggestions. I thoroughly enjoyed the trip, and my only suggestion was that I wished we had the chance to do more volunteer work.

The rest of our afternoon was free, and we all spent time spending our last pesos, buying gifts for friends/family and rummaging through our room trying to find all of the stuff we came with.

At 6pm we met at a restaurant to have a quick dinner before heading to the bus station and beginning our trip back to Guatemala. I decided to have a last Tlayuda, which tasted pretty delicious.

Getting everyone to the bus station on time was a little stressful. We needed to take taxis in order to get there, but they were all backed up because it was pouring down rain (surprise, surprise!). There happened to be a person at the hostel (a friend of the owners) who happened to be there with a van. So, we all piled in Guatemalan style. It still took us two trips, but eventually everyone got to the station and we got on the bus with 5 minutes to spare.

This overnight bus was even nicer! We were given complimentary headphones and beverages, and there was a coffee bar at the back of the bus (next to the bathroom, which was a little weird).

This overnight trip was a little longer. I got pretty nauseous and started to taste the Tlayuda a second time… but Dramamine saved my and helped me sleep a bit. We arrived into Tapachula around 9am. We had a quick breakfast at the same “Disfrutar” restaurant and then headed to the border.

Crossing the border was pretty simple and painless, and pretty soon we were back on Guatemalan soil.

As we were driving, we got stopped by a police car. Apparently, the Guatemalan police system has this “complimentary service” for buses/cars full of gringos. Basically, they escort you back to wherever you are going. It is pretty much a waste of resources because we clearly don’t need the protection… we have driven all over Guatemala without any problems. Its also ironic because if you find a dead person or are actually in critical danger, you pretty much cannot rely on the police to do anything.

So, for a while we had a police escort. They drove behind us with their siren lights on. Each police has a certain zone they have to cover, so when we reached a zone, a new police car would take over. This happened for about half the trip. Then they must have gotten bored because suddenly it stopped and we heard nothing else about it.

We got back to Xela early afternoon and headed to Artesano bakery to have pizza and hang out.

And that completes my version of Oaxaca!

Jueves en Oaxaca

“Probablemente la leccion mas grande de nuestras vidas sea aprender a ser libres; libres de las circumstances de nuestro etorno, de otras personalidades, y por sobre todos las cosas, libres de nosotros mismos” –Dr. Edward Bach

or in English...

"Probably the greatest lesson in our lives is to learn to be free; free from the circumstances of our eternity, of other personalities, and above all else, the freedom to be ourselves"

This quote was on the wall of the natural medicine clinic we visited, and I really liked it... probably partly because of what it says and partly because I didn't need a Spanish/English dictionary to understand it!

Breakfast was really strange this morning… potato/veggie casserole, macaroni salad and beans with REAL Orange Juice, unsweetened and so delicious. I stuck with just eating the casserole, as the macaroni salad was drenched in mayonnaise (and we all know how much I love that condiment).

We had a few extra minutes between breakfast and our first activity of the day, so we went to a new cafe to get coffee. They had some great posters, like this one:









At 8:30, we left for our conference at a natural medicine clinic. The organization is called Prosa: Promotores de Salud en Defensa de la vida del Pueblo. Their concept is that health cannot be achieved without total balance. Our lecturer explained that it is not natural medicine, but integral medicine that considers every part of life… medicine, nutrition, community, family, location, work… everything goes together. To provide the most help to communities, families and/or individuals surrounding Oaxaca, they have a 5 step process.
1. Check that clean water is available and that all stomach issues are taken care of.
2. How are the living conditions? They say they cannot improve health if living conditions are unbearable.
3. The ability to work. For this, all systems are checked including back, neck, knee, and legs. Any pains are taken care of.
4. A check of the reproduction system is given.
5. They teach about nutrition, natural eating and physical activity.

All the herbs stored at the clinic... sort of like a pharmacy!

I believe in the “total body health” concept, but some of the natural medicine techniques seemed a little strange. However, as long as they do not cause further damage, I don’t see a problem with continuing traditions. We learned a few more traditions:

-We were shown some magnets used to equilibrate body temperature and heal pains. The magnets are put near the feet and the hands, and each position helps a specific problem.
-The ear represents the whole body. They put seeds in the ear combined with a liguid, and this helps heal the body.
-Trained natural healthcare givers will look into the eyes to see from what sort of ailments a person may be suffering.
-Many people will try natural care before using medical clinics, yet some people do the opposite.

After the lecture, we had a Limpia. This is a cleansing practiced all across Latin America. It is designed for people who are mad, sad, stressed, sick… you name it. Each process is a little different, but they have the same basic principles.

Usually a Limpia is done individually, but we had a group of about 10 that chose to participate. The Limpia was held in the same room as the lecture, which was a little weird because we could hear the sounds of the street through the open windows (I imagine that if this process was done in a more private location, it would feel a lot more authentic). We began sitting in a circle. Turns were taken one by one. Each person moved their own chair to the middle of the circle when it was their turn.

The first part of the process involved getting “gently whacked” for lack of a better term, with a wad of fresh oregano leaves. She started at my head and slowly worked down, focusing on my arms, torso and then legs. She then used the wad to massage my forehead and neck. Once my turn was over, I moved my chair back to the circle and was told to sit with my bare feet on top of the oregano.
This happened for each person. Then, there was a second step. She prepared a fire in a small three-legged bowl and then added in a special sap. The sap created a strong aroma in the room, and the smoke filled the air. For each turn of this step, a person would stand in the middle of the circle. She made circles around my body with the smoke, starting at the top of my head and moving towards my feet. Then, she place the bowl in front of my face and asked me to “wash” my hands with the smoke and rub it over my face and hands.


Once everyone had their turn and we were all back in our original positions around the circle, we were asked to rub and pat our legs and arms.

This experience was really interesting! I can’t say that I felt any different after, but I can see how people would find peace with the process, especially if it were held in some natural setting instead of a room next to a busy street.


After the cleansing, we had about 2 hours to hang out before lunch. I went to a popular bakery with Marissa and we bought a bunch of little goodies to share and try. Most of them were really good, except for the brownie that was really dry. My favorite was a pastry that tasted a lot like Marti Gras King’s Cake.

At 3 that afternoon, we headed to RASA: Red Autonoma Para La Soberania Alimentaria. Basically, this organization works to create ways for people to obtain food security and autonomy… the idea that everyone can function for themselves, have the same food options, and have the capacity to decide what to eat. There is a lot of food in this world, but a lot of it gets trashed and many people who need it don’t get it.

We began our conference going around in a circle introducing ourselves and telling the group “what we know about our food” aka, aside from picking out fresh apples and oranges in the supermarket, do you really know where that food is coming from or what kind of growing process it went through.

I was proud to be able to mention my gardening experiences when I was in elementary school, even though all we were successful at growing was kale and beets, and I actually hated going to the garden. I also mentioned the cooperative that mom is a part of, in which we get local and organic produce each week.

After this introduction, we went through the 10 reasons for the organization:
1. Develop methods to produce your own products: how can one become independent and control food supplies while still dependent upon others for food?
2. Provide methods to economically produce your own fruits and veggies.
3. Increase quality and decrease price.
4. Provide food that is grown in a safe environment, is free of dangerous pesticides or other contaminations, and tastes better.
5. Decrease the amount of food imported in order to help reduce petroleum use and create a better environment for all.
6. Teach people to grow their own foods so they know what is in their food, as well as teach people the harm that chemicals put on the environment.
7. More and more trash is produced each year from packaging and traveling of food, and water sources become contaminated. Creating ways for people to provide their own food will help decrease these trends.
8. Create independence and autonomy for people.
9. Create community relationships and family bonds through “urbicultura” or agriculture. As children grow, they will learn to grow food and adapt healthy living habits.
10. Developing resistance, or in other words being able to continue doing this wherever necessary, adapting to different climates and gaining independence from major companies.

The organization also offers group classes in which people go to houses and work with community members to apply what they learn, help communities connect to people who have the “know how” to help them start, and show people exactly how to initiate this in their own homes and communities.

After our discussion we headed up to the roof to check out the garden and all the new systems they are working on. They explained that much of what they do is trial and error until they figure out what works.

One aspect I really liked is that the organization is not only trying to bring different nutritive plants to the area, but that it is preserving plants that are native. Many native fruits and vegetables are becoming rare because large companies mass produce the types that grow easier. Their goal is to maintain natural variety.

The conference room we used at RASA.


This is an example of a bike-powered machine. All of the rain water is collected in a large reserve underground. They then use a pump system to bring it up to the roof. This reduces the energy used to bring water to plants.


This is essentially an outhouse. I’m pretty sure she said they use the remains to create fertilizer, but I didn’t ask details.

In this contraption, the plant on the top needs the most water, the middle plant needs less, and the bottom plant needs the least. When it rains or when the plant is watered, the water will trickle through the system providing accurate amounts of water for each plant without wasting. Its also a great form of recycling!

As soon as it was time to leave the organization, the skies opened up. We were prepared to get totally soaked, but they started calling taxis for us. We ended up having to wait forever, and we almost felt that walking home and getting soaked would have been an easier option.

That night, I went to this restaurant (advertising a vegetarian meal) with Kati. It was great, and probably the best meal I had in Oaxaca, for only 50 pesos (compared to my 80 peso pico de gallo the second night)! I was impressed with the 4 course meal we had. I started with a veggie soup full of corn, carrots and zucchini in a tomato broth. Then, a plate of rice and carrots. For dinner, Kati and I shared a fish dish and a cheese enchilada dish, because we wanted to try both. For desert, there was a rice pudding sort of thing with raisins. I left thinking I should have eaten there every night!

We tried going out again, but the bar was small, damp and dark. There was a live band, which played a strange mix of Spanish music and American music. We had fun singing along to the American ones, although I’m sure we were those obnoxious gringos annoying everyone else in the bar.

Some people went on looking for other bars, but because of the continuing pouring rain, I decided I’d rather just head home.

Miercoles en Oaxaca

A semi-panoramic view of Oaxaca

A tourist picture I couldn't resist :-)

More Oaxaca!

A picture from the top of the tallest ruin at Monte Alban.

These tablets depict pictures of people doing dirty (as in sexual) dances. Apparently this Zapotec society was a little creepy...

Random burials that were excavated. We were able to climb into them, which was a little creepy.

A lot of gold was mined in this area, and this picture is of one of the walls in the gift shop

The restaurant where I ate my Torta.

Rachel, Sarah and I woke up again at 6:30 to go for a little run before breakfast. Surprisingly, Jeffe decided not to run (thats out of character for him)! We just ran around the common streets of Oaxaca... nothing too special although it was nice to run at a chill pace and just talk about what we had been doing in Mexico.

Breakfast was quesadillas with red mole. It was really good! Probably more of a lunch option, but we enjoyed them. I actually bought some mole so I can make then when I return to the United States.

After breakfast, we took a public bus to Monte Alban, a place with Zapoteca ruins. We noticed immediately that Mexican individuals are not like Gautemalan individuals when it comes to transportation. On the bus, people actually sat two to a seat and didn’t immediately sit on top of you! We were pretty confused.

Although the ruins and Monte Alban were incredible, and the grounds were absolutely beautiful, we were not given a tour, simply 2.5 hours to wander around. We had a great time, but I pretty much learned nothing about the people who lived there, the civilization that thrived, and why or how it ended.

After lunch (another day of quesadillas), we had a free afternoon. We were supposed to visit a guy that creates machines powered by bicycles, but he was sick and couldn’t meet with us that day. I was really looking forward to that and was super bummed it didn’t work out.

Instead, a group of us walked around the market, which really never got old.

That night, we went to a cool restaurant that had an upstairs with pillows on the floor for sitting, and small tables for eating (it was a little like the restaurant I described in San Pedro). I had a torta, a traditional Mexican style sandwich that is supposed to be filled with a special sauce, tomatoes, avocados, lettuce and quesillo. I asked for extra tomatoes and avocados, but I think the message got lost in translation because my torta didn’t have much to it, aka it was a white bread sandwich with cheese and a special sauce that was a little too much like mayonnaise for me. I wasn’t a huge fan, but was starving so I ate it! I was disappointed because tortas are very popular and for some reason, I assumed it would be delicious.

Later, we went to a bar where there was supposed to be live music, but it wasn’t going to start until 11:30, and I was tired. So, I went back to the hostel with a group of people and we went to bed.

All in all, not much to say about today... lo siento (sorry)!

Guatemala con los padres 9/14/11

This morning I took one of the most amazing showers… such hot water and great pressure (it’s the little things that make me happy). After that exciting activity, we left the hotel to walk around Antigua. It was pretty early, so not much was open. But, we saw some of the churches, the clean streets of Antigua, and other buildings that I can’t really remember, such as
this one. It was pretty touristy, but still beautiful.















I was also super surprised that Guatemala was actually trying to make a city handicap accessible. It was the first time I saw that!















Because of Independence day, there were many people in the central park. We heard a few school bands play, saw some dancing children, and saw a whole group of kids in costume. Everyone was so happy!















We walked around looking for a traditional candy shop (which we found, but was closed), and apparently the best bake shop in town (which was also closed). Instead, we found a place called Cookies, etc. and settled there to have some coffee. Naturally, when we saw freshly baked pastries, we had to try some of those too, even though we knew breakfast was being provided for us at the hotel in an hour (we were on vacation!).

I had a banana cholocate chip muffin, which was actually really good, with some incredibly strong coffee. We also bought a PrensaLibre, the national paper of Guatemala, so I caught up on some news and practiced my Spanish reading. I’m actually still working on it, which means I am reading week old news. But considering how out of the loop I am, its news to me!

After eating, we walked back to the hotel to eat some more! We had our second breakfast of fruit, coffee, juice and bread on the roof of the hotel, with this amazing weather and view:














After breakfast, we got in the car again to head towards Xela. I was excited to show mom and dad my “home away from home” and for me the trip went quickly.

We arrived in Xela around 2:30 and checked into Hotel Bonifaz. I was so excited to finally be staying there! It was such luxury compared to what I am used to. After we were settled, we went to café Artesano, one of my favorite places to get lunch (I think I’ve already described the sandwiches because we ate them after the beach trip).

Then, I showed mom and dad La Democracia Mercado. We walked around, and mom picked out some flowers to give to Doñia Patti, my Guatemama. After stopping by the hotel to grab my amazing bag of trail mix, we headed towards my house.

Unfortunately nobody was home, although it may have been a good thing because I was able to show mom and dad everything without seeming too awkward. After unpacking various items, we headed to the school and I gave mom and dad a tour there too.

As we were walking back, we ran into the street fair for independence, and as we watched, the crowds continued to fill in. I’ve never seen so many people in one place in Xela ever! It was really cool to see all the bands playing, and some of them were pretty good. Many played popular American songs, such as Madonna and Shakira, as well as popular Spanish songs.














We enjoyed the bands and crowds, and then decided to go into the hotel bar to relax. We could still see the bands out the window and hear them. After a while, we headed to a restaurant very close to the hotel. I had never been there before, but had passed it many times and found the lights inside mesmerizing. As it turns out, the lights weren’t really all that cool… just those “snow” kinds that people hang on houses for Christmas. But, the fajitas I had were really good and cheap! After dinner, we headed to bed.

Guatemala with the Padres 9/13/11

We woke up at 4:45 am. It was pitch black and raining cats and dogs. We didn’t want to go against our word though (for the kayak tour that we figured out the night before), so we all got out of bead and headed towards the lobby area. We waited around for a good 10 minutes, but nobody showed up. Feeling more than slightly relieved that we wouldn’t have to kayak around a pitch black lake in pouring rain with a Spanish-only speaking guide in the middle of Guatemala, we headed back to our room, napped and read for a while. At 8, we headed back to the restaurant area to have some breakfast.

At breakfast, we met some people from the US. They are big sailors and actually live on their sailboats. The spend September through December in Rio Dulce because it is a safe haven from the strong storms that develop during hurricane season. We were talking to them about wanting to do our hike, but not being able to, and they suggested with talk to George.

A few minutes later, George showed up to eat breakfast. Mom talked to him and got the details, which included another telephone call in Spanish (for me, telephone calls are much more difficult because I cannot read body language or hear distinct differences in words) that I was not so excited about, but did. Don Rodriguez would have been more than happy to give us a slightly different tour, but unfortunately we were told there would not be enough time. So, after breakfast, we made our own little tour walking around the hotel grounds and exploring for ourselves.

The "hallway" leading to our hotel room.

Our hotel room/cabin.

Mom talking with George (he spoke English).

The swinging bridges we walked around on.

The hotel/lobby/restaurant area.

We left the hotel at 11am and met Byron for our transport back to Antigua. This was an incredibly long drive, about 6 hours. Not so much fun, especially considering the traffic we hit on the mountain due to an accident (amazingly the first accident I’ve seen in Guatemala) and the traffic we went through in Guate. Finally, we made it back to Antigua and the same awesome hotel, Hotel D'Leyenda.

That night, we had dinner at a place named El Sensilo. This was seriously the most fancy place I have been since I got here. The building was so beautiful and the food was delicious. I had a carrot soup and an eggplant cheese dish… the first day I didn’t eat fish! We also had chocolate peach crepes for desert with a scoop of vanilla and a scoop of chocolate ice cream. Amazing!

After dinner, we headed back to the hotel and went to bed.

This room is made for proposing! We didn't get to eat in here, but we were given a tour of the grounds and were shown this. We actually saw a couple walk in, but we don’t know what happened!