Mother Earth....and keeping balance in life....

Another day of hard labor. Well, until the sky opened up and gave San Lucas Toliman a good scrubbing. Within an hour of the sunny pictures you see here, torrential downpours occupied the balance of the afternoon. Quite ok with me and Tim since we had run out of gas by noon. We swear that this rich Guatemalan soil is much heavier than USA dirt. Seriously.

So much of this local economy, and many, many families, depend on the ability for small parcels of land to abundantly yield crops, especially coffee. The richness of this special land is exemplified by just how easily everything grows. One has to be careful where a seed is dropped because in short order, a plant is growing. Amazingly fertile.

No one seems to be in a hurry. The attitude seems to be that the work will get done, it will still be there tomorrow, but it will get done. Productivity is steady, but not fast. Truthfully, we struggled a bit with this concept as we wanted to keep moving...let´s get this project done so we can start another.....but our attitude seemed oddly out of place. But this is probably why there seemed to be a natural, palpable balance between work and leisure here in this small village. Work shifted easily to play, and then back again. And, I suppose we should confess, it was hard to not jump in a game of Futbol as we passed by......especially if it was with small school girls since my futbol skills were barely competitive even at that level.

I don´t know if I could ever really be comfortable slowing down to this pace. Tim thinks he might, but couldn't be sure. Brother Pat has already adapted to this life of leisure....we just wish he would wait until the job was done before he shifted into relax mode... :)

Tomorrow its off to the city of Antigua.....should be a different adventure....

Process of Poverty

Today was a highly technical work day for me, my two brothers Tim and Pat, and my nephew Sean. Gravel is a very critical component for the construction process here, and since there isn´t a Home Depot within a few thousand miles, our only option is to make our own. Yup, that's right, we actually make our own gravel. We take a hammer and through the highly sophisticated process of raising the hammer skyward, and then bringing it in a swift downward motion at just the right speed, careful not to accelerate too quickly, we transform large rocks into much smaller versions of their former self. See the big rocks to the left? See the many smaller rocks all around the larger rocks? Well, there is your before and after versions.

I have always thought that we got much more out of these "Mission trips" than we could ever give our hosts. Afterall, what do they really get from us compared to the lasting life lessons we take back with us every time? But the Priest shared with us today a perspective that we had not really considered before...... Our presence is our gift. Our being here apparently actually builds the self-esteem for the local Mayan people. Thinking back, it probably applies to every local people we have visited in past trips too.

The Priest went on to explain that the issue really isn't poverty but the process of poverty. There isn´t one single state of poverty but many phases and levels. And is one progressing deeper into poverty or making strides to separate oneself from such bondage...all phases of poverty in the process. These people know that we have left our comfortable beds, the food we like, our friends and families, spent a lot of money to travel here....and they are very grateful that we have done this for them. And when we are willing to do the work they do, the fact that we are actually doing it makes their work no longer demeaning.

When we greet them on the street, talk to them in their language (well, when Tim does....), even just "hola", it helps them to believe they are actually "someone", and they have value.

"You can choose your friends, but not your family, so you just have to love your family whether you like it or not"..... Well, the Mayan people of Guatemala believe we are all brothers and sisters in one God-created world. And as a result, they love us all. Honestly, we have felt nothing less since we arrived. And it isn´t because they have no choice or because they are dependant on us for survival....they truly, genuinely embrace such perspective.

Ok, well, thanks for reading....hasta la vista baby......

Profound Faith

We have been here for a few days now. The differences between San Lucas Toliman and Kenya are becoming clearer as we get closer to these people. Our trip to Kenya left us with a strong sense of the overwhelming sense of desperation which could be found around every corner, on every street. Aids, Leprosy, pieces of sheet metal strapped together and considered a decent "house", most feet shoeless......true poverty. Here though, while certainly the absence of aids and leprosy is an improvement, there was still something quite different. The quality of "housing" does seem to be a step or two above Kenya. But what now seems to be the most significant defining aspect to this culture is their deep seated, profound faith in the Church and their Catholic faith. The Church was present in Kenya, but there it often was much more a source of food and care. Not to say they weren't believers, but was it a true faith or one of dependence for survival? Hopefully the former, but likely often the latter. No strangers to poverty themselves, these humble and loving Guatemalans are true believers. Their Masses are overflowing. The Church does provide services, but the people support the Church. Their lives are centered around their faith and their adherence to the "love thy neighbor" mantra seems endless. We have been told more than once that "Americans work too hard!". Hard working people as well, and much of it manual labor with little automation, they do seem very committed to family life and a vibrant work/life balance. They may never contribute with any significance to the world's technological or industrial advances, but there is a calmness, a peaceful tranquility that permeates the culture on a daily basis. "Happy" is a descriptive we often attribute to our new friends. A very nice Sunday. Restful. Good thing since the workweek starts for us again tomorrow. :)

Sorry for the disconnected photos below, but we are still trying to get the hang of this blog format. Most go with the text above, but the others are of some of our new four-legged friends, an almost finished women's center, and a much needed water well still being constructed. Estos fotos estan por su placer......

Getting to know these amazing people.....

We are giants here! Seriously, this is an average size man here in San Lucas Toliman. They may be small in physical stature, but they have gigantic hearts. We have yet to find anyone who wasn´t absolutely charming. And their patience is limitless when it comes to trying to comprehend our special dialect of Spanish. Actually, Tim is amazingly communicative, but I definitely skipped Rosetta Stone class.

Little Juanito, our new little buddy. He must have trouble with Spanish too since he kept saying ¨chow¨as we left....although Tim says he was actually saying ¨chau¨, which again, I would have known if I actually studied a little. Or maybe he was just hungry...

Come on now!! My Spanish cant be that bad Mi little Amigo.....can it?

Coffee is the major source of revenue for this community. Last year the Mission sponsored coffee plant purchased coffee from 60 families. This year, they are purchasing coffee from over 600 local families. The intent is to provide work for as many people as possible. Volunteers from the USA over the years took this indigent community, who knew nothing about growing coffee, or about reforestation to preserve their valuable resources, and now they are fully self-supportive and implementing many Eco-friendly techniques. We did a little exploring and found the true source of Starbucks brew....

A very common sight is women walking while balancing their loads on their heads. large loads, and always with no hands. They make it look so easy, so surely we should be able to do it too........um, yeah, riiight.

Another very common sight is men (and women too) carrying very heavy loads like this one, with their heads! They actually have a band tied to the load, and then strapped across their foreheads. Amazing how with the proper balance, they can move with what seems little effort.....but no, we didn´t try this.

All in all, a very good day. This promises to be a wonderful experience, with some amazing people.

We have finally arrived in San Lucas Toliman!!

The adventure started much sooner than we expected. We thought we had at least until we arrived in Guatemala before the real fun began....but instead, thanks to American Airlines, it started at 4AM on Thursday. Our 6am flight from SFO quickly became a 7:30am flight. Then a 9 am flight. Then a 9:30am flight. Then a cancelled flight. Scrambling to get on a rescheduled flight, the best we could find with AA was one that got us to our connection city in Texas about an hour after our Guatemala flight departed. Thankfully, we were able to secure two seats on United, and we made it in time to hop on our Guatemala flight. After a rather uneventful flight to Guatemala City, we spent the night in a hostel-type hotel. Tired, but relieved to be there.

Early the next morning (today), we set of in a bus for San Lucas Toliman. A twisty, beautiful 2 hour journey up 5,000 feet, we reached our destination. Surrounded by very friendly, but surprisingly small local people, our adventure begins......

Oh, and yes, that is a blackberry in kevin´s hand......

We leave in 2 days for the trip into a new world.....

A Map of lake Atitlan and the surrounding villages and towns. We will be staying in San Lucas Toliman.

The Mission Church in San Lucas Toliman.

San Lucas Mission

Only 7 days left - we better pack!!!!!