Only About One Week Left in Santiago!

You wish surprise, will never stop wonders

You wish sunrise, will never fall under

We should always know that we can do everything 

- “Go Do” by Jonsi

This weekend I visited the city of Quetzaltenango, known to locals as Xela, which is the second largest city in Guatemala. The town is known for its language schools, universities, cultural history and music scene, and what I had heard about the town proved to be a rather accurate assessment of the city. It really does seem like the perfect place to study Spanish and experience cultural immersion. While Antigua felt domineered by tourism, Xela is a much more workaday town, so there is an overwhelming sense that you are experiencing the "real Guatemala" when you are staying there. The city has the perfect mix of just enough infrastructure to make tourists and language learners feel welcome but the vibe isn’t overwhelmingly touristy. Instead of being outsiders looking at the Guatemalan way of life through the lens of an expensive camera or through the window of an air conditioned bus, Xela seems inviting and accessible for the international community that comes there to truly learn about life in Guatemala.

I arrived on Thursday night and indulged in some of the town's live music and restaurants in Xela's Zona Viva, which was within walking distance from my hostel. I highly recommend the Black Cat Hostel if you are looking for a hostel in Xela. It was clean with friendly staff, has good group of backpackers to connect with (at least on the weekend I was there), and is very centrally located. Your stay includes a huge breakfast, and the staff offers lots of tips for activities to do nearby.

Church in Parque Benito Jaurez

Parque Central

Parque Benito Juarez

On Friday morning I headed to Fuentes Georginas, a natural hot springs located in Zunil, Guatemala which is about a 30 min drive through the countryside from Xela. I met some new friends, Casey and Lisa who are studying Spanish in Xela, and spent the morning enjoying the pools with them and hiking around the jungle trails that surround the pools. It turns out that we will be traveling on about the same route in the beginning of August through northern Guatemala, so we have temporary plans to meet up again and travel together in a few weeks!

Enjoying the hot springs

Fuentes Georginas

Fuentes Georginas

 I did a two-hour walking tour of the city on Friday afternoon, and on Friday night I went to Salon Tecun, which claims to be the oldest bar in the country (opened in 1935), with another group of backpackers that I met at the Black Cat. I fulfilled my pizza and beer craving and had a lot of fun getting to know the group and sharing travel stories.

Saturday morning I hiked the ridge outside the city up to the church and enjoyed the view of the town.

Xela from the mountainside

I spent some time reading in the Central Park on Saturday afternoon, and was approached by a university student who was doing a survey of the international opinion on the land acquirement conflict between Belize and Guatemala. I agreed and answered her survey, but I was curious to learn more. First of all, this was a conflict that I didn't even know existed. Secondly, I had noticed that the map of Central America in the main municipal building close to the central park didn’t have Belize on the map. My Lonely Planet Book had the answer:

In 1859 Britain and Guatemala signed a treaty that gave Britain the rights to the (Belize) land provided that the British built a road from Guatemala to the Caribbean coast. The treaty still stands, but the road has never been built, and many Guatemalan-made maps show Guatemala—which has never formally accepted Belize as a separate territory— extending all the way through Belize to the coast. - “Central America on a Shoestring” pg. 219

It makes me think about the subjective nature of history, and how what we know about history is greatly dependent upon who wrote the history book. I wonder what Belizeans will say about the conflict when I visit Belize at the beginning of next month?

I returned to Santiago on Sunday to visit with the scholarship students at the Puerto Abierta Library. Natik sponsors 33 scholarship students, and I was able to interview several and take photos of the students. One of my last projects here in Santiago will be collecting letters from all of the students to send to the donors who have contributed to their scholarships. I'm working on collecting, scanning and translating the letters and then drafting emails to the donors to fill them in on the dreams and plans of the students that they sponsor.

Scholarship students working on their letters

I have less than two weeks left in Santiago, so I've begun to reflect upon my time here and have started to think about my work within the bigger scale of international development work as a whole. So here I am, having lived in this community for a little over 6 weeks now, with the best of intentions to assist members of this community and help improve the livelihoods of the people here. For me and for this trip, my success is measured in smiles and small-scale economic improvements. If I've shared a laugh and contributed to the employment opportunities for a few families, I have done what I came for. However, have I really made a large difference in the community? When I leave at the end of the month, will the project be sustainable? I hope that by applying for a grant funding, we will be able to hire a fellow who will be able to continue to manage the project on the ground in Santiago, as my time here has shown that this project really has so much positive potential. However, I’ve learned that development work is very delicate work. We need someone who has a dedicated interest in the community, and who is able to triage complicated issues, and most importantly, communicate effectively and work together with the community in order to actually make a difference.

I was sitting in the park the other day watching several dozen women do their weekly washing in the lake, and saw an example of something that clearly meant well but for some reason was poorly executed. A newly constructed washing station was left completely empty, and women were still using the lake and the rocks to do their washing. It made me think about how many development projects, though usually well intentioned, can easily fail for myriad reasons. I didn't ask any of the women why they weren't using the washing station. Maybe the development workers who built the station didn't ask the women about their washing needs before they built it, either.

Washing station- not occupied

Women washing in the lake