Colombia. Que Chévere!

What's the first thing that comes to your mind when you think of the country of Colombia? For most, Colombia is thought of as the land of cocaine and kidnappings -- certainly not a place that a young, independent female traveler like myself would be signing up to visit. While the country is certainly plagued with a violent history, in fact there has been quite an amazing turnaround in the years since Pablo Escobar was assassinated, and the drug cartels and danger has mostly left the country. I had heard wonderful things about the country from fellow backpackers and travelers, so when I came across a RT ticket for under $500 from the US to Bogota, I decided that I better see Colombia for myself!

Zipaquira, Colombia town square and Christmas tree

Ajiaco, a tasty, traditional Colombian soup

The lovely beaches at Tayrona National Park

Let's just say that I'm happy that I have been to Colombia before the crowds have discovered it. Throughout my time there, I realized that it despite its ugly stereotypes, it is actually a safe and beautiful place to visit-- and a place that I predict will have an influx of tourism in upcoming decades. In addition to the country's extensive natural beauty, Colombians are an extremely hospitable bunch. I have run into many friendly people throughout my travels, but it's fair to say that the Colombians I met and spent time with were over the top-- they introduced me to their families and best friends, and welcomed me into their world with an open embrace, in a way that I have never seen before in another country. At first, I suspected that this desire to please tourists and foreigners stems from the fact that so many tourists are still scared to visit, and the Colombians have an ulterior motive of tourism promotion through their kindness. Throughout my travels however, I realized that most Colombian's generosity is far from insincere. As some of my new Colombian friends told me, "This is just our culture. This is how we are."

My trip to Colombia began in Bogota, where I took Spanish lessons from an awesome language school called Nueva Lengua. Next, I traveled to the sunny Caribbean coastal cities of Cartagena and Santa Marta, where I took an amazing mud bath at the Totumo Volcano and visited the Tayrona National Park. Finally I visited Medellin, a city known for its impeccable climate and one of the most amazing turnarounds-- going from one of the most dangerous cities in the world to one of the cleanest in just a few decades.

Stay posted, as I will update this blog with highlights and photos from each city in the next few weeks. As the Colombians say, Colombia is "muy chévere!"

Wanderlust: Northern Guate and Belize

After leaving Santiago, I met up with Casey and Lisa (my friends I'd met in Xela) and we toured northern Guatemala together! We had a truly amazing time filled with adventure, crazy bus rides and new friends. I also met up with Kate (from Santa Cruz) in Belize and we had an incredible snorkeling adventure. Here is a glimpse of some of the highlights of my trip on my way home to the states!

Casey and I at Volcan Pacaya roasting marshmallows in a heat vent

Volcan Pacaya, an active volcano

Semuc Champey- beautiful spot

Semuc Champey limestone pools from the ridge above

About to go for a swim!

Semuc Champey

Lanquin River, view from Zephyr Lodge

One of the world's largest Mayan ruins

Buildings poking through the canopy

Tikal

Main center of town

Ready for battle!

Welcome to Belize

Morning watching the sunrise on Caye Caulker

Belize motto

Snorkeling with sharks

We're about to dive in!

Kate and I on the sailboat after snorkeling

Beautiful Caribbean water

Caye Caulker

Final Days in Santiago

Throughout my time in Santiago Atitlán, I’ve learned a lot about the challenges of microenterprise and small-scale development work. Working on a community-based project like Just Apparel requires a dedicated interest to the community, an ability to triage complicated issues, and most importantly, a capacity to communicate effectively and work together with individuals who come from a cultural background that is very different than your own. When I first came to Santiago, I didn’t realize how dependent I would be on Dolores for translating between Spanish and Tz’utujil, the indigenous language that all of the women speak. Communication would have been nearly impossible without a translator. Even with Dolores acting as translator, many of the specific details about the product designs were lost in translation as we began to come up with new product designs and ideas. Since the product designs had Western influences, many of the women were unfamiliar with why or how one would use, for example, a placemat or headband. These are items that the women themselves do not use. We had to be very patient and detailed in describing the products and actually using models and examples of what we had deemed marketable to an American consumer base. However, it is also important to make sure that by doing so we weren’t requiring our artisans to abandon their traditional techniques or individual style.

Natik has such a strong foundation in the Santiago Atitlán community, and something that I think has made the Just Apparel project different is how have incorporated the women’s insight in the creative process. While we did specify sizing details and fabric templates, the product color schemes and specific embroidery designs are all unique works of art created by each woman of the cooperative. A believe that a key component of the success of our Just Apparel project is this incorporation of this participatory development method that supports and respects local community traditions, while still encouraging economic empowerment opportunities.

Like I had realized at the beginning of my project, the problem in this community isn’t the lack of desire to work but instead the lack of opportunity to work. My time in Santiago Atitlán has shown that with a greater awareness and expansion to bigger markets, this project has great potential for genuine improvement in human livelihood in this community. I left Santiago on August 1, after a farewell party with new friends at the local bar and saying goodbye to my host family and Dolores. It was sad to say goodbye to Santiago—a town that I called home for two months—but I feel proud of the work that I have accomplished there in such a short time. I know I’ll come back someday! Next up, I spend 11 days traveling northern Guatemala and Belize with some friends that I have made in my time in Guatemala. Stay tuned for tales of cliff jumping, spelunking, volcano hikes and snorkeling with sting rays and sharks!

Semana de la Feria!

Every June and July on Lake Atitlán, the towns that surround the lake celebrate the patron Saint's days of their respective towns with about two weeks of a city-wide celebration called "La Feria". Complete with ferris wheels, gambling games, fried food booths, and live music, if there wasn't a large volcano looming in the distance behind the festivities, you might not even know that you are in the quaint evangelical town of Santiago Atitlán when La Feria comes to town. The normally quiet town at night livens up to celebrate, and luckily for me I am here to experience La Feria in my last week in Santiago!

All of the towns around the lake have the festivities, but the event corresponds with each town's particular patron Saint's Day. For Santiago Atitlán, the Saint is Saint James and the festivities cumulate on July 25 each year (thanks to my boyfriend Patrick for his wiki-investigation that provides a bit more detail on the Saint and the meaning behind the festivities: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James,_son_of_Zebedee).

The games and booths have been up for about a week now, but Tuesday was a parade kicking off the final week, and Wednesday and Thursday nights were parties, packed streets, live music, beer tents, and tons of fun! Here are some photos! Enjoy!

Ferris wheel with volcano views

Ferris wheel at night

Games

The music truck preparing for the parade

Parade clowns on stilts

All of the local schools had performances

So many bands!

There was a dragon...

And Jesus, of course. 

Boys dressed as men from the countryside

Crazy masks

Hawaiian girls

The gringo crew at Quilas

Limbo!

Live band at a bar on Feria night

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

Valuing Laughter over Laptops

This last week has been full of really productive strides towards the new Just Apparel website and grant writing process. I created the Just Apparel shop so that consumers can purchase our items in the online marketplace, and uploaded all the photos and pricing. Right now we're just working through the kinks of how to make payments, last minute editing, and making sure that everything flows and is consistent in design throughout the website. I'm really happy with how it has come out so far, and really excited to show everyone the final product!

New website coming soon....!!

I've also been working on grant proposals this week, and have narrowed down the list to four grants that I think are worth applying. Finally, we did a second round of home visits this past week to pass out the last remaining pieces of fabric for the headband project. When we made the placemats and handbags, we actually had several long pieces of fabric leftover. At first, I wasn't sure what to do with the extra fabric. However, kind of like when you spend an hour looking for your glasses only to realize that they have been on your head the whole time, I soon realized that the fabric was the perfect size for the headbands that I use so frequently to hold back my hair while traveling! Part of the challenge this week was describing the concept to the women-- the headbands that I wear are obviously a Westernized fashion, so Dolores and I had a good deal of fun explaining how to even wear a headband or why one would be useful or desirable. We had several laughs when the women were trying the pieces of fabric on their heads! I am looking forward to see how they turn out!

This past weekend I decided to explore the last few towns around the lake that I hadn't spent any time in yet. I spent Saturday in Santa Cruz, which is another tiny but lovely town on the Eastern side of the lake. The village itself is quite a hike up the mountain, which took a good 30 minutes to climb up but offered exceptional views. I also had a great lunch at Isla Verde, an ecolodge and spa with all organic "slow food" and a  very tempting massage package.

Lunch at Isla Verde

View of the lake, looking down from Santa Cruz

I spent the night at La Iguana Perdida, a local hostel with communal BBQs and costume parties on Saturday nights that make for a very fun and friendly backpackers experience! I actually ran into Julia, the girl who I climbed the San Pedro volcano with a few weeks ago, and got to know some of her friends as well. Their wifi-free policy encouraged interaction and we really had a great night!

Poster explaining why WiFi isn't allowed at Iguana Perdida

On Sunday I hiked over to Jaibailito, which is about a 45 minute hike along the ridge overlooking the lake. It was a gorgeous hike, and when I got to town I decided to check out a restaurant called Club Ven Aca which offers an infinity pool and great pasta dishes! Super relaxing afternoon.

Relaxing at the infinity pool in Jaibalito

Only two weeks left in Santiago and one month of my trip left. Some days it feels like I have been gone for much longer than five weeks and four more weeks seems like an eternity, and some days I feel like I can't believe that this experience is already over half complete. I sure am grateful for technology to be able to keep in touch with my loved ones while I am away. However, it has also been kind of nice to log off the internet and fully log in to my surroundings, and by valuing "giggles over Google" I have met so many new wonderful friends along the way as well!