Happy to Be Back

I returned back to Guatemala on January 9, 2012. As I jumped in a cab for the bus station and began speaking two-week rusted Spanish, it felt incredibly refreshing to be back. It was a nice balmy 70 degrees in Guatemala City, and I wondered to myself why I was wearing jeans.

I made it the "Monja Blanca" station just as the 6:00p.m. was departing (the airplane wheels had detached from the cold Minnesota terrain at 6:08a.m. that same morning). I settled into a spot next to an open window. As we continued up the winding paved stairway to Coban and I felt the cold mountain air sting my face, I recalled why I had worn long pants. After passing 20 some cars and trucks and driving over the speed limit around turns in the night fog, I couldn't believe I was still alive as I dismounted the wild, reckless night Mistress that they call "Monja Blanca."

My return was welcomed as well as I expected.. Raul and Bernie stayed up to greet me and share a drink after a long, swift return. I got the pleasure of offering Raul a Christmas gift... a top-of-the-line fishing net! 

ASIDE: Prior to leaving for Minnesota, Raul took Justin and I on a beautiful fishing trip. During this trip, Raul hooked a fantastic sized Bass-looking fish. Raul's friend tried to untangle Raul's short-handled net from a few fishing poles. Just as he dipped the first part of the net in the water, the fish hooked loose and swam away. Raul's reaction? "I'll catch him again!" Fantastic.

Here are some flicks of our excursion:

My best catch of the day

Raul's Assistant, Justin, Me

Since finishing our documentary project, Justin and I have spent much of our daily work focused on publishing a website for the monastery. We've seen hours of Joomla Instructional videos and read enough manuals to make your held explode. While we don't have the site up yet (we're gathering more "Resurrection Priory" content to publish as I write this), I believe that Justin and I have a basic understanding of how Joomla web design and publishing works. While I realize this website is far from being complete, I am enthusiastic about understanding the ins and outs of web designing, and have great motivation to explore our creativity with it and get it done.

My following two weeks after my return consisted of more website work, along with several other projects. A few clothing donation deliveries here, a few more tweaks with the donated computers there (our new Linux software, Lubuntu ("L" for light) runs much faster on the Dell 98's). During this work, two words hung over our heads: "HELPS International." 

In late 2011, I got in contact with an "Erin" from HELPS Intl., a group that organizes medical outreach teams from the States. We heard from Erin about a week after I returned. She confirmed our participation with the next medical team group: we would be going to San Cristobal, about an hour outside of Coban. The mission would begin on Sunday, January 21. Until that time, all Justin and I could think about was how excited we were to get involved.

The weekend prior to leaving for the medical mission, we met up with two girls from the Peace Corps. We had met Hannah previously at a restaurant, and planned a trip with her friend Sasha out to Alta Verapaz'es most popular tourist attractions: The Quetzal Biotope, Chicoy Cave, and Chixim Church.

The Biotope was a nice walk through the woods and gave a nice view of the Alta Verapaz rural, mountainous landscape, but aside from that it wasn't anything extravagant. Many travel there to see the famed, endangered Quetzal, the national bird, but we had no such luck..

Chicoy Cave was much more impressive. We took a mile-long rickety road out to a very steep hike into the mountain range that runs along the Coban-Guatemala Road (also incidentally along a huge fault line in Central America). Chicoy Cave had no visitor's center, no guards, benches, walkways or caution signs (as we made our way up the hill, a 14-year old boy ran out of a shack and asked for 10 Quetzal… no one complained). The Cave didn't even have lights- it didn't have to. Chicoy Cave is actually a cavern; a big hole in the ground. Almost every inch of the interior touches sunlight at one point during the day.

The descent in the cave was exhilarating; the cave went deep into the ground under thousands of tons of earth. When we crawled out, we all marveled about the peril we would be in if an earthquake had hit at that instant (little did we know, at that same time an earthquake tremor had shook Guatemala City!). 

Chixim Church in Tactic provided for another fantastic view of the valley, but the church was… well… as expected (recall that you're talking to two guys who've spent six months in a monastery). After climbing stairs, spelunking, and hiking the forests of Guatemala. We were exhausted. We made it back to Coban for a late lunch.

The rest of the day was spent meeting up with the Peace Corps members. At first, I was curious about how the Peace Corps worked in Central America and the kind of tasks they undertook, but by the end of the night when we hit a local bar called Antik's, I had heard enough. Most of the conversation discussed Peace Corps finicky rules on leaving for trips around the local country, and the recent disappoint of the organization pulling some of the members early. As a volunteer that has access to a car and has fairly liberal access to travel, I didn't feel so inclined to brandish my blessings. While I wasn't able to get to know many of the other Peace Corps members very well, I got to know Guiseppe, a friend of one of the members. Guiseppe moved from Italy to Guatemala. He is staying in Coban where he works as a server/host for the best restaurant in town. Guiseppe, who speaks fairly fluent English, enjoyed reminiscing about Europe with Justin and I while a few other Peace Corps members ranted.

8:00a.m. came early the next day. Justin and I packed quickly and were off to San Christobal for a live-changing experience with an unforgettable group of doctors, dentists, and friends.