Hey gringos, how's it going? So far Guatemala is absolutely gorgeous. We can see the mountains and several volcanoes from CASAS (where we're staying). It is amazing here.
July 27 was our first full day here and to start our month off with a bang we went to the cemetary and landfill. The cemetary was a little bit creepy but was a really useful way to understand the divide between the rich and the poor in Guatemala. The richest people and families had large, elaborate masoleums and those who were really poor couldn't even afford to keep their loved ones remains in the niche (a hole in the wall) for very long and there were just empty spots. The cemetary gave us our first taste of culture shock.
Then we continued on to the landfill. The landfill was also shocking and somewhat intense for us to see however, we didn't get very close to it. While at the landfill we were suprised by a group of dogs and lots of big crows. After we saw the landfill we hopped into the van. We were all struggling a little with what we had seen but, it was about to get more difficult. We arrived at the mall for a contrast tour. This really disturbed us after the landfill.
On July 28 we went to zone 1 and the ravine. The ravine is the ghetto of Guatemala city. It was weird to see the beauty of the landscape in stark contrast to the rundown houses that were all over this trecherous ravine.
In zone 1 we were treated to a fabulous lunch and went on a tour of the central palace. The central palace is enormous and very elaborate. After seeing the ravine, the palace just seemed completely unnecessary and didn't help with the culture shock either.
After the tour we went shopping in the market in zone 1, this was interesting. There were some weird encounters with the locals. The girls were whistled at several times (which Frank thought was hilarious) and Thomas was called a gringo.
Guatemala has been fabulous so far and we're learning a lot. Please remember to keep us in your thoughts and prayers.
Enlace team
Let's see some photos!!
ReplyDelete