Before the trek..

I don't have much time to write, I am literally at a McDonalds in Xela because I couldn't find another internet place open past 7, and had to buy something to get these 30 minutes.. sigh..

But! On a happier note, I start my trek tomorrow, from Nebaj to Todos Santos which is in the department of Quiche. Its in the northish-west region of Guatemala. I mentioned it in another post, and am pretty sure that I posted the link. There are 4 of us giong, with two guides. Im pretty excited but need to get packed tonight because everything gets started around 7 tomorrow.

I spent this last weekend at the coast, in a place called Tilapa, near the border of Mexico. It was beautiful, and being near the ocean finally was great. I've never been on a Pacific Coast beach and been the only one in the water, on the beach, and the only white person in the area as well. There is only one place to stay, and one restaurant there, and its very small, located on a peninsula and you can only get there by boat as well. The people there earn their livings by fishing in the mangroves, in the ocean, and selling their pigs, which run around the peninsula freely with their piglets. I took a tour of the mangrove which was beautiful as well. I don't have time to upload photos, but I might get around to that next week once I get back to Xela for another day!

The mountain school was great. I felt a lot more integrated into Guatemalan life there, despite living in the school house. I made friends with a lot of the workers and local people and it was great to be able to converse with them and learn more about their work. I ended up tagging along with my friend Lauren-who is from England and doing her masters' thesis on nutrition and health in rural Guatemala-and attended a health day where height and weight were taken, to measure levels of malnutrition. And I also sat in on an interview with women from the Nuevo San Jose health group. My host mom is the president, so I had helped set it up. It was great to hear how they're organizing themselves and trying to provide access to healthcare as best they can in an isolated area.

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On a different subject, I ended up cancelling my last week of classes here in Xela, and am instead going to spend a week volunteering at Finca La Florida. Its a finca ( a farm more or less) that was started by a group of campesino families, who occupied an abandoned finca in the 90s after the peace accords were signed. Basically in the Peace Accords there is a part which stipulates that organized groups can obtain land from the government to work on their own. Of course it wasnt that easy. Its a long story but eventually after quite a few years, they got the debt waved on the land and they now own it communally and sell free trade coffee, bananas and honey to keep the place going. They also give tours as a eco-tourism project. So I'll be staying there for a week and helping from 8 to 1 each day, harvesting bananas since it isnt coffee season.


Anywho, that's it for now! Hopefully I make it through the trek, haha

I'll be back in Xela on Sunday afternoon