I know. This week has been nuts, not only have I been trying to get my post-graduation employment lined up (more on that later) but I got back at 2 am on Tuesday night and have been working full time since....on top of my two classes. Might I add my speech to the S & A fee committee was tonight as well, aka stressful presentation begging the head honchos of WSU for money for Green Dot. Sigh.
So back to Guatemala!
We spent the first day hiking volcano Pacaya, basically 3 miles straight up hill to the summit. The volcano blew in 2008, the view from the top was incredible!
We were thoroughly exhausted after hiking, some group members didn't even make it to the summit. The hotels we stayed at had open court yards, and the rooms were submitted to the elements. This is a view from the hotel we stayed at after our hike!
The next evening we wondered around Antigua, it has a large Central park where most of the people gather or activities and concerts.
The next week was full of hard, hard, hard work. The home we were building was on the out skirts of town, with no road to it. As a result, the supplies had been dumped off 70 yards down hill. Our job? Move gravel, sand and concrete blocks up a tiny foot and half wide trail to the work site.
We met the family on Sunday afternoon that we would be building the home for. The houses are made of concrete blocks, and rebar. The homes are designed to with stand the frequent earthquakes and cot approximately $4,000 American dollars. Habitat provides volunteer work for 5 days of the building process, a loan for the home and the payment of the masons who build the home.
Site when we arrived
Haley and I also had the awesome opprotunity to build a stove with mud and adobe blocks. The stoves are designed to ventilate the smoke fumes to outside of the home. This helps reduce lung disease and insures healthier lifestyles for the families. These stoves are donated by Habitat.
The hotel we stayed at while working was an Eco-Lodge, so decorations of recycled bottles and other recycled items were all over the grounds. The hotel was surrounded by a large brick wall, with glass shards from broken bottles concreted on to the top\. There was barb wire around the top as well.
These photographs are from our last day one the site. We moved most of the gravel, sand and blocks up the hill. We mixed the concrete to lay the beginning of the foundation by hand. We created 21 large steel pieces of rebar. And we built four stoves....all in five days.
All of the supplies we moved uphill in wheel barrows.
A photo with the family Haley and I built the stove for.
Her son Fernando!
After leaving the work site we headed to the nearby lake Atitlan. We spent two days shopping, relaxing, eating and soaking up the sun. Afterwards we headed back to Antigua for a night before catching our flight home.
Zip lining at a coffee plantation.
On Monday morning we woke up at 2:30 am (Washington/Idaho) time. I got home at 1:30 am to a huge bouquet of flowers, the sappiest of love notes and my favorite ice cream in the freezer. I think someone may have missed me while I was gone. I would definitely recommend a Habitat for Humanity trip, the work is incredible empowering and the poverty is profoundly humbling. My personal Global Village page is still open, click the Habitat for Humanity logo on the side bar of this page to make a donation to the family I was working with. They would greatly appreciate it! Hoping everyone had an enriching spring break!
PS: Kiva is giving away free 25$ loans to new users right now. Head over and loan money to someone starting a business, going to school or building a home in poverty. I just made my first Guatemalan loan yesterday, I saw several more that could use some funding! Click HERE for the free 25$!
All of your pictures are so great!! Can't wait to hear more about it!
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