De San Lucas Toliman

I arrived in San Lucas Toliman Wednesday afternoon. I met my friends at the airport and we met our driver who would take us the nearly 3 hours to San Lucas. It poured the whole time. Guatemala has two seasons: lluve y sol. It is now the rainy season so it pours everydays, mostly in the afternoons. It is essential for the coffee farmers here. The place I am staying in is Casa Madre, a former convent started by the School Sisters of Notre Dame. I have my own room and we have a kithen, living room, patio, etc. A very nice place. The past few days have mostly been spent orientating myself with the mission, the town, the language, and the people. There are many projects going on here at the mission and most of my time will probably be spent in assisting the Mayans with building a women´s resource center. I am fed three solid meals a day with all of the other volunteers, short term and long term. So far it has been early nights and early mornings here. Andres, one of the men who works for the parish, has helped me to understand the mission of the parish in trying to empower the Mayan people to better themselves without losing their own culture. Father Greg, the padre who helped organize the mission, is very sensitive to the Mayan so that the gringos do not tell them what to do. We are in their country and homes. It is something that I have noticed some people do very well while other volunteers are often insensitive to the culture here, although not intentionally. It is a very delicate situation but amazing work is still be done nonetheless. Roughly 18 families own all of the land in Guatemala and of those 18, 5 or 6 of them, both national and international families own the coffee finces. Fincas are very much akin to the 19th century plantations of the south. The workers (slaves) live in barely sustainable conditions while across the yard the owners live in beautiful, well-kept colonial homes. It is devestating to see. Fortunately, the parish, with the help of U.S. financial assistance, has been able to procure land to slowly move familites away from the fincas into their own communities. It is a slow process, but there is a lot of hope in it. The people of San Lucas hope it will serve as a model to the government of how they should go about land redistribution and more equitable living for all of its citizens, both ladino and Mayan.

There are many volunteers here, mostly from the Midwest. Lots of med students and nursing students. There is group here from Loyola Med School and I tagged along with them today down to Pana. I was warned by some friends to steer clear of here because of its tourist vibes, which it certainly has, but I am only here for the afternoon. I needed to get to a larger place than San Lucas, if only for a few hours. Much of my free time is spent en mi casa reading and studying spanish. I have high hopes for it as everyday it becomes easier to communicate.

There is much more to write about and explore, but I am growing weary and feel my stomach growling. I hope all is well with all of you. Hasta luego y espero tienen una semana buena.