During the week of spring break for the rest of EMU, the Guatemala intercultural students had the chance to travel in small groups around Guatemala, Belize, and El Salvador. We planned the trips ourselves and were given the opportunity to go anywhere we wanted (with the approval of our leaders, of course). Here’s a short summary from each group about their trip!
Miranda, Ally, and I spent our week around Lake Atitlán in Guatemala. We were in Panajachel for three nights before we took a boat across the lake to San Pedro where we stayed for the rest of the week. Our three main highlights of the trip were zip lining, weaving, and a sunrise hike in addition to the numerous tuk-tuk rides, exploring all the little towns around the lake, and meeting other travelers. Zip lining was an exciting experience with awesome views. It had seven different lines with two of them being long rides over the lake. During our weaving class, we each got to make our own scarf. We were all very tired and had some sore backs by the end of the six-hour class but it definitely gave us a new appreciation of what goes into handmade textiles. For the sunrise hike, we were picked up at 4:00 am along with a group of others. Indians Nose wasn’t a long hike but was very steep. The view was well worth the early morning as we all enjoyed a beautiful sunrise over the lake/volcanos while drinking organic chocolate. I’d say it was a successful week!
– Eli Ours
Lane, Arelys, Kate, and Marie Isabella went to El Salvador and learned a lot about the assassination of Catholic Bishop Romero.
The Peace is Won
The peace is won with bloodied hand and the tear-streaked cheeks of children.
The peace is bought and paid by stainless steel cages and the cries of innocence.
The peace reminds of a time not far past, of another impudent government of control.
What cost does the woman running fearless after dark believe can be justly paid, each hard-won right wrest from the freedom and life of another?
The people rejoice a cool dictator, deliverance for many and the cost of the few.
A woman chokes her cry under the bush of hidden safety, ears strained for familiar cries.
The peace is won with bloodied hands, but is held and used with clean ones.
-Lane Burkholder
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Our group went to El Salvador for free travel. Our first stop was Santa Ana where we hiked a volcano and ate lots of pupusas. We then made our way down the coast by public bus (which was an adventure) where we settled in La Libertad. We enjoyed some days at the beach, surfing, swimming, and relaxing in the sun. Finally, we bussed over to San Salvador to learn about Monseñor Romero and visit the national artisan market and the newly opened library. We enjoyed connecting and comparing what we have been learning in Guatemala about gangs and the civil war to El Salvador. We are grateful for the people that we met along the way who were willing to help us and share with us their perspectives, and the delicious pupusas.
– Hollyn Miller
Naomi Kratzer, Ella Brubaker, and I decided to stay in Guatemala for our free travel week to explore some of the northeastern region of the country. We spent a day splashing around in the crystalline pools of Semuc Champey (look it up!) tucked deep into the jungle of Alta Verapaz. Swimming through a cave while attempting to keep alive the only light source (a candle), and cliff jumping by a waterfall straight from a storybook were some other highlights. But nothing good comes easy, as we spent the good part of two days getting to and from Semuc. A valuable lesson we learned during our week was to add about 3 hours on top of every ETA, except for bus rides helmed by a driver who either had no fear or didn’t know where the brake was.
After our time in the jungle pools, we continued our northeast trek to Rio Dulce, where we canoed and explored El Castillo de San Felipe, a fortress built in 1652 to fend off pirates (spoiler alert: the pirates won). We also spent some time in Livingston, a Caribbean coastal town only reachable by a boat ride through the river, flanked by jungle, granite cliffs, and some mean-looking pelicans. Livingston is certainly a unique place, with a large Garífuna presence (look it up!) and the only white sand beach in Guatemala, which like most things in this area, is only accessible by a boat ride.
And just as we were safely tucked in our return bus home, we had our last adventure as our 5-hour trip stretched painfully into 8 due to a broken down bus. But on the bright side, I got to have my first ride in a double-decker bus, which thankfully rescued us.
All in all, we returned to Guatemala City content with our adventures and largely unscathed, (minus Naomi’s pinky toe). What a week!
– Leah Beachey
This past week, Nate, Mana, and I (Joshua) had the opportunity to travel to Belize for our week of free travel. Belize is, quite simply, an entirely different culture, despite just recently having been a part of Guatemala. While there, we got to experience what is known as “Garífuna” culture, characterized by intensely syncopated music, a different style of food, and a grand mixture of languages – English, Creole, and Spanish.
In between snorkeling with nurse sharks, meeting Dutch people,
hiking up mountains, and swimming in waterfalls, we were able to get to know this culture a little better. I had a conversation on a bus with a local man about the immigration situation in Belize – it is far different from the situation in Guatemala. The citizens of Belize easily obtain visas and come to work in the US, frequently returning home to build houses and support their families. Questions have been raised recently about the purpose of travel. For me, this is the purpose of travel – to come to know and understand the many different people of the world and their situations – because that is something that the world is often sorely lacking.
– Joshua Stucky
