After leaving the hustle of Mexico City, we were pleasantly welcomed by the more relaxed atmosphere in Puebla. As soon as we arrived at the Spanish Institute of Puebla, we had a brief orientation to the Institute, then if was off to our new host families. In contrast to our host families in Guatemala, we … Continue Reading ››

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/in-a-crowded-immigration-court-seven-minutes-to-decide-a-familys-future/2014/02/02/518c3e3e-8798-11e3-a5bd-844629433ba3_story.html Judge Lawrence Burman – average of 7 minutes per case, 57 immigration courts in country, deportation system backlogged with 350,000 cases, 40 % appear in court without representation. “Like doing death-penalty cases in a traffic court setting,” one immigration judge said in testimony before Congress about the job. This is hard to read and I felt … Continue Reading ››

On February 28, our group left our Spanish classes early to get a head start on our weekend trip to Lake Atitlán.  After a warm and humid bus ride, we stopped at a cooperative called Campesino Committee of the Highlands.  While walking to the storehouse, Rebecca was happy to see a group of children playing … Continue Reading ››

On Friday, February 14^th we travelled to Tikal for our second weekend trip in Guatemala. We had a really early start to the day - we needed to be up and ready to leave CASAS at 4:30 a.m. so we could catch our flight to Tikal at 6:00 a.m. The flight to Tikal took us … Continue Reading ››

Last week we heard from two speakers, the first speech was focused on Neo-Pentecostals and this movement involves a new Pentecostal form as opposed to the old.  Neo-Pentecostalism originated after the strong earthquake in 1976 when destruction occurred in Guatemala City, and churches and communities … Continue Reading ››

On our first adventure outside of Guatemala City, we took a three hour bus ride that was split in half. Our first stop where we ate lunch was the Mayan ruins of Iximche. This was an interesting place to see because prior to this we have been learning about the Mayan people. During the week … Continue Reading ››