A Detailed Version of Guatemala...

I haven't really had time to process and reflect as much as I would like.....but the Ecuador group has requested a more detailed explanation and no one else has posted....so here goes. Everyone else from Gmala, please add to this...contradict things i said with your own opinions and perspectives....and state your views...I'm only doing a very brief overview.

We took off from O'Hare tired but excited at 2am on December 28th, after interviews by the one and only Kelly Hendricks, airport olympics of Warhead races, and numerous count offs "UNO!". After four hours of flying, a jumbled announcement comes on over loudspeaker saying "Due to weather conditions in Guatemala, we will be rerouting to El Salvador". This begins the lovely adventure of seven hours in the El Salvador airport with an amazing view outside, a few failed attempts to escape during power outages, constant confusion, and finding sleep in any possible space. We finally found a flight to Guatemala and arrived at about 3pm (crazy in comparison to our original 6:25 am landing!).

We met our driver and Ruth's father at the Gmala airport, where we were greeted with crazy crowds of people lined up with signs shouting everything possible....found out that the two other volunteers arriving that day, "Dailey and Ryan", were actually "Bailey and Ryan". This began the expansion of our group as we began to adopt other volunteers into I-i, better known as the "Guatemalan Jedis". That's right, everyone became a Star Wars character. There was R2-Kim2, Hayfa-8-sex, Stormtrooper Sarah Elite, and the list goes on.

The ride there was a blur as we tried to absorb culture, catch up on sleep, and gawk at the warm weather and beautiful mountains....we arrived to the welcoming party of Father Greg, Tono, and others, as well as accomodations far greater than we expected, and the beginning of the amazing food that we were served every day. This was the first of many fun dishwashing experiences.

We dove straight into the tour and projects the next day, the same ones that the groups previous to us had done: coffee bean picking, rebar, reforestation, and construction for a family with ten children. The people we worked with at construction made it one of the most rewarding and challenging projects, as we struggled to figure out how to lay bricks and create a new home for this wonderful family. However, everyone enjoyed rebar, as we each found our own niche, whether it was bending metal, cutting metal, tying the wires together, or the infamous job of....splitting rocks! We had children constantly yelling "Hola!" and we played more games of "pato, pato, ganzo" (I can't spell...but that translates to duck, duck, goose) than we can count. Sarah had her nails painted, Alecia brought crying children back to their mother, and Kelly's video camera was the spotlight of attention.

We went on an amazing boat ride and visited Chichicastenango to shop at the market. We set off fireworks on New Years' Eve (or rather, I should say, the group did...I was sleeping...)...and some people ventured up the volcano in record time (6 hours woohoo.....you guys are AMAAAZZINNGG). We went to mass in various communities, attended lectures from Father Greg, and got to know so many of the others there. Ryan and Bailey (from Wisc- La Crosse) and Laura and Jessica (from Indiana who go to Murray State in KY) became integral parts of our group, played pool with us, shared pizza with us, became addicted to Spanish telanovellas with us, participated in our reflections, and made the trip so meaningful for us. Laura is an amazing pianist and singer who played a song on their last night there that touched all of our hearts. Jessica's spirit and drive added an element of sweetness and dedication. Bailey's strength helped us all persevere when times got tough, and Ryan always had an insightful comment or added an element of laughter to our trip. All the people we met made our experience even more amazing, and I think we really will keep in touch with many of them.

As another source of inspiration.....Ruth's father joined us at the San Lucas mission for the entire trip pretty much and worked in the clinic there, where he was very loved by everyone. He saved us through sprained ankles and the amoeba epidemic that ravaged through our group, saw us through fainting spells and colds and sore throats.... The work that he has done for Central America truly inspired us and we loved having his kind spirit around us. Her family also allowed us to visit their beach house on New Years' Eve, where we had an amazing time and ended the night with a perfect sunset and produced the most amazing pictures ever.

We had many deep conversations on our trip- some one on one, some with small groups, some with everyone as a whole. There were times of questions, of doubt, of rediscovery as we all sought to gain different perspectives from the trip, coming in with varied experiences and goals. We had an amazing group, with diversity in thought, in personality, in interests, and learned from each other; we constantly challenged each other with ideas and perspectives. Overall, we persevered through illness, long car rides, life decisions, frustration, and questioning, and we ended on a perfect note: a talk with Father Greg that helped clarify our understanding and purpose. In I-i, we've constantly discussed whether the $500 we use to pay our plane tickets to be better used as a straight donation, of whether we're actually helping when our layers of bricks have to be scrapped over and over again, of whether we're earning our stay by doing only a few hours of work in exchange for beds, three meals a day, and showers (a luxury we were NOT expecting...). Father Greg helped us realize that we were giving the people confidence and self esteem with our presence, and the impact it had on us was just as important as we spread our experiences and knowledge to others. It helped begin a new way of thinking and helped us all leave feeling like we made at least a small impact.

And yes, that's what I call I-i magic.