Day 14: Packing and Tour of Guatemala City Dump

Slept luxuriously here at the Barcelo (such a comfortable bed! Dry! No bugs!), woke up, had breakfast, and was ready by 8 to head to the church and unpack/organize stuff. We created boxes and first aid kits to go to the villages that we visited, and tried to put things away in a way that would make sense for the next group (in February).

For the afternoon, we had an appointment at Camino Seguro, which we got to (after a few miscommunications and stresses in getting there, and a fast stop at McDonald’s). I was not quite ready for the emotional rollercoaster that is inherent in visiting Camino Seguro and the Guatemala City dump.

We viewed the dump from above- even from a distance it smelled horrible. There were packs of vultures hanging out and circling in the sky over the dump. Our tour guide, Freddy, was formerly a professional soccer player in Guate, and has been involved in non-profit work here for many years. He was telling us awful stories about the war here, being poor in Guatemala, and life in the dump. Meanwhile, we are walking through above ground graves, listening to funeral music (there was a well-to-do funeral going on not that far away), smelling the horrible stench of the dump, and watching as mobs of people fight over the trash that is being dumped out of garbage trucks down below.

The dump is located in a sort of ravine, and there are several rivers under the dump. This creates a very unsafe environment- there have been several sinkholes where people have died; there have also been explosions from the methane gas. In recent years, children have been banned from collecting in the dump- some children are lucky, and get to go to Camino Seguro- but it sounds like there is a long waiting list. Camino Seguro serves 600 kids; I think the whole dump community is about 50,000 people.

We drove through some streets where the collectors live- large piles of plastic bottles, or broken plastic stools, or piles of cardboard, were all bundled up inside and just outside of people’s homes. The collectors work 12-15 hours in a day, and sell the plastic/glass/whatever for maybe $1 per day. Shockingly, they have to pay the city I think Q45 a year for the privilege of collecting in the dump.

We then visited Camino Seguro and watched film footage of people living in the dump- without electricity, water, or real toilets; eating food found in the dump, including meat that was a week old- it was horrifying. We also watched interviews with Hanley Denning- a young teacher from Maine, who saw the need to help kids in the dump- went back and sold all her possessions and moved to Guate, and started Camino Seguro, I think around 1997. Tragically, she was killed in a car accident about 3 years ago.

The whole day was so sad- I think all of us were on the verge of crying throughout the whole tour.

What Camino Seguro is doing, though, was uplifting- they provide meals and school for kids age 1-about 20. They provide a lot of free playtime as well. They have programs for the parents, and we were able to buy jewelry made by many of the mothers participating in the program- the beads for the jewelry were made from things collected in the dump. This part of the program has been so successful that the women make enough money from the jewelry that they don’t have to collect in the dump anymore.

The actual buildings for Camino Seguro were lovely- a place to take pride in- landscaping was actually done by grad students in landscaping from the UW!

Anyway, it was depressing, eye-opening, and hopeful to see. Here is the website for more information:
http://www.safepassage.org/

Day 10 Guate and then to Monterrico

Today Mike left really early to catch his flight with the dentistas. We had a fun night the night before, having some drinks and dinner at the hotel and swimming.

Today at the church, Zora, Anne and I did see and treat for four women. They were all sophisticated- they all had had paps before, and knew a lot about planificacion and cervical cancer- one of them had actually taken a class on see and treat!

See and treat is where you look at the cervix with acetic acid, and if you see a lesion, you can freeze it (cryotherapy).

After lunch we headed to Monterrico in two large vans. It rained the whole way there, including on our ferry ride (when the whole van is put on a floating raft thing with a motor). Our van was in pretty good spirits- listening to Shakira and the rain.

Day 9 Drive back to Guate

So yesterday there were tropical storm warnings- tropical storm Matthew was pretty much headed right to our area in Guatemala- and everyone was worried about mudslides, road conditions, and if we went to Nacimiento, that we might get stuck there. Instead, we ended up booking it back to the capital after breakfast. I was a little nervous, but the weather and roads ended up being okay.

Day 8: Clinic at Las Flores

Las Flores (former plan was to go to Las Brisas)- got there by vehicle- we all packed into a truck- I think we fit 14 people in the flat bed of the truck (with bunches), and 7 people in the front cab part, with a pretty rough road, and a minor water crossing.

Emily’s day in the pharmacy! Had a lot of fun working with the girls in the pharmacy- I think we ran a pretty tidy ship. There were a few pretty sick kids seen today- two needed albuterol nebs, another we felt should go on to the nearest actual clinic and maybe hospital. There was a woman who did know she was pregnant until our test, and she had 7 children already.

We had a nice set-up in a part of the school; we also had very good crowd control. It was kind of nice to take it easy in the pharmacy today.

On the way back, Jennifer, Carol, Miriam, and I went to a meeting with Dr. Marta to discuss me working at the clinic week after next, and to discuss our clinics so far, and VIA. Should be interesting! My Spanish is coming back/improving daily- hopefully I will understand what is going on when I get there a week from Monday (8am sharp!).

This evening was eventful- lovely swim. Turns out that Mike had a frustrating day where he and Tim were waiting on Edgar to go get materials and get to work, but E was with us in the town all day (this actually really sucked). The evening proceeded with one of our party cutting her finger with a scalpel, and another breaking her tooth at dinner, oh and there was a needle-stick earlier in the day.

Needless to say, we were sort of a sorry bunch!

Day 7: Nuevo Nacimiento de Calles

Nuevo Nacimiento de Calles- got there by a boat- first the lake, then a tributary/ narrow passageway, then 2 people took horses, and the rest went by foot on this very open, very hot trail (supposed to be about a 30-45minute walk). The tractor truck was going to meet us, but was still on its way back to the river from the town when we arrived. The going was hard- a lot of mud and water on the trail, and the sun beating down on us (prob about 830am or so). Thankfully, the tractor did end up picking us up for the last 1/3 or so of the way- we actually had to tend to our own for a while before setting up clinic- she almost had heat stroke, requiring needing to lie down, drink fluids, we put cold water and ice on her, and tried to fan her.

I think all of us dumped cold water on our heads.

Once we had recovered, clinic was open for business. We some interesting things, including two abscesses on kids. Carol and I removed a piece of wood from a girl’s foot!

I stepped out of clinic for a minute to attend the community meeting (all men)- they were very excited about smokeless stove ideas.

Day 6: Snorkeling in Belize

Free day! In the past, the group has gone to Tikal or taken a trip on a river. Shira read in her book about an excursion to snorkel in Belize, and made it happen. We got up at 5am, took the bus for 45 minutes to Rio Dulce, then hopped on a boat that took us to Livingston- this boat ride was beautiful- after the lake, the waterway narrowed, and there was lush jungle sloping in, and overhanging the river, with lots of birds flying from shore to shore. During the bus and the boat ride there was a spectacular sunrise. At Livingston, we found our tour group/restaurant, got sized for snorkel fins, and had breakfast. After having out passports stamped at the immigration office in Livingston (and paying $10 dollars), we headed to our boat! Not much different than your standard lancha, I was simply glad it was covered. We headed straight out into the Caribbean Sea.

It was a gorgeous day- clear blue sky, sunshine, and shimmery blue water. The boatride out was maybe 1.5 hours? Straight out into open water. Seemingly in the middle of nowhere, we started to see shallow water and reefs below us, and a few tiny tropical islands, each with 1-2 palm trees. We got out on two of the larger islands- that had primitive bathrooms and bunkhouses. There were some really cool iguanas- up to maybe 4 feet long, and orange!

The snorkeling was really fun- the boat stopped at two different places- the 2^nd place had more varieties of fish- fun to get so close to them. Others in the group saw barracuda and a sting ray!

Day 5: Clinic at Agua Caliente

The morning went more smoothly today- the clinic was already set up, and I felt more used to the temperature. We took more frequent short breaks with snacks, and much more easily worked through the day, with lunch again around 3pm.

We were torn- we needed to go to a community meeting, but we also wanted to swim in the famous hot water springs waterfall (which we meant to do yesterday, but it was dark by the time the meeting ended). We decided to swim first while it was light, and then head to the community meeting. This worked out great!

Finca del Paraiso waterfall is gorgeous- it is a large waterfall of warm water, falling into a cool stream, and perfect for swimming. The rocks that come down to the river also had hallowed out areas, with caves you could get to by bobbing your head under water and under the rock (I put my hand into the cave- and it was super-hot, like a sauna.

Matt and Mike jumped off the top of the waterfall- I just hiked up to the top and then walked back down- there were cool caves off the trail- full of bats and toads! Mike got some great pictures. The swimming was definitely a highlight, and the waterfall was a MUCH warmer shower than those at the hotel! (which were just cold water). The cool river made it all refreshing.

Some of us then headed to a community meeting at Boquaron- the women had a great meeting about cervical cancer and things. Usually we like to think that it is best if folks from the community learn to do health checks and procedures, but at this meeting a few women said they strongly preferred to have strangers do these exams- the community is so small, and they find it embarrassing.

I was at the other meeting- a mix of men and women- and I talked about stoves. They were concerned with respiratory problems, and the fact that black ashes from their ceiling would fall on their food. I passed around my camera with pictures of the stove from Common Hope, and people were very positive about it. It got dark partway through the meeting, and we could see a lot of lightening in the distance. Our meeting ended abruptly when the storm picked up and there was pouring rain and wind (it was good timing actually, the meeting felt complete)- I got to briefly see a stove, and then we headed on our way, back to the hotel.

Crazy storm at dinner- so things were pretty stormy as dinner got started, and we were all enjoying watching the lightening over the lake- but then it got much stronger, with rain coming in at a slant and soaking the dinner table, and a lot of wind; and the power went out. It was a rather cozy, shared experience, and the storm continued with force through the night.

A note on cozy group dinners: one of my favorite meals was when we were at small tables, and Mike and I got to know Luis Alberto and Luis Cristobal, Xijira, and Ingrid a bit better with the help of Samuel (who has a great sense of humor). Both of the Luises seem interested in engineering, and loved chatting with Mike about building racecars.