Muimui's Travel Journal

I’ve arrived in Flores, in the province of Peten on Monday night.  The flight was short and there were not many passengers on this twin propeller plane.  Luis who works for the program (Volunteer Peten) picked me up from the airport.  I was anxious during the short 45 min drive as I wondered what kind of place would I be staying in for the next 2 weeks?  The air was warm even though it’s night time, very different from the nice cool nights in Xela.  I’m in the tropical jungle here!  Finally we have arrived in the town of San Andres.  Luis pointed out the brightly lit library at the turnoff at the main road, which was built by our volunteer group.  That building has to be the nicest one around, as we drove down the steep rough road towards the lake, I saw houses that were put together with basic materials, like wood planks or corrugated sheet metal.  The house my host family lives in is down these steps from this narrow road.   The steps then turned into just a steep path with rocks and I was trying not to fall while the daughters came up to help me with my heavy luggage in their bare feet.  I was introduced to the family and there were so many of them I couldn’t keep track who’s who.  They asked if I had dinner yet and I was promptly served beans and eggs with tortilla.  Was I glad that the portion was back to normal compared to my host family in Xela.  So back to the living conditions; Their house is made of concrete with corrugated roof, and it’s divided between their main living quarters and my room which has its own entrance.  My room is narrow but deep, has a bare concrete floor, a bed, a cabinet for putting clothes in, a desk and a fan.  No windows.  Yikes.  The kitchen and bathroom are separate from the main house and were in different shacks that were additions to the house.  They do have shower but no hot water, which I found out very soon I won’t need.  There is a sink out in the courtyard type area and around that is some fence made of broken planks of wood.  This is where they do all the dishwasher, food washing, clothes washing and also showers, using little bucket to get water from the large sink.  This place is something out of a movie to me, and I thought to myself:  I can do it, it’s only 2 weeks, I can deal with it!!  The family is nice but the 5 children of age 24, 22, 20, 16 and 14 (or about that) are old enough to mind their own business and not showing too much interests in the new boarder.  The mom Carmelina is a big loud woman, and the dad Orlando looks like a honest working man.  We talked a little with the parents and I asked the youngest son to write down all the seven names so I can learn them.  I took a shower and went to bed pretty early trying hard to fall asleep on my first night in the strange place.

The next morning a fellow volunteer Mipsey came to get me.  I was relieved as I know the program director Mateo won’t be back until Wednesday and I didn’t know what I was suppose to be working on.  Mipsey is from England, and she has been here for 8 months! She’s doing a placement for her university studies.  I still can’t imagine being here for that long period of a time.  Anyways, we walked up the steep hill to the library where we met some other volunteers.  There was a couple, Scott and Taylor, from the US who just got here a few days before me.  I went with Scott to the ecological park.  It was a good 25 min walk to the park.  I knew I would be walking a lot, in the heat also, while I’m here.  At the park we met one of the caretakers, who set us to work after chitchatting for a bit.  We were to repair the watering holes for animals that are in the park.  The work was not too difficult but we had to use a wheel barrel to transport the materials on these trails.  It’s a big park, which is something the program director Mateo received from the local government as he’s trying to preserve the few remaining plots of land that had not been turned into cattle field or people's houses.  The park is for the public to enjoy, but I haven’t seen many people visiting it.  In the park other than the trails which are quite nice, there are vegetable gardens where Mateo is teaching his students about farming etc.  I have worked now 5 mornings in the park, 3 of which I raked leaves to clear all the trails.  It was work that was satisfying in a sense you see how much progress you’ve made very easily, but at the same time work that I doubt will make a difference as nobody really walks on these trails!  I spent one morning pulling out weeds in the garden and also watering some plants.   The days have got increasingly hot and even working for only a few hours in the morning would drain all the energy from you.  The 25-30 min walk back in the middle of the day was not pleasant, and actually one day I hitched a ride from a pickup driving by.  I rode in the back with a kid and the other man, who refused to accept the Q5 I offered.  Oh I have to mention the lake!  It is only a few minutes walk from the house, and I have been heading down there for a swim every day to cool off.  The water is clear and looks green from the shore.    I’d say this is the only nice thing here in San Andres.  So afternoons are for swimming in the lake, and spending time in the internet cafes.  The connections are slow and it is quite frustrating, but there’s nothing else to do here really.  Evenings are spent in the library which is open from 7-9pm where all the local kids gather.  Some of them have homework, some reads, the younger ones will color, but mostly it’s a place to hang out.  The volunteers are there so if there’s someone who wants to learn English we can help out.  I have had a few eager youngsters who want to talk in English so it’s been quite fulfilling.  The nights when nobody wanted to speak English were the disappointing nights but times go by quickly.  After the library closes sometimes the volunteers will head to Tito’s which is a run-down bar with pool tables.  It’s not too exciting but Mipsey likes to go there like every night.  After that we would head to our respective host family and I would take a shower and try to fall asleep in my stuff room with the fan on.  For the past 3 days I have been working with Enario who works for Mateo.  He has a little project in this local elementary school building 2 additional classrooms.  I have been mixing cement and plaster that onto the concrete block walls.  Man it’s tough work but I think I’m getting better at it.  We have to mix the sand with cement with shovels and that is hard work too.  One thing I should mention is that throughtout the morning as we are working, we can see the kids in the school running around screaming, chasing each other, kicking balls the whole time!  They are totally out of control but nobody with authority is stopping them either.   I was told this is the education system here.  Teachers don’t care and nobody does any work in school.  It’s unbelievable what I’ve witnessed.  The lack of education is a real problem here.  Mateo told us that the students in his program which he started have kids age 15 or 16 who can’t do any math or write coherent sentences.  His program is for Natrual Resource Management and he has a lot of work to do.  He has been working here for 10 years or so, and he’ll dedicate the rest of his life helping the people here in San Andres.  But he’s only one person.  It seems like to me though that the poor people here will stay poor and are not getting ahead, and their children’s children will still live in these houses making US$200 a month.  I can’t do much to help either except for my brief appearance for 2 weeks.  And this is not the only place in the world where people are living lives like these.