Coffee Scented Reminders

Reading a lot of Thomas Merton and Dorothy Day this week has helped me frame my time in Guatemala and my decisions I face here. I haven't really had much time to write about my reflections because my laptop is enfermo right now. That gives me time to read and share with people while I'm here at home. The other night I sat down and went through my pictures with Ma Linda and Buddha. They loved all the colors, tapestries, buildings, artwork, and friends that they experienced through photos.

I'm reminded throughout the day of many different aspects of the trip. My entire room smells like Guatemalan coffee because two bags burst in my suitcase. I highly recommend coffee scented bath towels, heavenly! Pretty sweet that I sat down in a hole in the wall shop where they harvest and grind the coffee fresh. It was like 100 feet from our third floor balcony hotel room that looked over Lake Atitlan and cost only like 7 bucks a night. The trip was a vacation and I definitely needed some space and perspective. Lake Atitlan and Antigua were the main touristy parts of the trip. It was tough, we spent a day and a half there when we could have hung out with friends. I'm not sure it was the right choice. I mean how often do you get to hang out with your Guatemalan friends, but then again, how often can you relax at a gorgeous lake surrounded by volcanoes. It rained shortly after we got there. We had enough time to grab a nice breakfast on the street and walk past all the street vendors in Panajachel. I went to grab my sunglasses and I suddenly realized that I left my running shoes in the overhead bin of the chicken bus that we had taken from Guate. It cost $4 for a four hour bus ride. Bumpy as all get out.

We took a boat ride in the rain across the lake. Andrew noted that crossing the lake was reminiscent of the helicopter ride into Jurassic Park. It is definitely otherworldly, even in the rain. We stayed in San Pedro, which is much more tranquil and less touristy than Pana.

We had some amazing Italian food at an authentic Italian Restaurante and grabbed some Gallo beer on our way to relaxing and card playing on the balcony looking out over the lake. I woke up with the sun around 5:30 or so and climbed up the hill and snuck into the gorgeous colonial style baptist church and spent the morning in song, prayer and reading. I wish I could wake up every morning to such tranquility and solitude. I almost forgot, when I was exploring the church, I was reading a Bible verse written above the pulpit and as I was focusing on the scripture, I totally kicked a giant cement block that blended into the floor below me. I may or may not have swore and hopped around for a few minutes before chuckling at the irony. I still have a blood blister in my toe. It really really hurt.

I grabbed a freshly ground and brewed cup of coffee and talked sports with the brothers who run the coffee operation. Man I love fresh Guatemalan coffee, personalized and made with love and humanity.

We went for a long walk before we made it to a beach and went for an hour canoe ride in the lake. So gorgeous and peaceful. It was perfect. I rowed by the shore for a while, past a school of kids playing basketball. I thought there was a lot of trash, and I was going to collect it and dispose of it, but they turned out to be floaters for crabbing pots and fishing traps. Expending such energy on the lake and being so alone and in such solitude provides tremendous amounts of perspective. We are so little, my issues are so little and God is so big. His love is so big, masterfully displayed in his incredible creation and his greatest creation, us.

It was so good though to get back to Guate and see our friends. We met at the Tikal Futura hotel which is a really nice hotel shaped after ruins in the Northern state of Peten. I got to see some people for the first time and we went to Blellca's house. There were about fifteen people there and the whole purpose was to get ready for our trip to the Mayan Aldea of Saquitikaj. My friends have such huge hearts for their people, and for me too. I didn't know half of the people there, but it was so much fun to prepare 45 bags of food with rice, pasta, sugar, coffee, beans, vegetables and more food. Volunteering and serving together is such a great way to build bonds and create friendships. Afterwards we sat around Blellca's living room, talking laughing and fellowshipping over some authentic Guatemalan Hawiian Pizza Hut pizza.

We got to sleep in until 6:30 and I was ready to go after a refreshing cold hand bucket shower. The girls and others had to be up by 4 a.m. to finish arreglaring the viveres. Fernando, Andy and I joked to them that we were up by 3 to pray together and make fresh baked postres for everyone. I was nestled into the microbus when some of my friends opened the door and said, "Pedrito, Ven aca" and before you knew it, I was balanced on some bags of food in the back of the pick-up truck off for the three hour drive. It's so cool that my friends want me to experience Guatemala, to know it's history and to be shaped by it no matter where I am. They make sure I experience things that I should, sit down and go over maps of the country, give me books, tell me stories, and carry such pride and beauty for their nation.

The truck ride was freezing cold, and yet I managed to get sun-burned. I sat in the back enjoying the breathtaking vistas as we meandered through the countryside up to the high country. I sat there talking to friends, praying, laughing and enjoying God's creation. We were greeted in Saquitikaj with applause, firecrackers and beautiful smiling faces. It was my second visit to the aldea and so I was not quite as stunned as my first visit. I remember feeling like I had just walked into a National Geographics magazine. This mystical experience was compounded by the fact that I quickly realized that there were way more women and children than men. Where were all the men? I assumed they were in the fields working, but my friends quickly informed me that the indigenous communities were hit hardest by the civil war and that many villages were left reeling with widows and orphans.

How beautiful to see my sisters and brothers in Guatemala naturally loving those in most need. It wasn't activism, social justice or a fad or a phase, it was a natural love response to the call of Christ to love as we've been loved. It was a blessing to see people come alive in this

element. Friends who tend to be quiet were all of a sudden captivating 100 children with a puppet show about pride, love, and dreaming big dreams. There were games, pinatas, public safety information (Many people are killed in Guatemala annually due to mudslides, earthquakes and flooding). We distributed all the food, clothing and toys we brought and played with the kids and their new toys for a bit. Pure joy.

I helped distribute food while Andrew gave out clothing to the men. I kept an eye on him because I wanted to see if my mountains of Maryland Terrapins gear was a big hit. Andy did a good job pushing them, but I think they were too big for most of the men, so the women will wear them, or they will be rags. I had dreams of a great soccer player going to UMD from this aldea in Guate. Oh well.

After everything was distributed we set off for a gorgeous walk down the hill to have lunch at someones house. I knew this would be coming and I was a bit nervous because food is a touch questionable. Last time I was trading food with people because I couldn't handle some of it. I joked about it, but it was probably the most amazing meal I've ever had due to the scenary and the background of love and sacrifice that went into the meal. The chicken on my plate was not bought from Fresh Grocer, someone killed it that morning, the carrots were grown out back, the juice was made from the trees and it was a huge sacrifice to serve such a large group so much food. I know I've never had a meal at such a cost before. Andrew made it known that he enjoys spicy food and so they prepared a special hot sauce for him. I looked up when I heard a commotion only to see Andy squinting his eyes and crying. Well, I practically started crying from laughter at seeing this and I will never forget this image. Everyone realized that Pedrito was a bit more mischievous and not so innocent as he appears when his tongue is extremely limited by his cognitive language skills. He was fine.