Today, the class traveled to a remote village outside of the highlands of Guatemala. It was the first time that we had traveled outside of the highlands. It was more tropical with a lot of palm trees. We left at 6 a.m. because it was a four hour drive to the village. We traveled there to visit towns that the Ecofilters had been distributed to. While there, we did water quality measurements and surveys to see how they liked the filters. Some of the students interacted with the children at the local school. It was nice to see a new part of Guatemala. The car ride was long, but it was well worth the visit. We will be visiting another remote village tomorrow, and we will report back after that.
Adam
P.S. I will have someone send you some pictures to post as well.
Recently in Guatemala 08 Category
We’ve spent the last couple of days working at the Ecofilter factory near Antigua. It’s not really a “factory” in the traditional sense. There are no forklifts ferrying supplies and no big industrial smoke stacks spewing fumes into the atmosphere. There are about 20 workers who transform big clods of clay into ceramic pot-shaped water filters, and they do it with surprisingly little machinery – a lot of the work is hand-labor. We students, of course, get to help out in that hand-labor department, doing all sorts of things, like stacking firewood, bashing big clods of clay into smaller clods, boxing up filters, and doing whatever else we can help with. And naturally, it’s all done with a cheery smile on our faces ;)
Speaking of the students, our Missouri S&T population in Antigua has more than doubled. Last Saturday night the senior design class was joined by the Women As Global Leaders group (or the Wagles, as we affectionately call them). Dr. Huebner from the materials sciences department has also joined our ranks, and Ernie too, who has become the honorary Grandpa of our classmate from California. I’ve not counted everyone myself, but I hear tell that there are about 29 of us altogether, counting professors and students alike.
From Friday, March 21:
This morning started off in a superb fashion in Chichicastenango, with all the hotel rooms benefiting from hot water in the showers (it was a very welcome change from the day previous when the water was downright frosty). All the students went out in the city before breakfast to watch the Good Friday processions, but apparently we were overzealous in our early rising, and we wound up having breakfast and making arrangements for departure to Antigua before the processions began. The Chichi residents put a lot of effort into decorating for their celebrations: purple drapes hung from the street-side windows, a strange effigy dangled from the church entrance, and colorful sawdust designs could be found on many of the cobblestone streets.Our departure from Chichi was more adventurous than intended. We have a lot of supplies with us, which requires a lot of room, and a lot of people too. The usual arrangement is for us to travel in one van, while our luggage and supplies are transferred in another van. The arranged luggage van plan didn’t work out though, and we were left scrambling to find a replacement. Fortunately, a very kind fellow from Tennessee agreed to help us out – he’s a youth pastor for the church that supports the orphanage in Lemoa – and he was traveling back to the USA to be home for Easter. Conveniently for us, Antigua was more-or-less on his path of travel back to the Guatemala City airport.
Also complicating things in Chichi were various fellows in orange vests who were working to direct traffic away from the processions. They directed us hither and thither and yon as we attempted to leave the city, but they too were overzealous and we wound up seeing most of the procession from inside our van as it passed by right in front of us. (This was perfectly fine, except that by that point, we were trying to *avoid* the processions.)
We're catching up on Spring Break reports from Guatemala, where S&T students are once again conducting water quality studies and learning about the local culture. The students left last week and are spending the remainder of this week in Guatemala. This dispatch is from last Thursday:
We had planned on observing some of the Holy Week festivities here in Chichicastenango in the morning. Unfortunately, today was a break from the festivities, so we changed our plans. We went to Hogar de los Ninos (orphanage) in Lemoa, a town about 30 minutes from Chichicastenango. There we did some water quality testing, but spent most of the time playing with the children. All of the students got to ride a chicken bus (a brightly colored school bus that drives like a race car). It was definitely a once in a lifetime experience. After we returned from the orphanage, we spent some time in the local market at Chichi. Some students bought masks while others bought hammocks. The rest of the evening was free. Tomorrow we hope to see some Holy Week festivities early in the morning and then leave for Antigua. We will report back soon. -- Adam Nanney
Spring Break is almost here, and that means S&T students are headed back to Guatemala to do more water quality studies. David Moluf checked in earlier this week when the students finally made it to their destination. Sorry, David, we're just now getting this up:
The GE 352 class has embarked on our second trip of the semester to Guatemala. We arrived in Guatemala City on Tuesday afternoon around 2:30 local time, almost a full day later than scheduled. We also arrived one classmate short of our full contingent, much to our sad dismay. When we left the St. Louis airport on Monday morning, we had 10 undergrads, one grad student, and one favorite professor. While en route, one of the students became super sick, and we made an emergency landing in Little Rock, where an EMT team was waiting to escort the student to the hospital. The student is doing much better now, but we´re not sure yet whether he will be joining us later or not.Due to the stop-off in Little Rock, we were late for meeting our connecting flight in Houston, and the airline said they wouldn´t be able to fit us on another flight until the following day. They were, however, kind enough to set us up with some hotel vouchers (at the oh-so luxurious Ramada Inn) and some meal vouchers as well. Thus, we spent the remainder of St. Patty´s Day soaking up the Houston sunshine and ambiance. (And by that I mean that it was cloudy, and there were planes flying overhead about every 5.4 minutes.)
Yasmin:
Today was a very interesting day. We first went back to Lemoa's orphanage. Most of the students went to see the nacimientos (water source for surrounding towns) and I stayed at the orphanage to help out. I had a lot of fun playing with the kids, braiding hair, and drawing. The hardest part was not being able to fully communicate with them because my Spanish is so poor. Afterwards, we went back to Pastor Thomas' house to continue our research. We tested the ceramic and concrete filters that were created last semester. Some of the other tests that we performed were for arsenic, lead, coliforms, silver, and turbidity. A lot of data was collected and will be useful for the upcoming semester projects. We are all starting to run out of money and miss home. Only a few more days left.
Adam Nanney:
Today was our first day for our project in Chichicastenango. We traveled to a village outside of Chichicastenango to conduct water testing. Last year GE 352 installed a water quality monitoring device. We recorded data from the apparatus and introduced ourselves to the villagers. Next the class traveled to a orphanage in Lemoa, a town about 10 miles from Chichicastenango. At the village, we took more water quality data. Then of course we all took some time to play with the kids. The orphanage houses 16 kids from the ages of 1 to 18 years old. They were all well behaved and happy to have us to play with. After the long day, we returned back to Chichicastenango for some rest. No one was too sad to miss the first day of classes since the weather has been so nice.
P.S. Chichicastenango sounds like one of those places in the AT&T commercials. Maybe tomorrow the students will check in from New Sanfrakota.
We need to catch up on some dispatches from the weekend. The geological engineering 352 students are still in Guatemala (even though a new semester officially started today).
Yasmin (Sunday):
Well today was another free day for our GE 352 class. Luckly, the market day for Chichicastanango is on Sunday. The first task of the day was to attend mass with the locals. Some students and I went to church in this huge cathederal. It was amazing being able to participate in something so extravagant. After church, several of us continued shopping in the market. There were live chickens, dresses, masks, flowers, and more. Almost everything imaginable was located in this mile-long stretch of local street vendors. I myself have discovered that I am extremely good at bartering. It has been a lot of fun enjoying each others company, meeting new people, and missing the first week of classes.
Adam (Saturday):
We are no longer in Antigua. Yesterday we traveled from Antigua to Pannajachel. It is a beautiful city by Lake Atitlan. Today we got up early and some of us hired a boat to take us across the lake to Santiago for a couple of hours. Others stayed in Pannajachel to shop in the market. Santiago is located on the lake in between two volcanoes. It is very pretty but walking up and down all the hills in the city was tiring. After we returned to Pannajachel, we ate lunch and packed up again. This afternoon we will be driving to Chichicastenango, where we will stay until Thursday. We will keep you updated on what Chichicastenango is like.
Yasmin (Friday):
Once we left for Panajachel, the ride was long and extremely bumpy (there wasn´t a flat surface in sight). We went uphill for so long that we began to drive through clouds. If you love shopping as much as I do, then Panajachel is definately the place to be. Katrina and I walked literally two blocks and couldn´t resist buying at least one item from each vendor. All of their accessories are incrediably cheap. I got a purse, a shell pendant, two keychains, a scarf, and dinner for under 20 dollars. I love it here! I definately need to remember that I promised to buy my friends and family gifts.
Kyle Te is in Guatemala, where Missouri S&T geological engineering students are helping locals develop cleaner water supplies. Lucky for us, Kyle has a camera and a good eye for photos. Here are some of his shots:
Avacado tree in Sacala
The gang
Guatemala City has a Chuck-E-Cheese!
The facilities in Sacala
La Sala
Results from water testing...VERY BAD.
Today our GE 352 class went to EcoFilter again. Some spent most of the day collecting water samples from the surrounding community. The water samples were tested for fecal pathogens. The rest of us began work on our class projects by gathering data. Our bodies ache from all of the physical labor that we do throughout the day. We have been piling wood, crushing clay, sifting saw dust, molding blocks, and lots more. Trust me -- it's a lot harder than it sounds. Despite constantly being dirty, we have really enjoyed the Guatemalan culture (especially the food). We have only two more days in Antigua before we leave for Panchel on Friday.
