Thursday, January 10, 2013

Tortillas, Soccer and Family Time in Santa Teresa



By Mariana DiMaggio
Today was a little different than any of the other days here so far.  Instead of planting trees we had a day dedicated to living a typical day in the life of our host parents.  Ashley and I woke up first thing at 6 am to learn how to make the traditional tortillas with our host mom and grandmother.  After a while it gets easier to find your own technique and with a few tips from our mother we got better by the end of breakfast.






Once our group was finished making tortillas, Ashley and I split off to work with our host father and mother.  Every day they run a store attached to their house selling things from soda and candy to fresh chicken.  Once a week they get a truck supply of soda and sell those bottles to surrounding stores.  We rode with our father and mother in their truck to the peak of one of the mountains to sell their soda and back down again.  It was so eye-opening to see how they make a living and to share the day with them.

The last big event of the day was a soccer game with the village in San Lorenzo, the place where we planted trees earlier in the week.  Before the games began there was an opening ceremony with a speech to welcome us and a man playing the violin.  The guys game was first with students from our group versus the men from Guatemala.  While the guys played, the girls cheered and played with the children.  Someone pointed out where else can you get a soccer game, bubbles the children were blowing, and a man playing the violin over the microphone.


The guys ended up tying 1-1.  Next up were the girls after a quick pump up huddle, we were ready.  The girls on the Guatemalan team were no older than 16 years old, but live and breathe soccer.  With tons of laughs and hand balls the game ended with our team winning 1-0.   We shook all their hands and got a picture with our team and theirs before calling it a day.  Our other professor, David Ives said that there were about 120 from the village watching both games.  It was incredible to see how much our presence meant to the people there.  Saying goodbye to everyone after the game was bittersweet, ending an amazing few days and creating bonds with people who will never be broken after working with them and playing soccer against them.

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