Our Last Day in the Village of Santa Teresa

Sarah with her host family in the village of Santa Teresa

by Sarah Guariglia

Today was our last day with our host families.  Julia and I spent the morning playing Uno and Jenga .  We went to the Mayan ceremony with our families.  The Mayan ceremony gives thanks to the water because in the Mayan calendar today is ‘water’.    The ceremony was entirely in the Mayan language, Mam.  I was surprised how many words I recognized throughout the ceremony because of all of the words my family taught us throughout the week.  The spiritual guide kept thanking Rigoberta Menchu.  It is pretty crazy to think that the woman they are thanking in this sacred ceremony is the woman we will be meeting in just a few days!   

A Mayan ceremony delivered in the Mam language

After the ceremony, we ate lunch and then we headed back to our homes to say goodbye to our families.  This is always the saddest part of the trip.  After a tearful goodbye and a few “just one more” hugs we all got on the bus and headed for San Marcos.

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.

A Warm Welcome to the Village of Santa Teresa

By Ashley Ostrem

I have never been welcomed in a place as I have been in Guatemala.  We arrived, after a long travel day, to the village we all now know as home in Santa Teresa.  The three professors and ten students were welcomed by singing, dancing, and the playing of the Marimba.  As we began to communicate with children in Spanish, the attachment to the families, children and village set in.  Whether it is from the family dinners to the mid-day soccer games, you truly do become a family.

During our working days, we have been replanting trees that were planted during last year’s previous trip to prevent future erosion.  Steep hikes and the hot sun have been a couple of obstacles we have faced so far.  But already done with two days of work, we have planted around 300 hundred trees.  The picture attached shows us as we were planting the trees during day one.

I have already been blown away by this unforgettable experience.  Prior to the trip I had been told stories and shown pictures, but these past few days, views of the mountains, and relationships formed prove that the pictures and stories do not do this experience justice.

I can’t wait to see what else this experience has in store.