Day 3, Monday, June 27, 2016
Today
was the first day at Lake Atitlan and we all woke up to a clear and warm day
around 7:30am. Breakfast was at 8:00am and we all sat on the outside tables of La
Iguana. The food served at breakfast included a delicious fruit salad mixed
with granola, yogurt and filled with strawberries, bananas, pineapples,
watermelon, and cantaloupe. We also ate scrambled eggs, beans, and toast. After
breakfast all of us Girl Scouts anxiously waited for the boat to arrive and
take our group to Saint Marcos. Miguel (the boat driver) helped all of us climb
into the boat for a beautiful and scenic ride to the work location.
It
was a pleasant 25 minute drive to Saint Marcos. When we arrived I realized that
is was the same place that I had been to three years ago. We first walked up
the path and went to the school that ATC has done many projects with including
building a couple walls, a stove, and helping out with other materials. It was
pretty neat to see that in one of the walls plastic bottles filled with trash
were used to be the interior of the walls. Nate explained to us that the
projects that we were doing throughout the week included working/fixing up the
school’s benches and tables. So our entire group lugged about 3 benches and a
full size table up the road and all the way to the ATC workshop. I remembered
the same route that we had previously taken three years ago.
----- Lucas, Charlie’s son also
joined us in these projects.
When
we arrived at the workshop, Nate went over many important safety rules and the
plan for the rest of the day. We then were given a tour of the entire workshop
space and all the different buildings that were around us. After the tour Nate
then talked for a solid amount of time just about his experience and love of
WOOD! He LOVES CHERRY!! Next we were put into our working groups and I was
grouped up with Ellen and Anne. Our task was to build another long bench for
the school. Nate equipped us with all the safety knowledge and notes for our
building jobs and let us off to venture into the world of carpentry and
building all on our own. Morgan, Ellen, and I began discussing our plans to
build the two benches. Different ideas and perspectives were brought out in the
collaboration to build these benches and we began to cut our wood for the
project. During the process of making the benches, ideas were changed such as
the length and how to cut the wood.
Around
12:00pm everyone was becoming a little bit hungry so we stopped for a 5-minutes
water/snack break. Then we picked right back up again in working with our
materials. Working on these projects there were two Guatemalan women who were
participating in this workshop. Their names were Fatima and Clara. They only
spoke Spanish; so communicating was sometimes a bit difficult. But Nate did
most of the talking. Finally, at 1:30pm we walked down to Konojel which is an
organization that primarily focusses on the intellectual well-being and
nutritional intake of the women and children around in the community. Andrew,
who is the main director at Konojel (but not the boss of the place) fed us a
very healthy and tasteful lunch that consisted of a boiled egg, beans,
tortillas, plantains, and a radish/cucumber salad. The director explained to us
the history behind the organization and the many branches of groups that come
off of Konojel. It was really interesting understanding the background behind
the all the goodness that Konojel serves their community. See www.konojel.org
for more informatio
Following
lunch, we all headed back to the work site and proceeded with our wood
workings. By the end of the day (around 4:30) my group had completed the
cutting of all of our individual wood pieces. We all then headed back to the
boat and came back to La Iguana. While we were waiting for dinner, Corinne,
Nate, Kennedi, Payton, Ellen, Claire, Morgan, and I all played canasta on the
outside table. Dinner then came and it was first an eggplant soup, then salad,
falafel, tahini and tzatziki sauces, and homemade bread. For dessert there were
these raisin granola cookie bars that were pretty good to eat. Then after we
all just talked hung out and played cardsJ
Having a
great time out here in GUA,
M.
Millette
I love these posts. So vivid.
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