Blogs from Guatemala City, Capital Region, Guatemala, Central America Caribbean - page 17

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Here we are in Guatemala City, staying at a great guest house, Casa San Jose. (The name is woven in the bed covers, original Guatemalan art.) First, a correction about our puppet show scripts= the scripts were translated by Pam Munoz associated with the Utatlan School in Santa Cruz el Quiche. She had her family and students tape the voices for our puppet skits. CEDEPCA is coordinating our transportation in Guatemala and our stay in Guatemala City. (Thank you, Sandy, our leader, who went on the mission trip 2 years ago and with the others from the Mission Committee, were motivated to to a trip again this year.( I'm trying to see if I can upload short videos. I have some of the children, our team in our yellow t-shirts that Christina made. (We have a ... read more


We're here and we're blue from the paint. We've been painting 2 classrooms in the Utatlan school in Quiche, This school has many students, two classrooms for most grades, age 3.5 years to high school. Students come from all over Guatemala, and some even from near the Mexican border. There are dormitories for the older students. So, how did we get here? We flew to Guatemala City, ate lunch at McDonalds, and drove 3.5 hours to Quiche in west Guatemala in the mountains. (It was Jose's idea to go to McDonalds whenever he comes to G. City. The drive was wonderful--we saw city and countryside. We are now at about 6,000 feet above sealevel. The flora in the mountains is similar to the Appalachians or Ozarks, but different. Bushes that look sort of like rhodendron or ... read more
McDonalds in Guatemala City
McDonalds in Guatemala City 2


We leave tonight--meet at the church at 3:15 AM to catch the 6:30 AM flight from Phila to Miami. Then fly from Miami to Guatemala City. It's an hour drive to the airport, plus we have a crowd--always takes longer. My sister and I are all packed. Every little thing was debated--should I take the converters? One book said the plugs were the same as ours in the US. Is this too much detergent? Every ounce counts when you are carrying your own bags. We anticipate working hard. We will be painting a school in Quichi (sp?) soon after we arrive. We will be giving puppet shows to several schools; sometimes doing 2 a day. I have my old pants, shoes, shirt and work gloves packed. The two big suitcases of supplies are already in the ... read more


Our team will be providing puppet shows around Guatemala, both in the cities and in rural areas. I wondered how we were going to do this when most of us know very little or no Spanish. The secret is that the shows are taped. Here's the story: The core group from Phoenixville First Presbyterian Church writes an English script for the show. They tape it and send the tape and script to Guatemala. CEDEPCA, our host organization, translates the script to Spanish and then has some of the school children practice the show. When they are ready, the show is taped; the tape sent back to the U.S. and then our team practices the puppet show with the new Spanish tape. The puppets stay in Guatemala between trips--see the photo. Since I'm not in Phoenixville, I'll ... read more
Internet Cafe


Medical Elective 2006 Here some pictures of the rural clinic where I am living, studying and working... read more
My bedroom
Front door
Dining room


just a quick note to let you know that i´ve arrived safely. patty and bob greeted me at the airport in guatemala city. their house is great... a lot of natural light and open space. they have put me up in the "presidential suite". patty & bob are preparing to move back to the US on 18 june. they have spent many years teaching around the world and are ready to move back to the US to settle for a bit. they will be returning to the US with no home, no job but a lot of optimism. after completing this entry i will go to zone 1 in guatemala city to explore the central palace and the main cathedral. patty also gave me the info on a hidden market that is underground behind the cathedral. ... read more
patty & bob
on the chicken bus...waiting to leave for antigua


Just last year, I made a decision to sponsor a young child from a Third World country. I went online through Compassion International (www.compassion.com) to make my selection. At first, I was not even sure in which country to begin my search. I thought back to my father's recent travels in Guatemala, in which he accompanied Vine International. He had told me so many good things about the country that I decided to narrow my search there. After several minutes of scrolling through the children's pictures, I came across the cutest little girl that I instantly knew was the one. Gresly Yessia Ordonez is her name and she lives with her mother, father, and 3 siblings in Zunilito Suchitepequez, Guatemala. This small village is located just North of Mazatenango in the Western Highland region of the ... read more
My New Little Buddy
Me with the Family
Little Sisters


I'm on my way home tomorrow, so this is my last entry. I don't want to go. There have been too many different things to see and do here. When I left Utila I took the most direct route I could back to Guatemala City. It was a long days bus ride to Copan and found that there was no other transport until the next day so I settled in and had a very nice relaxing dinner in a vegetarianish restaurant. The next day the only tourist shuttle or bus heading back to Guatemala wouldn't leave until 2 PM and would drop me in Antigua at 8 PM to look for a hotel. So, I had to do it the Central American way... First there was the shuttle to the border which wasn't bad except that ... read more
On the way home


This one is short. The cost of internet here is $4 an hour so I have to type fast. I will write more when I get to a cheaper spot outside Guatemala City. Got here last night but unfortunately my luggage hasn´t left the States yet. Apparently this is very common: I guess the airlines don´t consider cothing and personal belongings a necessity when you come to Guatemala. I´m hoping to get it tonight...or so they say. There isn´t much to report yet because i haven´t seen much. The flight was good because the bumped me up to first class when I requested a window seat. Not to bad. After dealing with my luggage problem upon arrival, the hotel picked me up from the airport and I´ve been waiting ever since. I tried to go to ... read more


I had the privilege of volunteering on a construction team that was sent to Guatemala to rebuild churches after the massive 1976 earthquake. Although I am an engineer I didn’t have much actual construction experience after I left Thailand in July 1975; and even then I was the construction manager and didn't actually have to build anything. So for the couple months before the trip I took a bricklaying course with the adult education program at the local high school. By early March I was ready to go. 5 March 1977 Saturday. On a Saturday morning I flew from Washington Dulles to New Orleans to Meridian, Mexico to Guatemala City, arriving late afternoon. I was met at the airport by the missionary who was organizing the team. As there were others arriving from all over the ... read more
Some of the crew at the airport ticket counter
View of Guatemala Cit on the way in from the airport
Gathered at the lounge of the hotel




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