July 2008: A Report from Volunteer Eric Anderson (Disclaimer: You will not have to sacrifice a rooster!)

It was the first time I had ever seen a living creature killed.

The machete was dull. We gaped as Adam Howland, a former Peace Corps volunteer and an iron man of a construction worker, sawed into the rooster's neck with the same powerful motion he'd used earlier to cut metal rods. The headless body flapped frantically and splashed blood onto the newly purchased land. Some of us who dared to get too close with our cameras were splattered.

The ceremony - magnificent and messy - was a nexus of Long Way Home's past and the future. It was a landmark that boasted how far Long Way Home had come and how far Long Way Home had to go. It projected a future measured by shovelfuls of dirt, hours of labor, and stacks of rammed earth tires.

I thought back to how close I was to never being there.

Voluntourism: Hybridize Your Travels

Voluntourism is a trendy travel option. Voluntourists can feed the travel bug, score some karma points, and practice foreign language skills at affordable rates. My 19 days in Guatemala cost less than $1500 ($400 for the flight, $550 to volunteer, $500 for tourism, shuttle bus rides, restaurants, lodging and lots of delicious cups of café con leche - coffee with milk). The airline ticket will be reimbursed by our Student Organized Registration Fund, dropping the cost to around $1000.

My group consisted of seven University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign students ranging from sophomores to a super-senior. We did not know each other outside of the weekly meeting and occasional fundraiser at the University, and we were linked only through our affiliation with a Registered Student Organization (RSO) called International Impact. International Impact strives to organize eight voluntourism trips per year - four during summer and four during winter. I filled out the application, not sure whether I would pursue the trip even if I was accepted.

My parents were against the idea of the trip. There were practical concerns. How will I be safe in Guatemala? What diseases do I have to watch out for? Do I have the time to wedge all the preparation activities into my packed school schedule?

There were rational and even moral concerns. I had worked hard for my money, and now I was going to use it to pay an organization to work even more? And why did I have to go abroad to help people? There are plenty of poor people in Chicago. Shouldn't I tend to my own backyard first? And am I - an unskilled laborer whose construction background was limited to abstract Lego spaceships - even going to make a difference?

I was used to listening to my parents. I respected them. Their advice rarely led me astray. And their concerns were sensible. I came one click-of-the-mouse away from canceling my participation. I typed an e-mail notifying Chad Franklin, our group leader and a super-senior in Political Science, of my resignation. Mouse reticule hovering over the send button, I remember my mind spinning in a whirlwind of arguments and counterarguments that rebounded back and forth like a tennis match in fast motion: Go, Don't Go, Go, Don't Go.

Go.

Whether I tired myself out or was graced by a minor epiphany, I don't know. But I never sent that e-mail.

Our group endured a rocky start. At our first meeting, we discovered we did not have a trip to go on. We were expecting to volunteer at San Lucas, Guatemala, with a Catholic missionary. But the missionary had changed their policies. They wanted more money. They already had plenty of volunteers. We did not feel we would be needed or useful there. Our group's first decision was to elect not to go to San Lucas, even though we did not have another trip lined up.

There. A perfect excuse to back out. Instead I could spend two weeks sipping soda and reading thrillers. But could I sit still, knowing that I could instead be on an adventure in Guatemala?

Chad presented us with Long Way Home. He had found out about them from International Impact's president. Out of all the trips we were considering, Long Way Home was the best at returning e-mails and phone calls, convincing Chad that they were a "legitimate and worthwhile organization."

We chose them, and I chose to go.

Tortillas and Tuk-Tuks: Living in Comalapa

Comalapa sits 7,000 feet above sea level, but it is never resting. The walk from the hotel to the park where we volunteered took forty minutes, one way. The first night when we were told about this long walk, Mateo Paneitz, founder of Long Way Home, sensed our collective sigh.

"Don't worry, it's a scenic route," he said. "It's all part of the experience."

We tried leaving at 7 a.m. most days, which involved getting up at 6 a.m. for breakfast. Usually we went to bed after the previous night's dinner. Liz Howland, a former Peace Corps volunteer originally from Pennsylvania, cooked for us. Mixing fresh vegetables from Parque Chimyá's gardens, she prepared a variety of typical Guatemalan dishes. She prepared it so it was safe for our foreign stomachs. We could eat without fear of getting sick.

I had not had such an early bed time since graduating from kindergarten. But there was no late-nite show to stay awake for, no movie theater to frequent, no touristy bars to buy overpriced Gallo (tasty Guatemalan beer).

Most days we did not head out as early as we'd aspired to. But we did wake up fast when we found ourselves dodging tuk-tuks (small motorcycle taxis) and scooting around parked pick-up trucks with men playing cards in the back. Each week had three market days. On market days, the main street transformed into bustling rows of businesses. Tiendas sold fresh fruit abuzz with wasps, slabs of raw meat, vibrant clothing and table runners, toiletries and pirated DVDs. Sam Hyde, a sophomore in Biology, and Chad both stood over six feet tall and towered over the indigenous people in the market. They had to duck beneath the overhanging tarps that collected rain. If nudged, these tarps released buckets of pooled water upon the clumsy customer below.

Walking was indeed an adventure that plunged us into the thudding heart of the city.

We watched women wash clothes, slap tortillas, and balance huge baskets on their heads as they navigated the uneven streets in high heels.

"You have to be tough to be a woman," Liz said. The heels had to be uncomfortable, impractical. Liz suspected that the woman wore them to retain femininity.

We made tortillas one day at Doña Fidelia's, an old woman who lived alone and ran a snack shop. Tortillas are a staple at every meal, and we were excited to make some of our own.

It was hard and humbling. We stood around the hot stone on which the tortillas were cooked, trying to replicate the effortless slapping motion the women used to flatten the corn-based mix into tortillas. Ours turned out lopsided, thick, and far from the perfect circles the women made. More dough stuck to my hands than actually made it on the hot stone. Frustrated, I decided I might be better at flipping the tortillas. But when I grabbed one to turn it, I recoiled at the intense heat that scorched my fingertips. Laughing, Doña Fidelia's daughter flipped it for me, her calloused hands impervious to the heat while I nursed and cursed my burn.

"You have to be tough to be a man," Liz said.

Men lugged skull-crushing loads of lumber or tools with slings braced against their foreheads. It was painful even to look at. But they smiled and greeted us with a "buenos días". On one of our trips, Jane Gascoigne, junior in Nursing, and Chad got lost hiking down a volcano. A man with a tree's worth of lumber guided them down the rest of the way while (Chad claims) drawing a blowgun and shooting a panther about to maul them.

Nights were full of noises. Firecrackers exploded. There were too many holidays to keep track of, Mateo said, but Comalapa was always celebrating something, whether a saint, a birthday, or a wedding. And apparently that meant letting the whole town know. At 5 a.m.

Dogs barked, roosters screamed. One particular rooster woke me up regularly with a scream so loud that I expected to find him perched on my bedpost.

Sam, my roommate, groaned from the bunk below. He said he hoped that that would be one of the roosters beheaded at the ceremony.

At seven-thousand feet, we were in thin air. We could almost touch the clouds. We were above the world's recognition and far above the paved, shady boulevards back home. We were at a height reached only by dreamers who clawed their way up with sheer will.

And yet I kept wondering: If we were at the heights of the heavens, why did it so often appear neglected?

The Rammed Earth Tire House: Blisters for a Good Cause

The rammed earth tire house was Parque Chimyá's research experiment, and the site of the bulk of our volunteer work. Designed by Adam, the house is made of 250 tires that are rammed with dirt and stacked in tiered rows to a height of about nine feet. There are 19 tires per row. When we arrived, the frame of the house was already constructed. Thankfully.

We dug holes and set support beams for the roof. I drilled five to eight holes in every single tire. Adam explained that the holes ensured that moisture would not gather in the tires and turn the rammed dirt to mud. Otherwise, I am not confident enough to explain the mathematical reasoning behind this task, but do know that 8 holes per tire x 250 tires = lots of blisters.

The house reuses materials that would otherwise fill up landfills. It is inexpensive, environmentally friendly, and structurally sound. The house has an R-value (insulation rating) of 50. It has already attracted the attention of the community. Long Way Home hopes that, through the Tire House, they will be able to teach families to build houses of their own.

"It felt really good to be part of a green project not because it's trying to be green, but because it needs to be green," said Anna Patterson, junior in International Studies and German.

Discovering We Live Life in a Bubble

We learned how to shovel dirt and bear blisters. We learned how to use a water pila and make fresh guacamole. We learned how to mix cob, tie down a bamboo roof, and entertain ourselves without iPods, TV or a fridge full of food. We learned how to endure nauseating rides over bumpy mountain roads that mimicked a carnival's Vomit Comet. We learned patience, or at least how to grin and bear the laborious seconds when snapping fingers did not prompt immediate results. We learned that turning on a faucet might or might not award us with water.

We learned that while managing a business is hard, managing a business with no money is mind-numbing, and managing a business that has been screwed out of thousands of dollars is like trying to smile optimistically as your dream home is wrecked by a hurricane.

Long Way Home is still waiting for a $50,000 grant. Realizing the check's extended absence probably cannot be attributed to sluggish mail delivery, Mateo was investigating legal pathways to getting the grant.

"How can you afford to go to court?" people would ask.

"How can I afford not to?" Mateo would retort.

What Long Way Home lacked in funds they found in passion.

Mateo rode his motorcycle to the hotel where we were staying as we were finishing breakfast - powdered milk and cereal, leftover tortillas with peanut butter or Nutella.

"Do you know why you're here?" he asked.

I had gotten used to his blunt rhetoric. He hit the nail on the head with one blow. He did not believe in wasting time guiding a point with polite taps when a single strike would ram it home.

He answered his own question in an inspired lecture that blended personal narrative with a business plan with dreams for the end of poverty.

After hearing him, each blister took on a grander meaning.

I learned that poverty exists, something I had known and seen but never been immersed in. Nowhere was poverty more prevalent than in Doña Fidelia's backyard.

"I thought her bedroom was the barn," Anna said.

We learned how to build a water cistern for her. In a single day of work. And we learned to be gracious for the little material thanks she could give us.

And I learned that there are people sacrificing comfort for the benefit of humankind.

I learned one must combat poverty from the ground up, one trash-filled bottle at a time. During a tour, we saw Comalapa's garbage dump - a deep ravine gashed into the middle of the city that you can find by following your nose. While we were there, workers sent wheelbarrows of remains from that day's market crashing below. I now understood why park-goers could, instead of paying an entrance fee, donate a trash-filled soda bottle to enter for free. In turn, we used the bottles as construction materials.

We learned something about ourselves, too.

I asked several members of the group to sum up their experience in one or two sentences.

"I was part of research and work on a new way of building self-sustainable houses in a community," said Anca Macinca, junior in International Studies and Spanish.

"We worked at Park Chimyá not only to help fulfill Long Way Home's research, but also to establish a trust bond that is so important with towns that rarely see visitors," Chad said. "Through work on the park we helped establish trust between Long Way Home and the locals."

"Hopefully I made a difference in Comalapa," said Grace Pedersen, sophomore in Math and Education.

We learned to value the simple things.

Grace missed consistent showers.

Jane looked forward to easily accessible food and laundry machines.

Sam longed for tap water, putting toilet paper in the toilet, and dishwashers.

We all missed brownies, so on one of the last nights, Liz baked us a batch.

But the more we missed, the more we appreciated our incredible luck for the lifestyle we left back home. We were a long way from home, but we had a home to go back to. We had a place with hot showers and drinkable tap water and toilets that would not malfunction should they swallow toilet paper.

I could go back to complaining about $4 lattes at Starbucks. I could return to what Jane called our life in a bubble.

We had hope that the future would be better for us. We had dreams that we would be comfortable, healthy and wealthy. We had the opportunity to pursue the education to guide us to prosperity. We could realistically assume that we would succeed.

The most crushing part of the experience for me was not the hours pushing 200 pound bags of dirt up a wobbly incline, but the hours spent observing the generations of indigenous people going about their daily lives. In the States, we are told we can become anything we want. Easy enough, when there are the customary comforts. In Comalapa, I saw the leashes that kept locals tethered to a certain lifestyle. I saw children running off to school with only a sliver of hope of ever going to college. Most likely, they would graduate from school and then help their families do the chores that consume all the waking hours.

We have maids and machines and department stores for those chores.

Families were handcuffed to the place where they were born. You can't worry about getting a law degree when you have to worry about whether you will catch the golden hour of running water during the next three days.

It was oppressive. Claustrophobic.

I was planting spruce trees with several school children. As I helped them taxi a wheelbarrow full of grass to patch up the soccer field, a boy yelled and sprinted off across the field. He was lucky a soccer game wasn't going on. A stream of children zipped off after him. They had spotted the playground.

"I think a few of your workers took an early fifteen at the playground," I said to Mateo.

"Yeah they do that," Mateo said. He wiped sweat from his brow. "Can you imagine going to school without a playground?"

Long Way Home gave Comalapa a soccer field with grass and goalposts. It provided a full basketball court, a shelter for meetings, gardens. It gave children a playground.

The rooster ceremony established that Long Way Home has every intention of giving more: a vocational school that will teach practical skills such as small business management and microfinance. The vocational school is projected to take two years to complete. The Tire House that we worked on will serve as a research model for the school

Most importantly, I learned Long Way Home valued our help. As the Tire House is a long term research project, we did not get to see the fruits of our labor at their sweetest, ripest stage. But we did get to bask in appreciation, whether that was a "buenos días," the smiles of the school children as we stomped in the muddy cob with them (although our giving them candy might have been a confounding variable), or from the Long Way Home laborers themselves.

It's good to be needed.

I set out wondering whether or not we would make a difference. The question pestered me. Was it worth my time, my energy, my money?

Yes, yes and yes. Resoundingly yes.

Mateo envisions Long Way Home expanding to South America and Africa. He personally aims to stay in Comalapa for two more years. Then he will head to Bolivia to start a new park with the same dream.

If you have a chance to volunteer with Long Way Home, do it. Bring sweaters (it is sometimes cool) and a work ethic. And who knows, you might even get to see a rooster ceremony.

Because I'm confident that there will be many more rooster ceremonies in Long Way Home's future. And as they continue to serve humanity and combat global poverty, the machete will only get sharper.

A Few Good Reasons to Volunteer for LWH by Kimberley Church

I am an Australian Media & Arts university student and had been traveling through Guatemala for about three weeks and had fallen in love with the country. Prior to Long Way Home I had completed a semester of my degree in Mexico and then traveled through Cuba, Belize and finally on to Guatemala, and after plenty of delicious food and cerveza consumption, my guilt got the better of me and I decided it was time to dedicate a little of my own time to something worthwhile. I had been corresponding with Lisa from the Texas office, who was lovely and very helpful. She responded quickly to my emails with thorough information detailing how to reach the park and what I would need for my stay. This was my first-ever experience with the infamous 'Chicken Buses', with their lewd, fluorescent detailing, loud conductor and no concern for personal space. That said, chicken buses are a great, and very cheap way to travel Guatemala, so please have no reservations about reaching the park, it was very easy and I felt safe all the way.

Upon reaching 'Parque Chimiya', I was greeted by Mateo, the director of the park, who has built the place up from the ground and the results speak immediately: Mayan children run through the grounds, playing soccer, laughing and riding their bikes. They are clearly thrilled with the park and this is what made me most happy to be here: it's evident right away what Mateo strives for and the work of the volunteers is greatly appreciated by the community. If you are after a solid experience as part of a rural Mayan community, which is set in some of the most beautiful landscape in Central America, then you probably won't find a better way to achieve this. You will be given the opportunity to work with the local people, and you can practice your Spanish to your heart's content.

The work is tiring, but if you have a reasonable level of fitness and you like being outside in the sun (with music blasting on the old stereo to help you work, of course!) then you will be right at home. That said, construction is not the only aspect of the Long Way Home program. Mateo also explained to me the various possibilities, which include administration and written work, research, management and the chance to work with the children in the school that is near completion. I found Long Way Home to be a very well-rounded project and there are plenty of different ways to contribute. Another very attractive part of volunteering or completing an internship with Long Way Home is the chance to take Spanish or Mayan classes, to practice local languages.

The other volunteers told me that the teachers were very good and the classes were reasonably priced, and were extremely valuable when working with Spanish and Mayan-speaking communities all day long. My experience with Long Way Home was mostly construction orientated, as I was only able to contribute for a week. I had a lot of fun tree planting, un-bogging stuck-in-the-mud trucks (maybe not so funny at the time, but in hindsight...), leering to do abode (mud bricks) and mixing and laying cement! I also did gardening, cooking and got to chat to lots of great people in the community and I think that was the highlight for me, as its a little difficult to have such experiences if you don't take a risk and get off the tourist trail a little.

When not working, the volunteers have plenty of time to hang-out, play cards, read, drink some beers and just chat, which was really nice, as now I have a few new contacts from across the other side of the world! Mateo was a great and very reliable guy, he knew exactly what he wanted but he was also very laid-back and welcoming from the minute you arrive in the park. I would recommend anyone to get involved, as the work is easy to pick up and the program is very flexible. As long as you don't mind a bit (a lot) of mud then you will enjoy it.

The Experience of a LWH Internship by Maya Lukoff

Arriving at the tail end of the annual reforestation project, I was only present to partake in the final week of the fun day-long bag filling sessions. Once every bag was full of the equal part mulch, dirt and sand mixture, we began planting the trees. A carefully placed white pine seedling was given a home in each bag until some 8,000 baby trees were readied for planting. Together with the local schools, we combined this effort to teach experientially about the environment with learning about the growth process of trees. We always had plenty of excited helping hands to aid our reforestation efforts. Watching the kids gleefully dig into the dirt made the lessons worthwhile.

In addition to our hands-on work with the kids, the second part of our lesson on the environment was to explain the negative effects of littering, and to promote participation in our trash filled plastic bottle project. As can easily be seen from the littered banks of Comalapa's rivers and water sources, pollution has not been taken seriously. By offering free entrance to the park to any kid who brings in a trash filled plastic bottle, we provided a win-win situation for all. Not only do we get bottles to use for our construction projects, we also help eliminate waste and make the kids conscious of the amount of daily waste they produce.

As we started reaching out to local schools, more and more requests came to teach English to the 4th through 6th graders. Teaching each grade an hour a week, we began with basic colors and animals and ended with sentence structure, common phrases, and present and past tense. Greeted as "una gringa" on my first day at school, I felt that even more important than basic English, I was exposing these kids to another culture, disproving wild and unfounded theories about Americans and showing them how much we all really have in common. Along with teaching, during my second month our main goal was to streamline the administrative work. I wrote up internship descriptions, drafted service group budget plans, reformatted the volunteer manual, designed letterhead and researched potential grant giving organizations.

During my third month, we began a project to build Adam and Liz a house out of tires. After leveling out the land, and creating grooves to lay the first tire level for the bedroom, Adam went around the community to round up old tires. Leveling the tire foundation took some patience, but after the initial layer of tires was pounded full of gravel, we began to get the hang of it and fell into a steady rhythm. Because the trade school, which we now have the land for, is going to be constructed out of tires and other recycled material, Adam and Liz's house has been a preview of future building projects to come!

Update from Mateo - April 1, 2007

Sorry that it's been a while, but here is the most recent update. Starting with December: We were still working on the tree nursery. Now we have 8,900 healthy happy little tree saplings. We also held our annual Christmas party. This year we fed and gifted over 650 kids. This was a great day because I know that what we gave them they would not have received otherwise. Even more special was that within a week of me requesting these funds we were funded. My favorite thing about this year's party was that while the kiddoes were in line Leslie was painting faces.

We also started on the basketball court during this time. By starting I am talking about 8 - 10 hrs a day by at least 6 people per day digging and moving earth to prepare for our February foundation date. We also added to the botanical garden, continued to build in our animals area, and kept planting food for our gardens. We had electricity installed on the property and at the EWB project site. ..not just that electricity you splice from the convenience store 200 meters away, but our own power pole! More than anything we were preparing for Jan, Feb, and March.

On January 1 Lars Battle arrived. On January 2 Engineers Without Borders arrived. On January 4th Aaron Colvin, Sam Both, Bryon Salaz, and Gabe Rowland arrive. Then the fun arrives. All of these people arrived around the beginning of January to start the biggest push that Long Way Home has had. It is really too difficult to describe just what a madhouse that was.

But the truth is that the whole thing ran like a new engine. Our routine was...a really bad cup of coffee in the morning, digging, tortillas for lunch, more digging, and tortillas for dinner. While the Engineers were in the "hole" burying the pump, Aaron, Lars,Bryon, Sam, and I were digging PVC trenches to lay the water and electrical line. Then the second group came on January 8. They were connecting tubes, attaching the control box, and trying to make sure everything was installed good enough to leave me in charge.

Although we still have one section that gives us problems.....we use this crystal clear almost blue water.... to water our soccer field, our gardens, the tree nursery, and the house. Not to mention that we could not have started the basketball court without this water. The engineers also left us with several of the tools necessary to build the basketball court like wheelbarrows, buckets, shovels, rakes, ropes, and a saws-all.

So after the engineers leave and we think we have a few minutes rest....NO. Adam Howland arrives ready to work. Something about a basketball court. So here we go with the shovels, wheelbarrows, picks, and buckets again, but this time you have to throw in 13 big truck loads of coarse aggregate (or for all you normal people .....gravel), a concrete mixer, 400 bags of cement, 6 big trucks of fine aggregate (or for all of you normal people....river sand), and even more tortillas.

After a broken drill, several broken shovels, lots of blisters and calluses, a few head aches, a few stomach aches, lots of warm beer, part of a finger, and lots of blood and sweat later ... Long Way Home gives birth to a basketball court! Yes.....We did it. We are finished. 250cubic meters of concrete. Done. We still have to install the hoops and paint the lines, but we actually built a basketball court by hand. This may not seem impressive to some people, but probably because they have never been to Guatemala or Chimiya.

This is how I know just how hard core all the guys that arrived at the first of January truly are. After all of the digging and all of the water project help, these guys went strait into the basketball court. I mean another 40 days strait of all kinds of terribly hard work that kept us going all day every day. They did not complain, there was no mutiny, these guys just worked hard. Maybe because Adam always had a good cup of coffee ready in the morning!

Not only did these guys build a basketball court, but they also watered the gardens, fed the animals, taught in the schools, ran water lines all the way to the house, fixed the solar panel, built a solar shower, painted the house, put shelves up everywhere, installed the horseshoe pit, cooked, cleaned, weeded, built a new bodega, made a movie, and still had time to write grants and business proposals to keep us moving forward.

More than anything they put up with me. I do have this tendency to be over dedicated to our little project here, which in turn makes me think that everybody else should be as dedicated. But the truth is that most people don't have much experience in dedicating every waking moment in working for free in a pretty difficult environment. That was what was amazing about this crew of guys.....total altruism! Gives me hope for people!

Although this is not an awards ceremony I would like to thank everybody for doing so much. I would love to drop more names but you know who you are. One very important name that I have not dropped in all of this is Cat Brandon, our resident baker of breads, biscuits, cakes, cookies, salads, and most importantly DINNER. It is not an easy thing to keep 8 really hungry working boys full, but it was done with a smile and a coke.

What will we do with all of this new stuff? We are going to start teaching!

Enters Cesar!Cesar comes to us as an expert in plants and trees, with hopes of finishing a degree in Environmental Engineering within the next three years. He is 21 years of age, a native of Chimaltenango, and has shown us a great work ethic.

Within his first week of work Cesar has already visited all of the schools in Comalapa, collected all of their information. He has also set up a meeting on April 9 with the principals and staff of these schools to discuss implementing our programs as permanent part of their schools curriculum.

Although we are not totally finished with our infrastructure we are about 90% finished and have enough teachers and space to launch our sports leagues and our environmental awareness classes. The teachers are excited, the principals are excited, LWH is excited, Chuwi Tinamit is excited, and we are ready.

Comalapa Geological Report by Ryan Beyer - 2006

Introduction

The site of this field study is located approximately 20 kilometers northwest of Guatemala City and approximately 2 kilometers south of San Juan Comalapa, outside the village of Chimiya. The entrance to the Long Way Home ecological park is located at N14'43.554, W90'52.812.

(Figure 1 - Map of Guatemala (yahoo.com))

The purpose of the investigation is to provide Long Way Home with information about the local and regional geology of the area. I would like to thank Matt Panietz, the director of Long Way Home, for the opportunity to live, work, and study in an exceptionally unique environment, full of history, culture and beauty.

This investigation was conducted over a period of five months, from January to the end of May. Methods included hiking various localities and collecting different rock samples. There have been no previous geologic studies in this specific area of research.

Regional Geology

Guatemala boasts some of the world's most active volcanoes. The north-south trending range is due to the subduction of the Cocos plate beneath the Caribbean plate. These stratovolcanoes are approximately Holocene to Pleistocene (500,000 years to 3 million years) in age. The following figure shows the location of the volcanic Guatemalan range.

(Figure 2 - Location Map of Volcanics in Guatemala (usgs.gov))

Pacaya is one of Guatemala's most active volcanoes and is locate approximately 30 kilometers south of the capital, Guatemala City. Its last eruption occurred in 1989 and produced a 4.5 kilometer tall eruption column of ash and basaltic lava flows were emitted in 1990 and 1991. Currently, a cluster of dacitic lava domes occupies the caldera floor (usgs.gov).

(Figure 3 - Photo of Pacaya Volcano (volcano.si.edu))

Agua is located within 5 to 10 kilometers of Antigua and Guatemala City. Agua has a height of 3,760 meters and is one of Guatemala's highest peaks. The volcano has not had a recent eruption, the last one occurring approximately 500 years ago. When the next eruption does take place, it has great potential to produce very large lahars that could possibly cause great damage to life and property to surrounding populated areas (usgs.gov).

(Figure 4 - Photo of Agua volcano (volcano.si.edu))

Fuego and Acatenango are twin volcanoes and are comprised of a string of volcanic vents. Volcanism in these two volcanoes dates back to about 200,000 years ago and has produced numerous large lahars that cover hundreds of kilometers surrounding the peaks. These two volcanoes commonly produce plumes of fine ash, lava flows, and hot pyroclastic flows (usgs.gov).

(Figure 5 - Photo of volcanoes Fuego and Acatenango (volcano.si.edu))

Atitlan consists of three large calderas that have been building and collapsing for the last 14 million years. The modern caldera was formed approximately 84,000 years ago. The first recorded eruption of Atitlan took place in 1469; it erupted again in 1717 and remained active until 1721. The last strong eruption took place 1853 and covered the sky with dark ash for almost 55 days around the caldera (usgs.gov).

(Figure 6 - Photo of caldera and volcano of Atitlan (volcano.si.edu))

Santa Maria had one of the largest eruptions of the 20th century in 1902, leaving a 1-kilometer wide crater on the southwest flank. Since that last major eruption, there has been continuous dome building accompanied by minor explosions, periodic lava extrusions, and lahar flows (usgs.gov).

(Figure 7 - Photo of Santa Maria volcano (volcano.si.edu))

Local Rock Description

The area of and surrounding San Juan Comalapa is solely comprised of pyroclastic ash fall up to 30 meters thick in most places. Within these walls of welded volcanic ash and tuff, small fragments of obsidian and long tubed pumice, also known as pumic lapilli, can be found.

The extensive blanket of ash covering the topography is due to hundreds of thousands of years of deposits from numerous sources. Comalapa is within 15 to 30 kilometers of several volcanoes, all experiencing multiple eruptions throughout their history. Volcanic ash is formed during these explosive volcanic eruptions. These occur when gases dissolved in molten rock expand and escape into the air. The force of this escaping gas shatters solid rock and blasts them into the air. While suspended in the

atmosphere, the fragments solidify into volcanic rock and glass. Once in the air, wind can blow the tiny ash particles tens to thousands of kilometers away from the volcano (usgs.gov).

Obsidian is a black glassy rock which has not crystallized. It is derived from high silica lava that has cooled too quickly for any of its atoms or ion to group into regular structures of minerals. Obsidian can never be old in the geologic sense and can only be found where volcanic activity has taken place in recent geologic time. With time, obsidian tends to slowly crystallize into a fine grained rock or to regroup into analcime by a process of taking in moisture and/or trading elements. Freshly broken obsidian is black and glassy and is translucent in thin sections.

(Figure 8 - Photo of Obsidian (usgs.gov))

Pumice lapilli is a light porous volcanic rock consisting of a network of gas bubbles frozen amidst volcanic glass and minerals. Pumice can form from dacite, andesite, basalt, and rhyolite. It is usually very high in viscosity and contains globules derived from vent walls. These globules or lithic fragments are accumulated at the base of the flow and decrease upward; while the pumice is more abundant upward and decrease toward the bottom. The pumice lapilli is spread laterally under the load, indicating it came from an exceptionally hot and thick deposit. Oxidation of the pumice causes streaks of red, yellow, and brown.

(Figure 9 - Photo of pumice (usgs.gov))

Environmental Hazards

In 1976 a major earthquake hit Guatemala, killing more than 23,000 people throughout the country. San Juan Comalapa, a town of 20,000 inhabitants, was literally levelled and an estimated third of the population was killed. Several faults were found approximately a kilometer southeast of the town. These parallel right lateral slip faults have a trend of N 80° W. No slicken lines were observed due to high erodibility of the volcanic ash. This area experiences many small tremors and another devastating earthquake is due. The town's structures are primarily built of cinder block and have a very low tolerance to any type of violent shaking caused by earth movements.

(Figure 10 - Photo of the church in Comalapa after the 1976 earthquake

In early October of 2005, Hurricane Stan hit Guatemala causing death and destruction throughout the country. San Juan Comalapa is located above 7,500 ft. with steep slopes surrounding the town. The area is extremely prone to landslides and flooding. The volcanic ash is very highly erodable and prone to give way with enough saturation. This could prove to be a major hazard for this years hurricane season, especially since farmers outside of the town have deforested the area for agriculture, thus, decreasing stability.

During a week of late March of 2006, the organization Engineers without Borders, made a visit to the Long Way Home ecological park. Among other duties performed, a water quality assessment was conducted. It was found that local water supplies tested positive for ecoli and pesticides such as Antrazine and Simazine. Nitrates in the water were found to be around 5 to 10 parts per million. Water quality is a serious health issue in these parts and results in many sicknesses in the local population.

Work Cited
Websites:
http://vulcan.wr.usgs.gov/Volcanoes/Guatemala/framework.html
http://www.volcano.si.edu/reports/usgs/
References:
Compton, R., 1985, Geology in the Field: Jon Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, NJ.

Update from Mateo - November 10, 2006

Getting right to the Point: The past few months have been very productive for our project.

In September:

We finished the animal's area and currently have 5 turkeys, 9 chickens, 2 pigs, 2 goats, 2 dogs, and 2 cats. All vaccinated. We still have space for some rabbits, a few more chickens, and for a milk cow. The chickens are getting fat, the turkeys are getting fat, and the pigs are much fatter. Only Che has been put on a diet due to too many neck rolls. Momma goat is due for little goats any day now.

After nine months of daily use we temporarily closed the soccer field to replace the grass in front of the goal posts and through the centre of the field. We also leveled a few areas, pulled some invasive unwanted grasses, and cleaned around the edge. The field looks better that it ever has.

In August:

We had our 2nd annual Harvest party with the kids from Escuela Technico Maya. For this years party we ate lots of Carrots, Onions, Squash, Beans, Peas, Greens, Radish, Cabbage, and Kohlrabi from the garden. We added a few potatoes, steamed some rice, roasted some corn, and each kid was responsible for bringing a basket of tortillas or Chuchitos(little tamales) to round out the menu.

After lunch we played soccer, tag, and then we played my favourite.. dog pile the gringo. Fortunately Aaron and Jaime were in charge of activities that day. The kids are looking forward to next years planting.

On October 17th (Oct is kids month) we had roughly 500 kids and their families come to our kids' day activities which included soccer, volleyball, the sack race, singing, dancing, acting, and some poetry. All of the kids that participated in the talent show won a small prize. Everybody else was served bananas and oranges for their afternoon snack and then tamales and horchata for our picnic. Our last announcement was for everybody to come to the nursery and each person received two trees.

On October 29th we hosted what we were hoping would be a mini-olympics but turned out to be a min world cup with sack races as halftime entertainment, a treasure hunt, and a marathon. The winners of the soccer tournament, the marathon, and the sack race all won a medal. The rest of the kids went home tired but with a few dulces. This was a good day in the fact that we can offer an activity like this every year and every year it will certainly improve.

In the midst of these activities we have also managed to completely renovate the tree nursery and get 4000 seedlings transplanted into bags for care until next rainy season. We also have a really good start on our nature trail. The trail has been designated, cleaned, and we have been steadily working on our information stations. This week we will build the seating and the stage for our Eco-teatro amphitheatre.

Now...to finish with construction (of the entire park) we need to build a classroom/salon, a butterfly house, and a basketball court. Not that I ever lost hope, but I was starting to realize how many purses we would have to sell to build a basketball court. More than anything it would take a long time. When we started this project in February 2005, we imagined with a couple of years of hard work and about $45,000 we could build this park. At the time we had about $30 in our account. On September 26, 2007...... a very kind, generous, and trusting friend of Long Way Home donated enough money to build the basketball court...now we are about $2,000 from finishing with the infrastructure. There has been a light at the end of the tunnel for a while, but now we can start planning our next phase, program development. Elizabeth, I cannot say thank you enough times for your confidence in this project.

November

November 1st we broke ground on the court, and for the last week Chuwi Tinamit has been sending volunteer help to continue with leveling the area that we will pour in February.

On November 3rd I went to the Electric Company to pay in full for installation of electricity to the natural spring. In January EWB and Rotary will send a team to implement the first stage of our water and electricity project by building a pump to provide a reliable water system for the entire park. Most of the month of December will be spent in preparing for their arrival.

All of the work mentioned above was done by a really great group of volunteers listed below. All that we have accomplished is because of them.

Aaron Jewel, Kansas Jaime Olmstead, Kansas Cat Brandon, Virginia Ben Brauer, Lake Constance Germany Tina Rounsch, Berlin Alex Quellet, Quebec Jonathan Pino, Quebec Dave and Kirsty....from Australia

Over the next few months we will be working on:

December: Burying PVC, Nature Trail

January: EWB water project

February: Basketball court

March: Classroom/Salon

April: Butterfly house

I would have to say that everything is right on track. We still have lots to do!

Anybody want to build an Orphanage in 2009 in Bolivia or Peru?

If you have any questions or comments feel free to reply to this email.

Signing off,

Mateo

Coaching Youth Soccer in Comalapa by Alex Hull

Each day at Chimiyá, in addition to my work around the farm which included hoeing, building bamboo fences, planting, weeding, and running errands, fellow Groton School Senior Billy Hennrikus and I played soccer with a group of soccer-crazy kids from the surrounding hillsides, named Los Huevones. Playing soccer was a way for all of us to end a hard day's work in the classroom and the field. Through our work, we tried to build confidence among the kids, act as a role model and older brother, and prevent future gang violence on the hard streets of Comalapa. Doing this is a little easier than it sounds:

One day I was standing on the soccer field next to Mateo. We were watching some students from the Técnico Maya School play soccer when he said;

"You know, PhD's write dissertations on building self-esteem in kids and experts study child behavior from all these crazy scientific perspectives, but to me it's really simple: Just build a soccer field and let them play every day, and they'll be happy. They'll run home to their parents with a smile on their face and say no to gang violence."

Mateo was right. Los Huevones came each day and played with unrivalled zest and zeal. I was impressed by their never ending energy and constant happiness. I was equally impressed by the lack of discipline and thought with which they played soccer; they all played like chickens with their heads cut off. I coached tactics as best I could, but most of them would revert to "mob-ball" as soon as we began the game. I'd have to admit that my coaching was a little subpar; they didn't listen extremely well and my Spanish isn't that good yet, but I think just my presence and my willingness to play with them was always enough.

There was one particular boy named Alex who proved himself to be a much better soccer player than the rest of his peers, and I also noticed that he was an excellent student of the game. Billy and I took the time to instruct Alex in some of the nuances of getting himself open and making the smart pass. He was eager to learn and he improved quickly. He was a nice little kid and he came to watch me play on Friday night with the Selección Comalapa team and cheered when I scored. I didn't really comprehend the impact I had made on him until the last day.

On the last day I emerged from the cabaña with my suitcase and plane ticket in hand to find a gaggle of Huevones waiting to wish me a safe trip and wanting to know when I would return to Comalapa. Alex spoke to me last, and I did a double-take when I saw his eyes glistening and tears begin to overflow onto his cheeks. He pulled up his hood in embarrassment. He handed me a black plastic bag and started down the hill with me. Inside the plastic bag lay the moldiest and wormiest apples I had ever seen, but they had so much heart and gratitude behind them that I didn't care one bit.

A slight language barrier combined with the awkwardness of watching a 9 year old cry rendered me pretty much silent on the walk down the hill. I wished I could have told him that he didn't have to cry, and that I understood, and that he stood for everything I had tried to accomplish at Chimiyá, and that those apples told me I had stumbled upon my accomplished mission. But you don't tell anyone that, especially not a 9 year old.

He walked down the hill with his friends and disappeared around the corner and he was gone. Instead of telling him everything I wanted to say, I told myself right then that I had to come back and play with him one more time; it's the only way I could ever make him understand.

Two Months of Guatemala Moments by Anne Reiland

To start off in describing my two month experience in Guatemala, I must relate my latest "Guatemalan moment" that occurred about a week ago. Mateo and I were working on the chicken coop when three indigenous women came by to our tree nursery to look at trees to buy. Mateo left the chicken coop to tell the women the types of trees and negotiate prices and, seeing a wonderful opportunity for a break, I followed along. The women were all snacking on corn and one woman reached into her apron pocket and produced half a cob, offering it to Mateo. He graciously accepted the corn and started eating it and the woman took a look at me, realizing that I don't have anything to snack on. Seconds later, I received my own handful of corn bits, and, not stopping to think about their origin, I begin chewing the corn kernel by kernel. Almost finished with my snack, the situation became clear to me: I realized that that big bite the woman took out of her cob only moments before went directly from her mouth and into her hand, at which point she had turned to me and, with a smile, had offered me some of her corn. Upon realizing what had happened, I could only laugh and relate the story to Mateo. No doubt many reading this would be revolted at the thought of having a similar experience, but for me it was almost nostalgic in a way because I was taken back over 10 years ago to my only memory of the Guatemala City public transport. I was with my mom and I had recently lost a couple of teeth, so, sitting in the back of the bus, my mom bit big chunks out of an apple so I could tackle the smaller pieces. As Mateo put it, "something only a mother could do....or a random Guatemalan woman!" I'd have it no other way though; it was a wonderful Guatemala moment.

So really, what Long Way Home gave to me was four weeks full of "Guatemalan moments" (though obviously I was not constantly accepting food directly from the mouths of indigenous women!); "Guatemalan moments" defined simply as moments that snap you back to the reality that you are living in the lush rural of 3rd world Guatemala. My Guatemala moments came in all forms, be it trying to define the concept of "volunteer" to disbelieving Guatemalans, hearing forty-six 5th graders shouting "BOOY!!" in attempt to say "bull" (pronouncing "bull" as it would be in Spanish) in a heated game of Pictionary, or finding myself riding the multicolored, overfilled Guatemalan "chicken buses" and carrying on a lively conversation with the indigenous woman seated next to me about the significance of her traje, or traditional Guatemalan outfit.

Life in Chimiyá is, no doubt, a life without the luxuries of home, but after a while you realize how truly artificial some of those luxuries are. The month I was actively working at the project, we had no electricity, no showers on site (in town there ARE showers, so no worries!), and our baking facilities consisted of a series of carefully placed pots to form an oven of sorts. These quirky obstacles never dampened our spirits, however, and we were always a positive, forward-moving group. By the end of the first two weeks I was at the project, New Zealand volunteer Amelia and I had built 5 grills out of adobe blocks and mud, planted about 70 plants in the newly cultivated botanical garden, and did a major garbage clean-up around the park. Intertwined throughout these three monumental tasks, we were always busy hoeing and planting in the vegetable gardens, teaching English, or figuring out some new foods that we could cook to spice up our normal menu of rice or pasta with veggies. Our efforts in the park all came to a head on June 24, for San Juan's big day, and the big soccer game was held at our beautiful field. Two days later, New Zealand and I started our travel during which I was going to spend no more than a week running around northern Guatemala with her until she was to continue onto Belize, to Mexico, to Cuba

My one week journey turned into a four week hiatus from Chimiyá, though my adventures all around Guatemala had not at all been in my original plan. Jumping into the turquoise pools of Semuc Champey, swimming in the caves in Lanquín, and climbing the ancient temples in Tikal, I discovered the joy of traveling and was unable to stop until I had completed the big tourist loop around Guatemala and even then some more. After Tikal Amelia bussed up to Belize, but I, without passport, was left with no other choice than to head back south and explore the volcanoes, beaches, and museums Guatemala has to offer. I climbed the highest point in Central America (Tajumulco), kayaked on the pristine Lake Atitlán (a blue-green lake surrounded by sloping volcanoes), and stayed in a paradisiacal hostel built on the Rio Dulce, all on a fairly small budget and all staying within Guatemala. After three weeks I sheepishly called Mateo to let him know that I was indeed returning in no later than a week to work at the park again and he was very understanding of my need to travel and had himself taken a much deserved vacation to the Honduran Bay Islands. We all (Mateo, Cat, and I) returned to Chimyá on the same day, well-vacationed and refreshed, and started right up the next morning working around the park, teaching English, and cleaning house in anticipation of the volunteers that were on their way.

My big Guatemalan adventure is ending and I am indeed sad that it is already time to return back to the States. School at UW-Madison will be starting where I will be starting my sophomore year, and life will be unbelievably busy. I am, however, already planning my hopeful return to Guatemala next summer. Chimiyá will definitely be a place where I will return if not to work, at least to see the progress of the park and visit Mateo and Cat and the two dogs and Chimi (the mouse-hunting kitten).

Adios Guatemala!

Annemary

The Right Place at the Right Time by Amelia Howitt

It started with one of those moments, a total coincidence, right time and the right place and a right frame of mind.

I met Mateo in San Pedro in a restaurant on one of his brief and rare breaks, just as I was planning on moving on from living with a Guatemalan family for the previous five weeks. We got to talking and that is how I came to find out about Chimiyá and Long Way Home. The project intrigued me with its philosophy and philanthropy both very close to my own values. A quick check on the website assured me that this Texan was legitimate and the following Monday I was bumping down the road to Chimiyá in a tuk-tuk.

Mateo and Cat, although possibly a little surprised that I had kept my word, were incredibly welcoming, and I was given the tour of the five acres and what was to be my home for the next five weeks.

From the waterfall at the far ends of the park to the welcome banner at the entrance and all in between, this place had a presence; a safe place for Guatemalans to come to learn, play and enjoy and a place for us gringos to think outside the square, to challenge ourselves, to learn as well and hopefully to do and share something positive.

Everyday living in Guatemala is a total experience in itself. You will not easily find all those conveniences from home, that is for sure, but in Chimiyá it is another step further, this is the Guatemalan countryside. For starters I am living in an adobe (mud brick) hut with a solar panel (a bit of a luxury considering the main house has no electricity) and I bathe (successfully) using a bucket of cold water. I can now master the tangle and bustle of a Guatemalan market to buy food, I can cook the Guatemalan staples in a variety of ways and I can bake using only an element (burner), a feat that I am sure Mateo is ever grateful for, seeing my prodigious making of lemon cakes. I also have a healthy respect for the Guatemalan highlands during rainy season; the sound this rain and thunder can make under a tin roof has to be experienced to be believed. And I have a new bravery around snakes, Chimiyá snake count: seven.

As for the project itself, it really is amazing, my first real experience of what Mateo and Chuwi Tinamit has created unfolded on the second day. I was up by seven eagerly anticipating the arrival of a local class of Mayan children. They arrived twenty-five strong all singing and upon seeing Mateo all broke into a mad run to be the first to hug and be hugged by the bearded Texan. Wow, what a sight, one which I know will stay with me forever. The children then looked at me and it is my turn to introduce myself, "Me llamo Amelia y soy de Nueva Zelanda", I sing a Waiata, a Maori greeting song from my country, and the ice is broken and these children become part of my Chimiyá family. That day we hoe a terrace together and plant seeds in the organic garden, then I clean out the bodega (tool shed) and continue cleaning out the cabañas for more future volunteers and end the day enjoying Cat's amazing cooking.

My work over the five weeks has been incredibly varied; I have learnt to do things I never thought I could or would get the chance to do.

Hoeing, although not normally a task for a white girl in the Guatemalan highlands, was a job I was to become pretty good at, from preparing, planting and weeding the organic terraces, to the botanical garden. Visually I must have looked quite an oddity, pants tucked into polka dot gumboots hoeing away in the Chimiyá sun.

Adobe work is also another skill I never thought I would put on a CV, but Anne (another volunteer from the States who joined the family a few weeks after my arrival) and I successfully made four adobe stoves or BBQs for families and the like to use around the park. For those of you that are unfamiliar with adobe work it is incredibly dirty work, you stick mud blocks together with more mud and water to create your construction. I am sure the local kids thought it was funny seeing Anne and I covered nearly head to toe in mud; we did have a lot of fun.

Teaching at Chimiyá has also been another amazing experience, from English, to geography, to poi (a Maori dance performed with balls on a string), and even the Maori action song that I sung that second day. Through this Anne and I were invited to be part of the local parade accompanying the class dressed in their traditional traje (clothes) and have lunch with the mayor during the festivities of the week-long San Juan Comalapa feria (festival).

I was there to see the community kitchen basically completed (what a pretty garden is out the front!), I witnessed the first corporate sponsor of the park arrive (Hurrah) and plonk a new scoreboard for the soccer field on front of the existing sign. Mateo had to quickly move it again while the cement was still wet. And while I was there all the plants so lovingly tended to by Cat were sold. I watched families and couples walking around the park, relaxing or watching the mobs of boys that would come to play soccer on what must be one of the best soccer fields in Guatemala. I also witnessed Julian's never ending battle trying to mow the soccer field with a temperamental or just mental hand mower.

Chimiyá did become a family for me; Mateo, Cat and Anne, the children and the Chimiyá and Comalapa locals. Nights without television and electricity singing around the bonfire, eating Mateo's famous "beer chicken" (if you are curious then come to Chimiyá to experience this culinary delight), listening to Carlos and his Guatemalan band playing late into the night by candle light, being hassled for my thick New Zealand accent and my funny words (it's a torch not a flashlight!), the dramas with the newly purchased semi-suicidal goats, and watching out for Cuch the horse least he get stolen, again, (Cuch has since been sold), the snuggles with Chimi the kitten and ignoring Suz and Che (the dogs) and their attempt to eat our dinners.

Chimiyá was the right place at the right time for me. I can only hope that the people I have met along this leg of the journey have benefited or enjoyed my efforts and company as much as I have.

Perhaps as a lesson on the realities of life here, one of the last things I helped work on was the construction of a botanical garden. This garden has now been moved due to the theft of a large number of the plants. So such is the life of development work in developing nations. Sometimes it truly is three steps forwards and two steps backwards. That is why the work and time that Mateo and the other volunteers have invested here is even more amazing. For those of us used to the Western way of life which progresses at lightening speed and with utmost efficiency it is best to leave that notion behind and have patience and perseverance, admirable traits that are easy to forget in the developed world. They say that good things take time, and that it won't happen overnight; the selfless work at Chimiyá is testament to that, but it will happen and it is happening.

Update from Mateo - June 26, 2006

Hello,

Welcome back to your latest installment in the Days of the Lives of entrepreneur development workers. All is well in Chimiya. For the last several weeks it has rained every single day. Although it is a muddy mess, all of the plants are in bloom and the gardens look great.

The reason everything looks so great is because of the addition of two new volunteers. I met a KIWI, Amelia Howitt, in San Pedro Attitlan the last weekend in May and she has been with us since. She is taking a break from med school and decided to travel Latin America. Our newest volunteer, Anne Rieland, comes to us from Wisconsin during a break between her Freshman and Sophomore years at the University of Wisconsin. Along with great bread and pastry skills these girls have refined their skills as gardeners, masons, carpenters, and landscapers. Both Cabañas and the main house are spotless as is the soccer field, botanical garden, and community kitchen.

Since the arrival of the new volunteers we have put the finishing touches on the community kitchen (bread oven, wood burning stove, and adobe grill), the Botanical Garden (70 plants so far), built another 5 grills around the kitchen, and organized and sold lots of trees in the nursery.

A recent donation from a Canadian friend kicked off the Animals project. As of tomorrow we have 3 goats, 10 chickens, 10 turkeys, 3 ducks, a horse, a cat, and two dogs (and a partridge in a pear tree). This was another major objective for the park and as of tomorrow this have a great head start. Lots of eggs and goat milk in our future. With all of the rain we might want to build an Arc.

June 24th marks San Juan day in Comalapa and things have been busy. Lots of dances, food, fireworks, games, pageants, and a few parades. Amazingly enough, our Eco-park was displayed from the back of a Toyota. The float was absolutely beautiful and I was pretty proud. Great promotional opportunity. I don't know about you but this is my first Float in a parade. What a great resume builder. In addition to the float we held the annual town exhibition soccer game at our field and county sponsored party. We were hoping for two thousand and only received 400 because of the constant rain. Regardless, this was a very good day for the park as we were able to rent the park to the county and provide some more income for the park. This also generated a few tree sales from the nursery. Because of all of the recent publicity we also attracted our first corporate sponsor. Banco de Trabajadores bought us a scoreboard for the field and passed out balls and hats to our staff.

The last month was so important because we met several of the goals we set for June and July. Now as most of you know the park has 11 sections. After 17 months we are on our last two sections...the basketball court and the rest of the botanical garden. That means we have renovated the living spaces, built a soccer field, a community kitchen, a parking lot, a nursery, a jungle gym, planted our gardens, organized the forest area, started our animals project, and are well on our way to finishing the botanical garden. We already have the design, about half of the materials, and now we have the time. This project is about 6 months from phase two...Program Development. Right on schedule...and since we are in Central America we are really way ahead of schedule. The park has a great energy and tons of momentum right now. FYI..LWH can count 30,000 hours of volunteer time. Amazing

Aside from all of this construction on Friday I learned how to shoe a horse and fix a saddle. We are currently living without electricity and have since returned to our roots as development workers....lots of fires in the evening and most of what I own is covered in candle wax. After a few recent stomach problems the entire crew started on Ghiridia pills...But just as soon as we were off of the Ghiridia pills we started getting attacked by invisible mosquitoes. But hey, all of the mice have since disappeared. Sus the dog has mange.

Ahhh, weed eating with a machete.

At least the weather is perfect. Remember...if you have an extra $10,000 around we can finish construction.

As always thanks for listening....you questions and comments are always encouraged,

Mateo

P.S. I would really like to thank Ryan Beyer for five months of total dedication and commitment to LWH. During his stay Ryan was commissioned to paint nothing less than a masterpiece and he painted four and produced an independent geological survey. Ryan, who came to Guatemala with very little Spanish, was able to hold down the fort during five weeks of stateside fundraising. Ryan never complained and always maintained an attitude of what can I do to help. Once again THANK YOU SO MUCH.

Learning from the Locals by Ryan Beyer

Hello all, my name is Ryan Beyer and I've been volunteering for LWH for almost five months now. Matt asked me to write a little about my experience while living in Guatemala working on the projects. Well, first and foremost, this has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. Being in constant contact with locals is amazing, I've learned so much from them. They've taught me the importance of simplicity, family values, and hard work.

The projects here at the LWH farm has been so gratifying. You actually get to see the immediate results of your work and the benefits for the community.

The community here is wonderful, while Matt was gone in the States, doing his fund raising, they completely took care of me. They were constantly checking in on me, bringing me food, and just making sure that I was doing alright. During this time I became good friends with six local neighborhood kids and other various members of the community.

Volunteering at LWH has also given me the opportunity to do personal things based on my own interest. I have just graduated with a geology degree have been conducting an independent study of the local geology of the area. This has been such a good opportunity to use the skills that I have learned in school and put them to practical uses. I've also been able to use LWH as a reference and upon my return to the U.S. have a job waiting. I leave LWH on May 28th with a feeling of accomplishment and gratitude.

Update from Mateo - May 16, 2006

Hello all! Lots to report from Comalapa!

First of all the rain is back and everything is green again! On Tuesday LWH, Chuwi Tinamit, and AIRES had a round table discussion and decided to focus our attention over the next six months on the botanical garden, the protected forest area, the tree nursery, and the terraced gardens. All three organizations agree that the project is moving along nicely. We scheduled 2 half-day reforestation seminars and 2 full-day department-wide kids conferences in June. Nobody had any complaints.

Yesterday we had our first taste of "the growing season." We planted 50lbs. of potato seeds (3x last years crop), sweet corn, maiz, Indian corn, sweet peas, black eyed peas, green beans, zucchini, squash, and a full bed of lettuce. This is our first full day this year tilling soil in the gardens. The first day is always the hardest.

During the dry season we try to focus more on building any new structures. Our final structure for this dry season, "the community kitchen" is Adam Howland last project with LWH for a while. He and his wife Liz started with us in February of 2005 and after so much dedication and hard work they are headed back to upstate New York. Adam is leaving Guatemala exactly four years after his arrival, the community kitchen will be there for a lot longer.

Speaking of volunteers, the last of our JAN-MAY crew flies out May 28th. We have come a long way since January and did it with help from Aaron Colvin, Jordan Emerson, Maureen Eden, Ryan Beyer, Cat Brandon, and Adam and Liz Howland. Each volunteer contributed in so many different ways. For instance, Ryan Beyer also drew what he is too modest to call his masterpiece. It is a 4'x 8'mural of project Chimiya. You can read about his adventures above.

As Ryan mentioned I was in the U.S. for 5 weeks doing some fund raising. I sold more than 30 pieces of art and photography, 50 man-purses, 10 C.D.'s, several hand-woven fabrics, and 30 lbs. of organic coffee just to name a few. After 9 months of me harassing everybody to buy raffle tickets, Raymond Brown finally won my can. Congratulations goes out to Raymond and just for the record...I am happy it is over. Thank you all so much for the very generous donations! Thanks to the MultiCultural Association for making the raffle possible.

Although the raffle was a success and will keep us above water for a while we have also been looking for outside institutional support. Engineers Without Borders came out for their assessment trip in April. They are going to design and implement an appropriate water and irrigation system for the project to solve our problems for the coming dry season. More to report on that when the time comes.

LWH also sent four translators to Zacapa during the first week of May to assist Hearts in Motion with their medical clinics. During our week with HIM, large groups of volunteers went to visit communities for medical and dental check-ups and also kept a surgical team busy. The effect that they have and have had for so long is very inspirational for our volunteers. Their teams go out into some of the most remote and impoverished sites in the in the whole country. Not to mention it was 115 degrees in the shade.

Fortunately Comalapa doesn't see many days like that. Considering all of the digging we have to do over the next several months I can really appreciate a high of 80 degrees. If anybody knows a horticulturist or two available over the next two months we could really use the help. Thanks for your attention and your feedback is always appreciated.

thanks,

Mateo

Update from Mateo - February 27, 2006

Welcome back for another exciting edition of LWH the update. This update was inspired by a conversation that I had yesterday with the man that LWH created a job for.

I am always trying to figure out ways to gauge LWH's success in Comalapa. This conversation really put everything into perspective. Not that money is the main objective here, but the amounts also represent our attendance. Right now we are charging 1Q(.13) for Children and 3Q(.39) for adults. Since October the park has earned 2,139 Quetzales. Since the inauguration on the 20th of January the park has earned 1,200 Quetzales.

What this means is that the idea for a community-owned/managed sports and ecological educational park is working. Eventually, with enough attendance the park's income will be enough to keep the programs running and to continue to make improvements. Our goal for 2006 is 10,000Q. 20,000Q for 2007 People are coming to visit the park and the park is only about half finished. People are starting to come from other towns to have friendly soccer games and picnics. Yesterday I met a man that told me that he knew of no other place in Chimaltenango where a man can go with his family to have a picnic, play soccer with the kids, and feel like you are doing all of it in nature. He thanked me and said that he would tell his friends. He traveled from Tecpan, about an hour away by bus.

In addition to working at the project site, LWH sent out a crew of 7 to help build a foundation for a house for a family that lost their house during the landslides in September. On Monday, a group of doctors from Faith in Practice called to ask LWH for three translators. Our translators also carried an elderly man to the E.R. as he was bleeding out from an ulcer.

Since most of our crew went to the Bay Islands for a break, I will spend the week trying to organize the soccer leagues. The committee is starting to go to the schools and talk to the principals about organizing something for the beginning of the rainy season. During our meeting this week we will find out what the community thinks is the best.

Long Way Home would also like to welcome back the students from La Escuela Tecnico Maya. This begins our second year with this school. During the break the school increased its attendance by 18%.

As always, thanks for listening and don't forget to visit the website and buy some raffle tickets.

Mateo

Update from Mateo - February 7, 2006

Hello from Comalapa,

So, how about if we start out with a little story. About two weeks ago our newest "volunteer" arrived from Huehuetenango! Last night somebody kidnapped this volunteer from our backyard. We figured this out last night at about 8pm. So we rounded up the neighbors and sent out a search party. We tracked the horse until 1:30am and then gave up. We got the local police involved and called the authorities in Chimaltenango. At five this morning Adam and Liz went to Chimaltenango to the animals market and I jumped into the police truck to set out looking in the surrounding villages. Fortunately, at 10am we found this volunteer tied to a post in the market in Chimaltenango. If you are wondering, this volunteer is the horse that Adam ran in the Huehuetenango race in November.

So far this month we have lost a tape measure, a drill, a shovel, and a Leatherman. The horse would have been a major loss but that is not the case. Good try!

Other than that little mishap things are going remarkably well. As of February 1 we have been on site for one year. Happy anniversary Long Way Home.

As much as we have developed the land I think our most important accomplishment for the year is the multi-organizational cooperation. This is happening at so many different levels. Bear with me as I try to explain so much: When Long Way Home arrived in Comalapa in February it was just us and our host country agency Chuwi Tinamit. Now we are working with a group of community leaders, the mayor's office, Chuwi Tinamit, AIRES, the governmental ministry of environmental protection, and the Multicultural Association of Southern Oregon.

We just had our soccer stadium inauguration and during the inauguration, and we invited and recognized the community leaders who donated more than 1,000$ to help with the construction of the stadium. During the past week we received another 700$ to purchase a water pump until we have a more permanent system. This does not seem to be much money, but for a group of Comalapans to get together, knock on doors, and follow through with their commitment is an enormous success.

The mayor's office has also been very proactive in their support of this project. So far they have donated the use of a state tractor to help level the soccer field, restructured the area around the natural spring, purchased and loaned us a generator upon request, and provided engineers for various projects.

Chuwi Tinamit is more involved than ever. The major story there is that one of the board members resigned his position and is working at the park as a handy man. This is a fairly amazing story because this man quit a very respectable position and is offering his services full time for about a third of the Guatemalan minimum wage. The wage he is earning is coming from the income generated from the entrance fee. This man who by no means can really afford to do this but told me that he was inspired by LWH's dedication and wants to do his part for his community. Because of his absence in his carpentry shop he has pulled his family together to see this through. Julian's contribution has also inspired our staff in so many ways.

AIRES has picked up their support in lieu of the projects success. In case you don't know, AIRES is focused on reforestation efforts throughout our department. AIRES donated the 8,000 seeds that are now seedlings in our tree nursery. AIRES also just sent sealed a deal with the ministry of environmental protection to provide the park with a butterfly house, a small classroom for our botanical garden, more structures for the children's park, and a variety of ornamentals for the nursery and grounds.

Outside of Guatemala you have one of LWH's biggest supporters in the Multicultural Association. The Multicultural Association has been managing the raffle that we have been promoting. Their support and the raffle have helped LWH in the financial department and have kept us running strong. Thanks so much to Connie and Don.

When originally planning this project LWH had hoped to have quite a bit more money and just come in build this park and move on. Because we have had more time than money we have built a much stronger relationship with the community. The community has responded by building a strong relationship with the project and you can see the pride and ownership these relationships have created.

That is community development!

Our staff right now is as good as it has ever been! Aaron Colvin and Jordan Emerson are going on their fourth month. Both are providing invaluable service. Adam and Liz Howland have just returned from a stateside break and are here for another five months. We break ground on the community kitchen in two weeks. Our newest volunteers are Maureen Eden and Ryan Beyer, who will also be with us for five months. Ryan is here to map out the site and do a geological survey. Maureen can knit a mean hat and seems to be dominating the rummy table. Cat Brandon has personally taken over in the tree nursery and I promise you cannot find a weed or an unhappy seedling.

Now that the horse is back we have a compost generator, 2 nine week old puppies, and my favorite volunteer....The Cat. I haven't seen a mouse in a month.

So....as Long Way Home renews its commitment to community service in 2006, please, please buy and or sell some raffle tickets. One would be great. Ten would be fantastic. If you have already sold so me ... please sell some more. If you have tickets already please sell them, send the money in, and sell some more. I decided to raffle my car because I thought it would be inspirational and show just how dedicated I am to LWH and just how dedicated LWH is to community development!

Please win my car! 10$ each..... and three for 25$

Thank you for your time as always and if you have any comments or inquiries feel free to reply to this update,

Mateo

P.S. As of may I am the only volunteer scheduled to be around. We will have a couple of volunteers in August for a week or so................so if you have the time .....we have the space.

A Life-Changing Experience by Aaron Colvin

When I first arrived in San Juan Comalapa, Guatemala I was in the back of a pick up truck with my entire luggage and four other interns in the same situation. Of course this was after a twelve day trip across Mexico and western Guatemala. On the way down we spent lots of time talking about the expectations of volunteers as well as volunteer expectations. We arrived on site in a small village named Chimiyá which is made up of 125 indigenous Guatemalans (about a 20 minute walk from the center of Comalapa). Upon arrival a couple local musicians had set up their instruments and welcomed us to our new home. We were given a tour from the director who is from Texas but I learned not to hold that against him. I met the director in Ashland just before my studies in New Zealand where he offered me the opportunity to come and be involved in a development project. I didn't really know what to think. Well, this project is just that, a development project. We are building a community park emphasizing ecology, sustainable technology, and community.

Developmental work in Central America is not easy. There are a lot of variables to consider when working in a remote part of Guatemala. One that stood out everyday, everywhere I went, was the language difference. Before coming to Guatemala I had never taken the time to try to learn Spanish. I simply did not know any Spanish at all. In the first few days I was completely lost in any situation involving Spanish witch created quite the problem when communication was needed. During the first week I started taking Spanish classes with a local woman three days a week for roughly three hours a day. With her help and the help of my peers I started to pick up more and soon I could get my point across and have some understanding of the language when spoken. In the midst of the classes, I was working with community leaders and local handyman named Don Julian. Julian has lived in Comalapa all his life and has helped develop my relationship within the community. He is on the project site six days a week eight hours a day. Over the last two months we have built a storage room, developed a tree nursery, and worked around the soccer field. Julian is always good for a conversation after work and is a permanent fixture in my life here on the project site. Within two months my Spanish had undergone a complete makeover and I could understand speakers and communicate my opinion in many different ways.

Professionally my long term goals are to work with kids. Being involved in this project at such a grassroots level has really given me the perspective I need to try and meet this goal. First of all I understand what an undertaking it is to be involved with kids on an international level. This type of work requires complete dedication and a real passion. Personally this project has been a real eye opener. For the most part my long term goals have been more of a fantasy. I really didn't know what the whole thing involved. Now that I have been here and lived in and with poverty I have a reason to try harder than ever.

Even though Spanish was a huge obstacle, the biggest challenge of all has been earning the respect of my fellow villagers and the staff of our host country agency. The language barrier forced me to speak with my actions rather than words. In order to gain the respect of the locals I concentrated on my work ethic. The U.S. has a bad reputation and it followed me down here. After two months of working with locals I had earned their respect by showing them that our lives in many ways are not that different.

A big part of my growth in Guatemala was the relationship that I developed with the founder and director of Long Way Home. Matt Paneitz has showed me the dedication it takes to drop everything in your life and devote the rest of it to helping the less fortunate. From the moment I started this adventure south I have looked up to him for advice, support, and as an example. One example of his dedication to the project and the people involved is his relationship with the community. There has not been a time when I have been with Mateo in town and not had kids hugging him or old men wanting to shake his hand. He has become one of the few role models for the people of this community and the project and park reflects that.

Coming to a country like Guatemala you get a ton of advice. Most of that advice revolves around all of the danger and corruption one can expect to encounter. On the contrary, people in my village and pretty much all throughout Guatemala couldn't be any friendlier. When my neighbors found out that I would be spending Christmas alone I was given another example of that kindness. I can hardly count the tamales and in all I received three Christmas dinners. I truly felt like I was welcomed by the families to have so generously invited me to share this holiday with them.

When walking into a situation like this it is hard to know what to expect. I had heard so many things and pretty much disregarded all of it for the sake of keeping an open mind. Matt did his best to prepare us for the adventure, but how can anybody explain all that I have seen. More than anything I wish Matt would have told me to bring more Heinz Catsup and white chocolate.

The daily routine in the life of a LWH intern begins with breakfast at 8am in the main staff quarters. This is also where we discuss the possibilities for the day. Most days are dedicated to developing the land and providing a place for the youth to participate in community related activities. After a noon lunch we usually then split up to try and keep up with life in a village that provides no running water or dependable electricity. We have to make our purchases in the town market, maintain the grounds, and run all of our errands. Around sundown we have dinner and prepare for Spanish classes. If we still have the energy after Spanish class we might spend a couple of hours reading, playing cards, or just thinking about all that we need to do in the future. So far we have started and maintained a 6,000+ tree nursery. We have built a compost latrine, a solar shower, and a fence to separate our living quarters from the park. We have spent the last few days trying to concentrate on the soccer field and the botanical garden. We also work with a group of 15 yr. old kids and are trying to start a soccer league with them. Our next projects are building a community kitchen and making trails and identifying the vegetation in the protected forest.

The main thing that I suggest for future interns is to bring an open mind. Since we are doing development work in uncharted territory it is also good to bring extra patience. The people in this country are on a completely different time frame and that can be frustrating to get used to. You can expect a diet of fruits and vegetables which is very healthy. Expect lots of physical exertion. You can expect walking to be your main source of transportation. Anything outside of town is done on a chicken bus. Which I like! You should expect to spend 15 cents on a carrot and two dollars for transport to the capital. You can expect dorm style living and a beautiful view each morning. Depending on when you are here you can either depend on lots of sun or lots of rain. More than anything you can expect an experience that will change your life.

Update from Mateo - December 20, 2005

Hello all,

Christmas dinner was fantastic! I don't know the official count yet, but there was well over 500 kids plus lots of parents. Here's the story..and if i haven't returned emails lately you will shortly understand why...

The first step in cooking for such a large crowd is inviting them. We sent out 650 handwritten invitations and delivered them by horse, bicycle, car, and truck. The next step was to have a committee meeting to decide on the menu. Since Chuwi Tinamit was in charge of the gifts, LWH was in charge of the food. Chuwi Tinamit had their hands full and said that they could not help much with dinner and that we were mostly on our own. So, when i suggested cooking two pigs they were skeptical, but ultimately agreed.

We finally decided on two pigs, 100lbs of potatoes, 1500 tortillas, 40 gallons of punch, cookies, and horchata. That's a heck of a BBQ even for a Texan! (and I really don't cook)

Two of my friends were recently married and served a roasted pig as the main course. I stayed up most of the night and saw how it was done. The first step is finding two unlucky participants. Those two pigs were not happy about getting into the back of that pickup. The next step is digging a hole big enough for two large pigs (which is being converted into a hot tub).

After a slaughtering process that i did not participate in (intern job) we stuffed the pigs full of potatoes, wrapped them in chicken wire, and waited for the two tareas (translates into lots of firewood) to burn down into coals. Since the dinner was to be served at 11:00am we put the pigs on the fire at about midnight to give them a 9 hour roasting and time to do the butchering.

Unfortunately we underestimated the necessary firewood and cooking time, so when we dug up the two pigs we were unhappy to find them a bit undercooked. Since serving time was rapidly approaching it was time to come up with a quick solution. Cat carried the three burner stove up from the kitchen, Adam started a new fire, and Steve, Brook, and I made our first attempt at butchering ... anything!

Meanwhile ... Aaron was running around the soccer field in a Santa Claus costume handing out candy and hollering Ho Ho Ho. I was able to peak my head around the corner from time to time and the kids were loving Aaron. He was such a good santa. Jordan was in charge of the piñata and that also went over very well. Aside from LWH staff, Chuwi Tinamit had the kids playing ring around the rosy, three legged races, and all kinds of other kids games.

Back to cooking.....We butchered the pig and had it cooking over the fire and on the stove. We were not sure if we were going to make it but as the team worked until the last second we were ready. Cat passed out the meat, Doña Paula passed out tortillas, Don Julian gave out potatoes, and Doña Myra passed out cups of horchata and (amazing) punch. In the spirit of christmas dinners there was more than enough for everybody ... second and third servings. Everybody loved the meat. It was certainly a first for the entire crowd including most of the LWH staff. We definitely pulled it off.

This is the best part ... since there was so much left over.. we took the rest out to a couple of villages and gave the remains away. More happy folks.

When everybody left there were so many thank yous. They really appreciated everything. All of the kids left with new hooded sweatshirts and handfuls of cookies and piñata candies. We were also able to give out coloring books, playdough, bubbles, toy watches, stuffed animals, (I gave away a tye-dye teddy bear to the cutest little girl), crayons, map pencils, and everything that has been sent here over the last 11 months. The kids had a great christmas. That's what it is all about.

After cleaning up the enormous mess all of the LWH staff was asleep by 5pm. What a great sleep!

Sooooo......On behalf of everybody present THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU SO MUCH. Upon requesting the 500 dollars to put this together the Beil family, the Colvin family, and the Howland familY responded within a week. Coincidentally enough two of the families mentioned above were here in November to see the project and one of the families sent their son here as an intern......Sooooo....THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU.

Side note....This is how well the project site is going......

Aside from LWH's youth initiative, Comalapa has several other community groups operating. For the last two weeks these groups have kept the park booked solid. A group from Guatemala city put on a play for our 12 - 15 year old youth group, a congresswoman (PC?) came out with several other politicians to see the park and have a meeting in a "beautiful setting", and the original Escuela de Futbol is rolling again. I started this soccer school in 2003 and ALL of the original team members are back.

I know that this is a long email, but i suppose that is good. Means that there is a lot going on!

As always .... thanks for listening and i hope that everybody has a merry christmas.

Mateo

A Letter from One of the First LWH Volunteers, Melanie Shrull - November 16, 2005

My name is Melanie Shrull and I am currently volunteering for Long Way Home. Matt mentioned he would like to send an update out from a volunteer's point of view so I agreed to write a email to let you know how things are going out here in Guatemala.

I, along with five over volunteers and interns have been in Guatemala for about a month now. Four of us drove all the way down through Mexico from Oregon which was an adventure in itself. Looking back, it seems like much longer than a month because of all the things we've accomplished and all the traveling I have already been able to do.

At the Long Way Home site we have been working lately to shape and repair our gardens and the tree nursery. The tree nursery is a huge project that invloves planting, growing and transplanting thousands of trees grown from seed that will eventually be used for reforestation. If you happened to catch any news of all the landslides that happened after the hurricanes in Guatemala a month ago, it's easy to see why this particilular project is so important.

In addition to the tree nursery, we are also working to get our organic vegetable and herb gardens back in order. Unfortunatly, while Matt was in the States recruiting volunteers for the program, most of the plants were untended and went to seed. This was a smaller project however, and most of the area is ready to be replanted as we get closer to the rainy season again. We are also working on a botanical garden for the children, which will have different sections of flowers that entice each of the five different senses.

Even after being here a month, I have already had a great opportunity to take part in the Mayan and Guatemalan cultures. Two weeks ago I was able to go to the Todos Santos race, in Todos Santos. This is a tradition that has been going on for decades, and it is always held the day after Halloween. The race literally translates to "The Killing of the Rooster", which refered to the tradition of sacrificing a rooster if a rider in the race didn't spill any blood of his own. We had the priveledge to watch Adam Howland race, which was quite impressive, as he is the only gringo ever to be invited to do so.

I have also been able to travel all around Guatemala in the short time I have been here, thanks to the small size of the country and the abundance of "chicken buses" that will take you almost anywhere you need to go, it is very easy to travel all over. I have been able to spend time in Huehuetenango, Quetzaltenango, and Antigua. I have also spent time up in the mountains in Siete Pinos and Climentoro. It is very beautiful up there but ridiculously cold after the sun goes down. I love traveling and am amazed at all the places I have been able to visit already.

Coming down here to work with Long Way Home has been a great experience so far. My spanish has gotten twice as good as it was when I came here, I have learned so much about the culture already, met some awesome people, and seen beautiful places. This is after only being here for a month. I am really excited to see where I am at when I go home in six months, and may decide to stay even longer.

This is a great oppotunity, and is probably the most real and all-invloving internship or volunteer program you will find. If you are having thoughts about coming down to volunteer, intern, or simply check things out, I definatly recommend you do. I have already talked a friend from the states and my mom to come down!

Thanks for you time!

Melanie

Update from Mateo - August 11, 2005

Hello all,

I havent written an update in a while because i have been so busy tying to create the material for the update. Over the last several months I have written all that is new and exciting, because we have been working so hard to put everything together. Each day was an adventure and each trip to the sawmill an isolated adventure.

Not that that much has changed other than we have gotten into a ryhthm with our work. This is ultimately what makes the days go by so much smoother. Now that we have electricity and water it seems as if there is nothing to do.... as i took a walk around the property yesterday, it occurred to me that we are coming into the next phase of our work.

That next phase being, that we are not still struggling so hard just to live.

This morning, as it has been for the last week, six guys arrived with hoe in hand and ready to work. We have been hoeing the field by hand and if there was ever work that resembled the early pioneers days in the U.S. this must be it. Only we have no oxen team to help till the field. When lunch time rolls around we apply salt to tortilllas and that is it. Tomorrow we look forward to some roasted chicken that will be in celebration of a weeks work well done.

The tilling of the field is an enormous job. Along with tilling the field we have started building a wall around the field. Both will be done within two weeks and the soccer field will be well on its way. We have a good start on the grass and with any luck and some good rains the field will be green by november.

Recently a document was composed by the three NGO's involved in the project. This document was designed to formalize our relationship and to delegate roles and responsibilities between the three NGO's. This was a huge step as the document has given each NGO specifically an area to concentrate on. This is why this project has met with such difficulty in the past, nobody has known exactly what they should be doing and what they have to do it with. Chuwi Tinamit will provide assistance on civic and national levels by raising funds and volunteer service. Aires is working to design the botanical garden, the nursery, and the protected forest, and plan on providing financial support to realize these projects. LWH is working to provide the sustainable solutions through all of this within the intern and volunteer program and program development.

Does any of this make sense?

Beyond all of the meetings and treaties, we are still working with the kids each week. This week was probably my favorite and I wish some of our staff from the past would have been there to share. Adam, Liz, and Rick put so much work into getting the soil ready that they would have loved to have seen the smiles on everybody's faces! Several of the kids mothers came out and we harvested the available food together. While the kids went to the swing sets the staff (families and teachers) prepared the "first supper." With ten year olds it is hard to see if they really care and understand what is going on, but this day, their happy mouths were filled with squash, zuchinni, spinach, greens, lettuce, cabbage, swiss chard, beets and POTATOES. 55 people sat down under our porch and this was the first time i can remember so much silence amongst the group. Everybody had more than enough to eat, and with the exception of the tortillas and the salt, all of the food came from our organic garden. The kids were so proud of their accomplishments. I recieved so many thanks and I would like to pass those thanks to those of you who have been so supportive. I have photos and will pass them along as soon as I get a chance and a computer that can handle the job. During the lunch, we raised our glasses to this being the first of many lunches to come.

With all of the support we have recieved we have put together a good start and it is time for me to head back to the U.S. to round up some more support. In doing so, I plan on making my next contribution and that will be my car. For those of you that dont know, I have a 1973 Caprice classic convertible. This car is to be raffled within the next two months and it is time to start selling tickets. The car is in the body shop getting a fresh coat of paint and willl be ready for its new owner pronto.

Putting on a raffle is no easy task. The Dept of Charitable Activities in Oregon requires this to be done within their guidelines and I will need YOUR help with that. I write this update to nearly 100 people and I hope that each can either purchase a ticket and/or sell a few for LWH. For those of you that do not live in Oregon I need you to send me your address and phone number to submit to the Department. This process needs to happen soon and I would appreciate each person committing to a number and making it happen. For the ambitious, if anybody sells 500 I will fly them down and pay for a six month stay. For those those that cannot afford such a commitment, 10 would be a round number.

I do not mind parting with my car as I know that other cars will come along. I also know that this raffle can keep us operating for a long time. Not to mention that Vegas has never offered odds like these and I dont think their income goes to charity.

I certainly hope to get a good response to this inquiry and also hope that my car goes to a good friend that might let me borrow it in the future for a weekend ride.

Your next update will come as more good things come our way. Please feel free to comment and encourage as you can. LWH is in Guatemala to do development work and things are coming along nicely,

Thanks,

Mateo

Update from Mateo - June 6, 2005

Muy buenas tardes todos y todas,

This past wednesday with the kiddoes was another fun day. I seperated the kids into three groups and each group went with a teacher. One group went to the terraces and checked on the progress of their particular plot and the plots of the other groups, another group worked on physical on the soccer field, while the third group went into the forest preserve to collect plants. Afterwards, we had a little meeting and each group presented their findings from each area. The kids got the most from the collection of leaves and some plants from the forest. The next day an agriculturist and the principal of the school helped the kids identify, label and display the plants for all to see. Since they dont have anything like this in their drab concrete building the display really brightens up the place and the kids get to see the display and learn the plants each day.

After the meeting and the reports, we played a 15 on 15 soccer game on the field and it turned into a mud bath. There were a few puddles on the field and i was trying to do a soccer trick that I cant do and I fell face first in the mud. The kids loved it and they all dog piled me in the mud. The game went on from there and everybody went home needing a bath. I cant wait to hear what the parents have to say about that in our next PTA meeting. At least we do have something to show for it. Not to mention all of the laughs and the pleasant memory.

That was Wednesday, on Thursday I was invited to attend the miss youth Comalapa pageant and got a good first hand look at all of the elementary school kids in town in the same building. Crazy. I knew most of them. That was a huge hug. Then i had the kids rotating for the opportunity to sit in my lap and marvel at the size of my hands. THe pageant emphasized the local culture and customs of Comalapa and was complete with a clown and a pie in the face of the director of activities. He definately did not know that was coming. Anyways, there were eight contestants present each proudly representing their school. One of my students won the pageant. Daisy Chali Mux. The sweetest little girl that could not have deserved it more. Her parents were so proud. Her mother sewed her outfit and it was impressive. Go Daisy! Go escuela Tecnico Maya! On Friday they held the Pageant for Miss Comalapa and the secretary of my agency won. Clean sweep. I was not present as I went for a little R&R in the Quiche to see some ruins, caves, and a wedding.

In other news, LWH is been approved by the IRS to do business until 2009 barring any major controversy. You know, insider trading and such.......This is quite thrilling and required lots of attention by our Volunteer LWH accountant and my friend Martin Levine. Special thanks to Martin for fielding the calls and handling the IRS.

Tomorrow I will be getting the shovel out to haul some more manure. I hear that we have a huge pile of Comalapas freshest and finest waiting to be scooped and spread.

I am getting a volunteer from Stetson U. for a month starting in a week. AIRES invited him and figure that he will be aprovechared the most in Chimiya. We will see.

Also huge thanks to Chelsea Fine for the box of coloring books, crayons, map pencils, and the Blow Pops. I hope the suckers were for me!

Visiting Norm as He Begins the Park by Elizabeth Palmer - May 31, 2005

Hi y'all,

I'm right now sitting among those just-unpacked piles of "to wash," "to put away," etc. but wanted to write quickly before I get caught up in restocking my refrigerator.

I went back to Guatemala for about 10 days, and in between visiting Tecpan with my sitemate Liz Hahn and traveling to Champey and La'achua with Carlos, I got to go to Comalapa and see Norm's digs. I think some but not all of you get his emails, so I wanted to share what he showed me.

First, I was proud that I managed to get the bus to drop us (Carlos and me) off at the correct place in town and walk to his aldea without getting lost. As we walked up (and tried to figure out where the front of the house was hidden behind bamboo walls) I heard Janis pumping through the open windows. He has a good size house, and is currently living alone. I was confused about exactly what he was doing; I get his fabulous emails but had lost site of the bigger picture. He's on this, I don't know, maybe 4-6 acre plot (he doesn't know either), with four major areas: his house (with a plot nearby for animals in the future), the nursery/ planting area, the huuuuge soccer field and space for a cancha poly-deportiva, and the nature hike/ forest area. He tells me the plot was purchased in the late '90s by Christian Children's fund, and is now run by his agency (there's even an old playground by the soccer field, which is on his list of fix-up projects). He's kind of the encargado of the area, in charge of all of these projectsgettingg the school children involved, as well as coordinating other volunteers who will work on the nature trail and getting the animal area going, among other things.

In between the nursery and the soccer field are two small houses, where he said Adam lived, and where the volunteers from Universities in the states will live, one one-room, and one larger one that could be (is?) used as a meeting area.

We walked through the forest, whose trail is not yet permanent, and he explained that there will be an area for the "5 senses." Each small section will be dedicated to one of the 5 senses. What a great idea to get children (and adults) to literally stop and smell the flowers. We walked down the ravine that borders the area to the north, and he pulled a fern out of the rock wall. "I've been needing one for the house."

And I saw the pile of manure, waiting to be spread across the soccer field. He dug his sandaled foot into it, saying something like, "this is pure gold." When I flinched at his cow poop - covered foot, he laughed and said he lives covered in the stuff;)

As far as the soccer field goes, it's pretty flat already, but he's got some deal with some guys who run the maquinaria at another project, and for a small sum and meals, they'll do the job (to plane it again) at night. Ha ha. Nice deal. Then I guess he'll start spreading the manure and plant the grass, and somewhere in there figure out how the irrigation will work. Right above that playground next to the field is a large water tank, fed by the creek at the bottom of the ravine, which he says will keep the field green year 'round.

After the tour of the park, we made some bisteak with arroz and verduras for lunch. I went to the tienda just up the dirt road to get a doble litro of Super 24 (which, btw, has a lite version out now), and on the way back down I passed an old couple, pushing a wheelbarrow down the road. "Tomamoslo aqui, mucha!!" the old man yelled after I passed. I turned around, laughing, and said it was for "aquellos por alla." "Ahhh, por Don Mateo?!?!" He laughed when I got back to the house and told him that. Actually, what was funnier to me was when the woman at the tienda asked if Adan was coming back. I said that I was pretty sure he was in the states and was going to get married. She says "se casa en los Estados?" When I assured her that yes, people in the States get married as well, she said, "si, pero solo por algunos anos, y despues se aburran y se dejan y encuentran a otros, verdad?" he he. It was a good "share our culture" moment;)

Anyway, Norm seems really fabulously content to be living and working there (while getting "financed" though this "internship" program at his U). He has the end product for the park in his mind, and although he image is clear enough that throughout his tour I could see exactly what he was talking about, he is also concentrating on giving ownership and flexibility to the children and the volunteers who will come.

I had bought some flower bulbs to take down, but then didn't b/c I wasn't sure if that would pass customs; plus I still need to look for the kiwi seeds he requested. Anybody know where I could find something like that??

I hope you are all doing well, and I hope that this wasn't too long. I figured that you all would like to know what our companero is up to.

Cuidense,
Elizabeth

Update from Mateo - March 23, 2005

Hello,

3rd world government agencies! I went to a several of them to get the answers that the others didnt have. What I found out is that I cannot leave this country without my car. Soooo, I am leaving on Tuesday morning bright and early in the Jetta to drive it back up to the border to see. Problems with the Jetta:

1. fan is not working,

2. I cant keep an oil filter on,

3. when i start the car the horn goes crazy.

4. I also have to rev the engine for three minutes to keep it from dying

5. One of the windows is missing

6. only one of the doors works.

Now.... the good things....I havent had to add an ounce of oil the entire time. The car does start every time. The tires are new. One door does work. I am considering selling the car for 100 bucks and a six pack of Corona somewhere around Puerta Vallarta if I can make it. Just for the humor in it. Either way I will be back in Ashland in about a week.

Right now we are entering semana santa in Guatemala. The entire country is on vacation and everything is clean and decorated. I am not too dissapointed to leave later than planned because this is my favorite week to be here.

Latest injury report, Elizabeth Howland hit her head on one of the door jams as they are too short and has a mild concussion. She will be O.K. The doctor gave her two tortillas with salt and a mystery medicine. I have 9 blisters on my hands and now know that is how a man earns respect here. My neighbor, the strawberry farmer, saw how hard the soil is that we are tilling and bought us a round of beers at dusk.

Thanks for the seeds Lars.

Tonight we are going to learn how to play mayan soccer with our musician friends. We are also going to light a soccer ball on fire and kick it around. Better wear a cup.

Update from Mateo - March 20, 2005

Today is a beautiful day in San Juan Comalapa.

This week has been the week of meetings.

On Monday, Rick and i tilled the ground with pics and hoes all day. We amended the soil with another 35 bags of cow dung and saw dust. The gardens are going well. just 300 more meters of terraces to go. After tilling we washed our clothes by hand and cleaned up around the house. Trying to stay organized. That night we wrote in our journals and rented Along Came Polly to play on his laptop. a few cheap laughs.

Tuesday was more of the same. Tilling and cleaning. A neighbor girl has been coming over to the house pretty regularly to help out. She is eight years old and her name is Blanca. Blanca decided to make us lunch and was cooking most of the day. a nice lunch of beans and tortillas. After she left and our work day was done we decided to go into town for some supplies. When i went into my bag i noticed that the equilivent of 100 dollars was missing. hardly wanted to think that she took thhe money, but who else was around. So my other neighbor decided to confront her family with the issue. This is a touchy subject. I could really piss off her parents if they are not receptive. Blanca was not around and her mother said that she would advise her father. I assumed that i would not see the money again. lesson learned, no.

Wednesday...First meeting with my office was from 7:30 until !0:00am with my agency. Each person in the agency discussed what was happening in their dept. I gave my report and we were done. !0:00am we headed to the school to work with the kids and teach for a couple of hours. At 2:30 pm The Guatemalan Ministry of Education held a meeting to decide if they wanted to give us permission to teach our subjects. i presented them with a description of our programs and a curriculum and after a closed session they decided that it is a go. They are registering the programs with the ministry of Education and we will start teaching on the land after easter week. Huge! They took us out to lunch and then it was time to meet with the kids parents. 40 or so parents were in attendance and after two hours of depating and a 20 minute presentation by me, we got the unaminous decision from the parents to go forth with the programs. The parents even decided to be chapparones. Huge success! Rick and I finally headed home and the little girls father was at my house. Apparently he spoke to his daughter and he decided that she did take the money. this man is a hard working strawberry famer and was so embarrassed by what happened. He told me tat the girl did not give him the mney, but he did give me 700Quetzales from his own pocket. He told me that he respects what we are trying to do here and he did not want me to think that his people are like that. Amazing. With that out of the way, we talked about the strawberry business and how the FTA is affecting his business and how he cannot keep up with the large american companies. We then moved on to irrigation and he showed me his drip system. Impressive and cheap. No hard feelings. i think Blanca got a spanking.

Thursday..More meetings. An internation environmental agency named AIR invited us to discuss our plans together. Impressive. They have drafted plans for the botanical garden, reforestation area, medicinal plant gardens, butterfly house, zip line, ropes course...etc. They has all of the costs mapped out and time frames in which to do the work. i met with them briefly on Monday to set up the meeting and to ask them for that info. They did it. Very motivated org. They have volunteers from the U.K. and japan. the japanese volunteers are doing their own version of the peace corps and are interested in dedicating time to this project. Shinji is a plant man, and Asukagki is an irrigation and water system specialist. he wants to make our water system his main focus while here. We welcome them. They will be out next week to start the designs.. Since my man Rory is really busy and leaving for the states soon we will miss him, but must move on. After the meeting they showed us thier gardens and it was impressive. Rick and I propogated and then went to Dominoes for 2 for 1 night. One hawain and one meat lovers. Will and grace was on the tube so we had a good dinner and went home tired.

Friday.....more meetings. The meeting was scheduled for 8.am and we woke at 8:30. So the meeting came to us. The community leaders responsible for organizing our project were in attendance and together we developed a time frame, cost list, and agreed on the programming. Lots of brainstorming and program development. April will be dedicated to the soccer field. may will be dedicated to the Botanical garden, June will be dedicated to the bb court, and July to the Reforestation site. Things will change, but at we have a plan. After the meeting our agency bought us lunch and a rum and coke.. The rest of the day was spent looking ofr compost all over town. We found several more sources and secured 50 bags of sawdust.

Saturday was more tilling. Rick built a cold frame for the nursery and transplanted the cuttings. Adam and Liz arrived in the afternoon from HueHue and Beth from Guate. We all went up to`the the soccerfield for BBQed chicken (Liz spilled candle wax on my piece) , listened to music, sat by the campfire, and told stories. A nice way to wrap up the week.

Today....i have been trying to reply to everybody, make my purchases from the market, and play my soccer game at 3pm (sorry Beth.) Tonight, some friends are coming over for dinner. These friends are musicians and do mostly traditional mayan music. Guitars, flutes, mandolins, drums, and a bow. I am sure we will do a campfire and since Adam brought more Sheep we will eat good tonight.

My academic advisor said that she is sure that i am working hard, but having a good time. just in case there is any doubt, i am having a ball. We are working hard, but since this is something we are so passionate about the work is pleasant and very rewarding. When i go to the elementary school i still get a group hug from 40 ..6 yr olds. They all scream Mateo and try to tickle me to the ground. dont ever tell 6yr olds that you are tickleish.

The week ahead is looking like a lot of design and a lot of tilling. We just did get some gloves so I dont have to wrap my hands with Duct Tape anymore. i was at the hardware store the other day, and I was leaning on the glass counter and leaned to much and broke the 5ft piece of counter and almost cut off my arm. just a flesh wound is what the doc said. The last time i was here i broke ribs by falling off of a wall through a chicken coup to the ground with my head phones still on, and I am keeping up with my injuries to date. i have spilled some blood here, sweated plenty, broken a toe, and we are just getting started.

i hope all you can bear with my poor grammar, punctuation, and spelling to read through this. If there are any questions please ask. Any suggestions please suggest, and any criticisms please keep them to yourself........I am leaving for Oregon in three days to promote the internship and get some supplies. i am going to bus the entire thing unless someone has some frequent flyer miles they can part with. Anywhoo, wish me luck and i will seee you Oregonions soon.

mateo

Update from Mateo - March 13, 2005

This is your Sunday morning update. Today is the first day in two weeks that I have had a free moment. We have so much going on. Adam and Rick are certainly going above the call of duty.

To jump right in: On Monday we spent all day looking for organic compost better known as cow shit. We did come up with a few leads, but most of the farmers said that they have cows primarily for the purpose of saving the excriment to use in their fields. As it always happens, the last house we came to was the gold mine. Don Jose Santos helped us fill 53 trash bag size costales with the the composted material from his cow Primavera. Don Jose Santos also introduced us to his two brothers who have a small dairy farm. So far we have moved 100 bags of manure and have at least 200 more bags on reserve. With this compost we are working our terraced gardens to prepare the soil for the rains that will arrive in two months. We have just enough time to prepare the soil, germinate the seeds, get them in the ground, and then the monster job of preparing the soccer field. For the soccer field we will need at least another 1000 bags of manure. As most of you know, my stereo was stolen my first day in country leaving me with an amplifier and 10 inch speakers. So I sold the speakers and will bew using that money to buy the manure. Moving 150lb bags of manure is hard work. We have been up at 7am and have been going until 7pm every day.

On wednesday i am bringing out the kids from the elementary and we will be doing a presentation on germination. The following week we are gong to assign groups of five an area within the garden and we plant the germinated seeds. Each group will be responsible for thier plot throughout the growing season. They will also be responsible for doing research on the vegetable they are growing and then doing a presentation to the rest of the groups on the value of their plant. How the plant grows, nutritional value, etc... they also have to do it in a skit format. i of course will do the first to give them an idea and it should be pretty funny. If i fall down a couple of times and make some wierd faces i will get the response desired from the kids.

The teachers at the school definately know how to keep me around. When I show up at the school they let the kids out of the classrooms and all 62 of them give me a hug at once. They draw me pictures and bring me little presents. I had to draw the line at a puppy that one of little girls brought for me. Next week we have the parents, Mateo conference where I will meet all of them and then provide a lesson plan for the months of march and april.

We are still living without electricity, but our water problems have been solved. We have been working with the electric company to provide possible solutions to our problem and I think we have come up with one. We were going to be splicing in from a neighbors line and actually dug the trench for it, but she decided that it was not in her best interest and cancelled that plan. Now we are just going to buy a couple of posts and have the electric company do it right. The catch is that we have to pay six months in advance. Done. >They are telling us Tuesday. We will see.

For now we are still living by candlelight. During the last two weeks we have developed a routine after work and we are very compatible living companions. Adam, who has been here for almost three years has certainly learned a thing or two. Beside being the tool repair man, the plumber, the mason, and the architect, he can cook a mean chicken leg in the dark.

We are eating so well I am learning the art of cooking soups by campfire. A handful of potatoes, tomatoes, celery, carne, cabbage, and whatever else thrown together in a clay pot is healthy and when accompanied by a tortilla and a tamale is quite the meal. For breakfast we usually have a cup of cowboy coffee and some fruit salad. Our fruit selection is amazing and we are taking full advantage. I never ate like this during my peace corps time. I ate with a family all of the time and it was different. I am missing out on the town gossip by not eating with the family, but I might actually need to learn to coo for myself one day. Tonight we are goig to have sheep steaks, mashed potatoes, cabbage, and coco krispie treats for desert.

My soccer team plays today at noon and we are still unbeaten. This has little to do with me because of my current physical condition. Aside from a pretty nasty cold, I broke my little toe. The downside of not having electricity is the stubb toe factor. I kicked my metal door one morning and opened my toe up. The Doc says that I will pull through, but that I cannot play the full ninety minutes on the soccer field.

In the week ahead we will be amending soil full time. On Wednesday I will bring the kids out and start on the gardeneing project. We still have lots of design work to do and really need more hours in the day to get everything done. Guatemala city is hosting protest all week so we will be in San Juan Comalapa. They are protesting the free trade agreement and the effects the large companies are having on the small central american farmer. The small farmer just cannot compete in that market. If you want to know more about that i am sure you can find the info and I will not say more as it does stir me up. Creating more poverty and everything that we are trying to fight.

More than anything we are having a good time doing all of this. I know that all i have said sounds so busy and it is, but we are really loving every second of it. The people that we interact with everyday make all of this worth it. Their kindness and willingness to learn and teach is inspirational and motivating.

Even though it is tough to read and write without electricity, I think we will miss the ambiance that candlelight brings after a ten hour work day.

Thank you for all of your encouragement and i will keep the updates coming s I can and as things happen. My address is listed below for those of you that want to send seeds and chocolate.

Oh yeah, the Jetta is still running tough.

mateo

Update from Mateo - March 4, 2005

Hello all,

This is the first computer connection I have had in a while. We keep having blackouts, so I will keep this short. All is well here. i drove out to Huehuetenango to pick up my friend Adam and He has moved in. We are still working on cleaning out 25 yrs of cobwebs and trash from around the house. The electricians are done and the masons are done, but we are still living by candlelight. We have to have a meeting with the electric company to be able to splice electricity from the neighbor. We do have water, but the occasional showers are mighty cold.

I went to a school here locally to do some tutoring and I ended up with the entire school coming out to the land on Wednesdays. I have to prepare activities for 62 kids between the ages of 6-13. I have come up with some good activities, and would love some suggestions if anybody has any. Our first class is on Wednesday. I am thinking one hour of natural sciences. One hour of physical education. A few games that apply. A first aid demonstration. Then we will do some gardening. We will teach the kids the value of what they are planting and describe the process from seed to plant over the coming months.

I hope to keep them laughing, Tim where are you? Next week we will build the Temescal with the kids. After that we will teach solar showers, water depoisits, more gardening, and possibly kickball.

Each night we cook over the campfire, play some dominoes, and listen to Rick play the guitar while the neighborhood dogs bark. Tonight we are headed into the city to see a Vicente Fernandez concert and relax a bit. Maybe eat a cheeseburger. Each day has been a ten hour day and we are really starting to see some results. Today we will hang the chalboard, hang the shower curtains, move some dirt, and carry 400 adobe bricks up a hill for the construction of our temescal.

For those of you who have so generously offered to send me seeds and such, we are close to finishing the landscape design and I will have my requests out soon. For those of you considering a visit, Comalapa is great, and anybody that wants to come and see what is going on, we have plenty of space.

Oh yeah, Red licorice is impossible to find here, so that will be on my request list next to the seeds. Maybe some sour patch kids.

I hope this finds everybody happy and healthy and i will write again soon.

Mateo

Update from Mateo - February 26, 2005

Hello all,

The meeting went well and we developed a work plan for the next 3 months. We surveyed the land using an abbey level and designed a water system for our 44,000 gallon water tank to water the soccer field and the other areas. Still lots to consider in terms of pumps and pressure, but that is what Rory is for. Other ideas are welcome for pumps. Lysa, could you send me that pump info.

We will build two 1500 liter water storage tanks for 35$.

We are going to build a solar shower today for the intern cabanas. 4$

We are building a dry compost latrine for the intern houses. 38$

We are building a temescal, or steam room, from adobe. 0$

For the gardens that have already been terraced, we have been collecting organic matter from the vendors at the market. Our neighbors are bringing huge bags of animal excrement each day to amend the soil for the soccer field and the gardens.We are developing a design for an orchard and an organic garden near the nursery and the intern houses.

As far as other things go, I am going to resume tutoring in schools each monday and tuesday mornngs from 8am to 12pm. I have a soccer game sunday at 9am. This should be a tough game. Adam the architect has moved into one of the cabañas and will be living on the commune until July. Last night we bought a terra cotta pot and made some soup from vegetables given to us by neighbors. Since we still dont have electricity or water, so we played dominoes by firelight and were in bed by 10am. Construction on the house begins at 5am so we get early mornings and each day is full. I have started jogging in the mornings with a neighbor kid and his family has a natural spring on the property. We go for a swim afterwards.

March and April will be busy months and I will have plenty to report every few days. Thanks for listening,

mateo

p.s Seed, anyone?

Update from Mateo - February 23, 2005

Greetings to all,

San Juan Comalapa is as beautiful as ever. The days are warm and the evenings are cool. The people could not be any friendlier and we are making new friends all the time. Rick and I are living in the new house just outside of town. The new house has no electricity and no water. each night we make a small campfire and discuss everything one might discuss around a campfire. Throughout the evenings our neighbors stop by to say hello and welcome us to the neighborhood. if everything works out just right then we should have water and electricity by the weekend.

We have been spending our days getting the house cleaned up and are preparing a garden spot to start to grow our own food. We alos plan on getting a couple of laying hens this week to keep the eggs coming. Preparing the soil is a particularily hefty job and the locals really like seeing us out there working the land. In order to amend the soil we have been going to the market to have all of the vendors collect and bag their leftover fruits and vegetables. The compost pile is moving right along. We hae also been to our neighbors houses to ask for their animal excrement. They think we are kinda crazy for doing this, but they will see in a few months just why we have been doing this and then we can teach the composting concept.

As far as the particular project goes, I am very excited. Putting the crew together reminds me of the Blues Brother and them trying to put the band back together. To do this we have traveled near and far and high and low.

Now that we have been reunited everybody will be coming to Comalapa to start designing the actual facility. Adam is the architect and will provide the appropriate technology solutions. Rory has worked with water systems and will be designing the distribution of the water throughout the area. Rick is the plant man and is responsible for designing the landscape architecture and nursery development.

The conservation group Airs is responsible for the reforestation project and the maintance of that area. My role is to keep the whole thing organized and get everybody into the same room at once on more than one occasion. The committee that manages the land is organizing the labor force and overseeing the renovations of the house. Valeriano Pichaya is putting the word out and looking for incountry support. The mayor will be present to see how his office can contribute more.

All of us will be in the same room on friday and we will be starting the design of this sustainable facility. Each step seems so important to me and I am especially excited about this one. 9 months ago when i did not know what a board of directors was....... having all of us in the same room together, seemed like such an outside chance.

mateo