Corpus Christi, Volcan Pacaya and Return to Benitzul Ulpan

Well, the end of last week kept us pretty busy...

On Thursday we went to the Parque Central Cathedral to witness the Catholic service and celebration of Corpus Christi. Although we were almost standing outside because of so many people piled in the church and we were only able to comprehend a few words here and there, it was very humbling to be a part of a celebration of the body of Christ, our Savior. My (DeeDee's) favorite part was all the little girls dressed like angels, waiting outside of the cathedral doors with baskets of flower petals for when the priest and bishop of the church came out and descended the steps. We also enjoyed the fireworks, band, and parade that were all a part of the celebration, as well as walking through all of the booths that had been set up in parque central with fresh fruits, tostadas, etc.

I don't know how many people can say this, but we can now say that we have climbed an ACTIVE volcano and been just a few yards from glowing, flowing lava! Crazy, huh! Let me just say that a similar tourist sight in the states would have had a lot more safety precautions. To summarize our adventure, Thursday afternoon we headed out in a bus with about 15 other young adults from Australia, Switzerland, and the U.S. to the volcano by the name of Pacaya. To take a quote from Wikipedia: "Pacaya is an active complex volcano in Guatemala, which first erupted approximately 23,000 years ago and has erupted at least 23 times since the Spanish conquest of Guatemala. After being dormant for a century, it erupted violently in 1965 and has been erupting continuously since then." After arriving, we had to hike 4 km. in length covering 2 km. in elevation, on an unstable mix of black ash and dirt. At one point, it looked as if we were in a desert of ash, and then we came upon the crystalized or hardened lava which was very brittle and very sharp and not so easy to climb over. Finally, we were able to see some thing glowing red in the distrance. As we approached, we realized that it really was lava flowing in a stream down the mountain. As we got closer we began to feel its heat. A bit of fear hit us as we saw chunks of glowing rock break off and roll down the mountain not many yards from where we were standing. Well, we took plenty of pictures and videos, although none could really capture the incredulity of the moment. Just as we were finishing up our pictures, a thunderstorm settled in on the volcano. I really don't know what we were scared of more... being next to flowing lava or being way too close to the lightening that was surrounding the volcano. Needless to say, we got down off that volcano as quickly as possible, but not without a scratched knee and elbow. All I could think of as we descended was the hymn "He Leadeth Me." I do believe God's hand was with us there and led us safely down that volcano (whether he led us up that volcano to get yards from flowing lava is probably a topic for debate... but that's for later). And we got back home safe... even through a very foggy and once again scary descent in our bus. Here are some pics of our adventure..

After our grand adventure on Pacaya Thursday, we headed back to Coban for the weekend. Christian Aponte picked us up at Probigua after class Friday and off we went. The purpose of our return trip to Coban was two-fold: 1) to revisit Benitzul Ulpan and the water system installed in May and 2) investigate potiental projects in 4 other communites. Christian had visited 2 of these 4 communities in May but it was our first time.

We knew that we were in for another adventure because from the school in Benitzul you can hardly see these communities across the huge valley of the farm. We arrived in Benitzul around 8:30am Saturday morning and were greeted by old friends of the community and a nice Kak-ik breakfast (Kak-ik is a typical soup-based meal of the Coban area which includes many different spices and either chicken or turkey). After breakfast was over we headed down the mountain to begin our journey to 2 communites; San Vicente 1 and San Vicente 2. The best way I have heard our day described is by my wife, "I walked as far as I thought my body would take me, then crossed two mountain ranges, and then had to walk the whole way back." Needless to say, we spent 7 out of 9 hours walking in the mountains. The other 2 hours were spent talking with community leaders about their needs or investigating potiental clean water sites.

On Sunday we headed back to the farm to visit 2 more communites. Our bodies were tired and sore, so luckily we were able to drive most of the way to these communites. Sunday was a very humbling day. We arrived to the first community for breakfast and ate a feast while over 150 people watched us...not an easy thing to do. We spent some time walking to a water source for this community and then visited the house of Juan. Juan is the father of 7 children and his family is at the extreme end of proverty. Juan was gracious enough to show us his home and how his family survives. During the rainy season, Juan is able to catch water off his roof and channel it into a rectangular plastic holding area. Yet during 3 months of the year when there is no rain, Juan and his family make 2 two-hour trips to the closest river for water every day. Juan carries about 15 gallons of water on his back and head, while his wife and children also carry water... we can't even imagine what it is like to live like this...

After visiting Juan's house, we made a stop at one more community of 1,000 people. None of these people have a sustainable water supply, and all of them either go to the river or catch the rain for their water.

The last stop on our trip was one more visit to Benitzul Ulpan. Even though it had not rained in 10 days, the tank we installed was overflowing with water. We found out from the community leader that except for the pila at the school, each site had been operating since we left. We needed to obtain two water samples so that we could test for contamination. When I went to get to these samples I was astounded by how clean the water looked. I cannot explain the feeling I had when I turned on the spigot at the clinic and water gushed out!!! God is good, and I am so thankful for all that he provided and accomplished through our work during the water project at Benitzul a month ago.

After 3 full weeks of Spanish school it was a much different experience for DeeDee and I to visit with the men, women and children of these communities... we could acutally communicate and understand what they were saying... what a blessing!

In conclusion, all I can say is that there is plently of work out there for God's people, not only in these communites but also in our own towns and country.

See some pictures below of our greeting committee at one of the villages, the beautiful mountains we walked, Juan's method for carrying water and a pila spigot gushing with water....