Category: Guatemala 2022-23
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No Named Boy
By Channing Lewis Waking up on Friday morning I found myself excited to get out of bed. I didn’t know why, as days before, I was feeling homesick and not like myself. But for some reason, this Friday, I caught myself feeling like the best version of me. All thanks to a boy whose name…
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Eye-Opening
By Justin Parlier The word I would use to describe my time in Guatemala is eye-opening. I had no prior knowledge about how Guatemalans live in the cities and small villages that we have stayed in and visited. I would like to inform the people reading this about some of the things that I have…
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Indigenous Languages
By Laurraine Ishimwe When I was a leader on Thursday, we went to San Lucas Toliman, a larger community on Lake Atitlán to the southeast of Cerro de Oro, in order to find our own lunch spot in groups and then explore the languages in the vicinity. We had to look around and find out…
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Butterflies & Bird Cages
By Melody Lin Although people feel like they are doing nothing of importance in their daily lives, they can become a butterfly and have influence in the form of hurricanes on the other side of the earth. Language is the way that we humans connect and communicate and therefore it can deeply impact our lives.…
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Cell Phones – A Tool for understanding
By Maggie Lancaster So somebody dropped their phone in the water today, and while that may seem really insignificant, it made me start thinking. A combination of this trip and the work I am doing this week in AP Psychology (Smartphones, Mental Health, and You) have really forced me to stop and think about how…
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A Return to Normalcy – Life After the Guatemalan Civil Conflict
By TGO As many Americans don’t know, the Guatemalan Civil Conflict (1960-1996) was an American-fueled and ambitious meddling with Guatemalan affairs. The result was the mass killing and disappearing of the local Mayan population. The United Fruit Company saw developing Guatemala as an extremely profitable and cheap place to buy huge amount of land to…
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Tourism & Perspective
By JP Stitt During my day as leader of the day, the group visited two towns by boat. We jumped off a 12-meter-tall jump into the lake, explored the towns on foot, ate food, took Spanish lessons, and hung out. It was probably my favorite day so far, but not just because it was fun.…
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Education in Guatemala
By Enrique Reid As we only questioned people in the city of Antigua, I think it would be unfair to extrapolate our discoveries to the entire nation. Despite this, there were some interesting findings that the Guatemalan people shared with us. They informed us that the Guatemalan school year begins in January and ends in…
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Giving Thanks to Lake Atitlan
For the last few days, Lake Atitlan, widely considered the most beautiful lake in the world, has been our home. It is an amazing place to be, with incredible views, perfect temperature water, and interesting communities dotted along the banks. We are staying in a sprawling Airbnb perched above the water. There are many obvious…
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A VLOG Day on Lake Atitlan
By Garnett & Fiona
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early Thoughts & experiences – comfort and necessities
By Hali Valadez Sorry for the delay! It took some time to get this video uploaded. We hope you enjoy!
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Commerce in Antigua – Understanding Guatemalan Entrepeneurship
By Sophia Badalamenti The theme of the day that I was in charge of was economy, an endlessly complex and multi-faceted topic, impossible to comprehend in a single day. Still, the setting of an annual flower festival in Antigua Guatemala was propitious to gaining a basic understanding of the local commerce. My group and I…
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Day 2: Learning in Groups
By Alexander Fertik I shared a day as leader with Enrique and Sophia. In order to use our talents best, we were put into 3 groups. We chose a topic we liked – I chose Mayan culture vs. Spanish identity; Enrique chose education; and Sophia chose the economy. We went around Antigua to find information…
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Determination: A Conversation
By Ira and Cameron Rather than writing individual blog posts, Ira and Cameron, our two leaders of the day today decided to have a conversation about determination and the things they saw today. I recorded their main ideas and transcribed the following summary of their conversation: “On the way up the volcano, a lot of…
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Some Context – CCS & Stuart Hall in Guatemala
This trip marks the first joint trip for students from Stuart Hall and Christchurch. This partnership promises to add a lot to both schools. It has been in the works for a while now and we are all very excited to see it finally resulting in time together. The goals of the trip are more…