So, here we are in Chirraxcaj, Guatemala!
“That means nothing to me… where the heck is that?” you’re probably saying.
Well… really… it’s in the middle of nowhere. About a fifteen to twenty minute drive from the next decently sized town, Coban, on the north-western side of the country…
Andddddd, it’s awesome!
Life here is way different than anything I’ve ever experienced. Growing up in a pretty large college town definitely had its advantages… and its resources. Living here is quite the opposite, but I wouldn’t say that’s a bad thing.
We basically live up in the mountains. Upon our initial arrival to our contact, after a 7 hour bus ride that we were expecting to take 3, my team and another got dropped off with all of our gear at the entrance to a small dirt pathway. This light walk on a small dirt pathway with our life’s possessions on our backs quickly turned into a twenty minute hike up the steepest stone staircases I’ve ever seen in my life. Every corner we turned around revealed another hundred stairs… or a steep balance back down a hill. Though it was exhilarating and all of that, every step I took went to further my decision that I would never, ever, want to conquer Mt. Everest… and that anyone who tries is crazy.
Up here, it’s beautiful. Our humble home overlooks a large part of the community, which mostly consists of Guatemalan forest. This community consists of about 300 families, most of which are indigenous. They have their own language that they speak aside from Spanish, called Qeqchi. They are some of the most beautiful people I have ever seen in my life… and they age pretty freaking well. Our contact is 39 years old but we all will swear to you that he’s 27.
We live with a beautiful family. The father, Luis, is the pastor of a church (which is conveniently located on our property) and is a large influence in the community. His wife, Maria, is a powerhouse. She’s always working hard in caring for her husband and nine children, as well as for the community around her. I don’t get how she does it. I get tired just thinking about having one child, let alone nine. Their children are some of the cutest, most hilarious kids I’ve ever met. They pretend to be shy, but they secretly/not so secretly love us and thoroughly enjoy watching us do our weird American things.
Everywhere we go is a hike. A pretty steep hike at that. Anywhere we go off of our property we either have a fifteen minute minimum hike straight downhill or uphill. I think it’s safe to say that my Sanuks are not going to make it out of this country alive (note to future World Racers… Sanuks/Toms/flip flops/etc. are rockin’, but… do yourself a solid and bring a pair of hiking shoes with you as well). I also think it’s safe to say that we’re all going to be in fantastic shape when we leave in a couple weeks. Ballin!
The 13 of us are sleeping in a tiny little wooden shed with a tin roof next to the pastor’s house that is just about as small as our shed. Most people are bunking up in tents inside of the shed, while Emily, Jon, and I are hammocking from the wooden posts that keep the second story attic up.
We are joined by rats in our sleeping quarters. I don’t normally get grossed out by things, but it’s actually pretty disgusting considering they hang out on the second level most of the time which is about a foot above my head. I woke up to them nesting right over my head a few nights ago. Iickkkkkkcccciickckckkccickckckkckc. Welcome to the World Race, I suppose!
We have to take a fifteen minute hike down to the natural spring/well in order to do our laundry and shower. This thing is magic. You can’t really see where the water comes from, nor can you see where it streams off to. I’m partially convinced it’s the fountain of youth…maybe that’s why these people look so young – take that Tuck Everlasting, we found it! We also have to go down there to get our drinking/cooking water. We then have to filter it after it’s brought back up to our home.
We are surrounded by dogs, chickens, roosters, goats, turkeys and mosquitos on the property. The rooster is really the only animal that I despise… it crows from it’s roosting spot just outside of our shed all day every day… even at 9 pm, 10 pm, midnight, 3 am, 4 am, 5 am, 6 am… and it goes on and on and on forever and ever amen.
We eat mostly vegetarian, because there is no refrigeration system up here. Which, I’m not opposed to at all. J
The power goes out quite often.
The weather is perfect. Sometimes a bit cold, but it’s nice to have a cool night after such hot days.
We go to the bathroom in outhouses that have walls made out of black trash bags with no doors. Yes, you can easily see people sitting on the John. I caught the whole family that lives on the hill above us watching me do my business one time. It probably didn’t help that I was yelling to my friend Josh not to come up since I was there… note to self, don’t draw too much attention to oneself while doing your thing in the woods.
We cook on a small propane-fueled stove that was provided for us by our contact.
We have no running water. So, no way of washing our dishes properly… or our hands for that matter. We are disgusting and we don’t even care.
We always have neighbors over, and it’s awesome. The people here are so loving and the kids are most fun to play with and chase around and struggle to speak Spanish with.
Hmmm… what else.
For work, we teach English classes to kids at the church, encourage the pastor in his work at the church, are going to help build out an area for the church building to expand, and visit the school at the bottom of the mountain a couple days a week. When we go to the school, some of us teach English, some teach physical education, and some are helping start a school garden (that’s me! It’s awesome!). Mostly, we’re just loving on these people and are trying to learn a lot from them as they learn from us.
I tell you all of this to point out how different it is here than what I (and most likely you) have ever experienced. I love it up here. I love the fact that these people aren’t consumed by material things. I love that we have to work hard in order to get simple things done. We aren’t just easily handed what we need. We have to work hard to eat, be hydrated, be clean, and get around from place to place.
I think these people understand hard work and God more than I ever have. It almost seems like they have no other choice. They are so connected with God because they know that only He can provide what they need, whereas back in the States we fall into the trap of thinking that we can take care of ourselves without God’s help. These people don’t have all of the technology and resources that we have back in the States. They simply have their land, their family, and their neighbors. They don’t even have mattresses on their bed frames. They truly need to trust in God for everything. To trust that He’ll bring rain so they can have water to drink and so their crops and animals can grow so they can have food. They need to trust that He will provide healing for their sick, because they don’t always have the money and/or resources needed to seek healing on their own as we can in the States. They need to trust that He will provide transportation for them when they need to go into town. They need to trust that He will be there in everything.
Now, don’t get me wrong. I totally understand that people in these circumstances do still have a choice whether they should trust in God or not. I understand that this is their life and that they often times are content with what they have, even though they don’t have the American dream. I do understand that back in the States we have periods in our lives where we absolutely have to trust in God in order to get by. However, I still feel that the connection these people have with God is much stronger than mine often is. Seeing how passionate they are about God, how fervently they pray to Him, how intensely they worship Him, and how faithfully they serve Him is beautiful. It’s something I don’t quite understand, but is something that I desperately want to understand. I have so much to learn from these people. I think we all have something to learn from these people.
It’s funny, often times when we go out to serve, we think we’re going to give, to teach, and to bless… but more often than not we walk away from those experiences being more changed and blessed ourselves. I’m excited to see what I can continue to learn from these people. I’m excited and honored to have two more weeks living and working with them. And I’m excited to share those experiences with you in future posts.
So, until then, keep being awesome!
